Your tax assessment notice contains important information about your tax calculation. If you find any discrepancies with the Taxfix app, you should check the points carefully and lodge an objection if necessary.
- Check your tax assessment carefully, especially if the result differs from the Taxfix app.
- Discrepancies are often caused by different data sources, unrecognised costs or tax adjustments.
- The tax assessment notice contains a summary, calculation, explanations and information on legal remedies.
- You have one month to lodge an appeal if you find any errors or discrepancies.
- Refunds are transferred automatically, additional payments must be paid on time.
🚀 Your Guide
- Understanding and Reviewing Your Tax Assessment Notice
- Why Might the Final Tax Result Differ from the Preliminary Calculation?
- How is a Tax Assessment Notice Structured?
- Tax Assessment Page 1: Determination
- Tax Assessment from Page 2 Onward: Tax Calculation
- Explanation
- Legal appeal notice
Understanding and Reviewing Your Tax Assessment Notice
The tax office processes your tax return and then issues your tax assessment notice. This document contains a breakdown of your income tax, the calculation of your taxes, and whether you will receive a refund or need to make an additional payment.
It is important to review your tax assessment, especially if it differs from the calculations in the Taxfix app. If you find errors, you can file an objection. This article explains step by step how to check your tax assessment and what to do if you find discrepancies.
Why Might the Final Tax Result Differ from the Preliminary Calculation?
Your final tax result may differ from the preliminary calculation. Common reasons include:
- Different Calculation Bases: The tax office uses its own data sources, such as employer-reported income or pension insurance records.
- Unrecognized or Modified Claims: Certain deductible expenses (e.g., work-related expenses or special deductions) may not have been fully accepted.
- Rounding Differences and Tax Adjustments: The tax office may adjust calculations based on tax regulations, leading to minor deviations.
If you have questions or want to clarify a discrepancy, you have one month to review the notice and, if necessary, file an objection.
How is a Tax Assessment Notice Structured?
A tax assessment notice follows a standard format and consists of the following sections:
- Summary of the Result („Festsetzung“, page 1)
- Detailed Tax Calculation (from Page 2 onward)
- Explanation of the Calculation, including any discrepancies from your tax return
- Legal Instructions on How to File an Objection
We provide an example tax notice to explain each section and compare the tax office’s calculation with the Taxfix app. This will help you identify any discrepancies step by step.
đź’ˇ Note: Your tax notice may differ from our example, as every tax return is unique.
Tax Assessment Page 1: Determination
1. Your Personal Information
At the top left of the first page, you’ll find your address, tax identification number, and tax number.
đź’ˇ Important: Your tax number changes if you get married or move to a different tax jurisdiction.
2. Notice Details
On the right side, you’ll see the responsible tax office and its contact information. The date of issuance is at the top right.
đź’ˇ Objection Deadline: You have one month to report errors or submit missing documents. After this period, changes are only possible in exceptional cases.
đź’ˇ Example: If your tax notice was issued on April 29, 2022, it is considered delivered three days later, meaning the deadline begins on May 2, 2022, and ends on June 2, 2022.
3. Determination: Calculation of Tax Liability
This section shows the tax office’s tax calculation. The notice may also include a preliminary remark, indicating that certain elements could still be adjusted.
💡 You don’t need to file an objection if only a preliminary remark is included. If changes occur, you will automatically receive an updated tax notice.
The table in this section includes:
- Final income tax assessment (including solidarity surcharge and church tax)
- Taxes already withheld by your employer
- Difference (Refund or Additional Payment)
4. Late Filing Penalty (Verspätungszuschlag)
If you filed your tax return late, a late filing penalty will be imposed:
- 0.25% of the assessed tax per month
- Minimum €25 per month
đź’ˇ The Taxfix app does not calculate late fees. If your tax notice shows a difference, this may be the reason.
5. Refund or Additional Payment
At the end of the table, you will see whether you are due a refund or need to make a payment.
âś” Refund: The tax office automatically transfers the amount to your registered bank account.
âś” Additional Payment: You must transfer the amount yourself. If you miss the deadline, late fees may apply.
🚨 Important: When making a payment, include your tax number, tax type ("ESt"), and the tax year in the payment reference field.
Tax Assessment from Page 2 Onward: Tax Calculation
After the assessment on page 1, the tax bases are explained on the following pages. Here you can compare the calculation with your details in the Taxfix app.
Tax statement:
Calculation in the app:
7. Income
Below the calculation of your taxes you will find the income you generated in the tax year. This can be found on the bottom of page 1 or on page 2 of your tax statement.
7.1 Income from self-employed work
If you (or your partner) had income from self-employed work then this could be the reason for a deviation from the result in the Taxfix app, as income from self-employment can not be entered in the Taxfix app. For that reason you will not find that point in the Taxfix calculation.
In our example the wife had income from self-employed work which is mentioned in the tax statement. That income could not be entered in the Taxfix app and results in a deviation in the final result.
7.2 Gross salary
In a first step you can check your gross salary (and that of your partner, if applicable). Compare the amounts on your tax statement with the information you gave in the app. The calculation in the app is based on the information and amounts you enter there, whereas the tax office automatically gets these amounts from your employer. This is why it is important to always enter all taxable income of the tax year in the app correctly. This could be, for example, additional salaries from a different employer.
7.3 Pensions
Any pension payments you receive will also be submitted to the tax office by the pension insurance institution. You can enter pensions manually in the Taxfix app.
In our example tax statement the tax office considered a pension in the amount of 1,786 euros. In the Taxfix app, however, no pension was entered. Therefore, the tax statement shows a higher additional payment than originally calculated by the app.
8. Work-related costs
Here you will find the costs that you incurred as a result of your work.
Work-related costs include:
- Commuting to your workplace
- Expenses for a double household
- Costs for a separate room for work/home office
- Fees for work associations (Berufsverbände)
- Costs for work equipment
- Educational costs
- Business travel expenses
- Any additional work-related expenses
In the Taxfix calculation you can click on the arrow next to the bullet point "work-related costs" in order to see all the separate positions. Your tax statement only shows the costs that were accepted by the tax office.
If costs were not or only partially accepted by the tax office, you will find the reasons for this and what was recognised or not recognised in the explanations of the tax statement (item 14).
In our example tax statement the costs for the wife amount to 126 euros, that's why the 1,000 euros lump sum (lump sum for income-related expenses) applies.
Comparing the costs of the husband with the Taxfix calculation, you will see that the tax office accepted all costs just like they were entered in the app.
Tax statement:
Calculation in the app:
9. Insurances
Your payments into public pension plans and RĂĽrup pension contracts count as retirement provision costs. Health and long-term care insurance count as provision costs. Contributions to unemployment insurance, car liability insurance, general liability insurance and accident insurance can also be acknowledged under certain circumstances. Those insurances can be deducted as limited deductible special expenses (Sonderausgaben).
If your contributions to pension, health, long-term care and unemployment insurance are mentioned in your annual payslip, the data is transmitted directly from your employer to the tax office.
In the Taxfix calculation these contributions are shown as deductible insurance contributions. You can find the detailed calculation of your insurances under the bullet point limited deductible special expenses (beschränkt abziehbare Sonderausgaben) of your tax statement. You can compare that total amount with the amount in the Taxfix app.
In our example tax statement the deductible insurance costs match the ones in the Taxfix app calculation and amount to a total of about 11,488 euros.
10. Church tax and donations
Church tax and donations are tax deductible as well. You will find them under the heading unlimited deductible special expenses (unbeschränkt abziehbare Sonderausgaben) in your tax statement. In the Taxfix calculation they are displayed as other deductible special expenses.
In our example, 396 euros have been considered for donations and church tax. In the Taxfix calculation that amount is listed under "Other deductible special expenses". In a subsection you will find "donations and fees" in the amount of 140 euros. That amount is already included in the 396 euros. The additional mentioning is just for information purposes.
11. Exceptional expenses
If you had health related expenses in the tax year you can deduct them as exceptional expenses (außergewöhnliche Belastungen). However, only the part of the costs that exceeds the amount of your reasonable expenses has an effect on your tax calculation.
In our example the reasonable expenses amounts to 2,279 euros. There are health related expenses in the amount of 827 euros. Those costs have no influence on your taxes as they are below 2,279 euros. Accordingly, 0 euros are taken into account both in the statement and in the Taxfix app.
Tax statement:
Calculation in the app:
12. Capital gains
If you had capital gains they as well will be listed in the tax statement and will be taxed. For domestic capital gains, dividend payments, gains from stock sale and interest this tax is automatically being withheld by your bank. You can benefit from the saver's allowance (Sparerpauschbetrag) via your tax declaration or via an exemption order (Freistellungsauftrag) at your bank.
In our example you can find capital gains listed under bullet point 12 on page 3 and the tax amount on page 4 at “zu versteuern nach § 32 d Abs. 1 EStG”.
The tax office's explanation mentions that this amount is reimbursement interest from the tax office. This needs to be declared and taxed in the year of inflow.
It's important to note that reimbursement interest from the tax office always needs to be declared in the tax return, even if the amount is below the savers' allowance. Please note the corresponding amounts for the respective tax year:
- until 2022: €1,801 for single people and €1,602 for married couples.
- from 2023: €1,000 for single people or €2,000 for married couples.
The tax office will not consider the savers' allowance and tax the whole amount if you don't enter the interest in your tax declaration.
This is the case in our example. The reimbursement interest was not entered in the Taxfix app and the calculation shows a tax on capital gains of 0 euros. The tax office taxed the full amount because it was not mentioned in the app, which results in a deviation in the final result.
13. Wage-replacement benefits
If you received certain benefits like sick pay, maternal pay or reduced working hours benefit (Kurzarbeitergeld) in the tax year, you have received income subject to progression (Progressionsvorbehalt): Although these wage-replacement benefits are not taxable, but they are treated as taxable income when determining your tax rate.
In the overview of the Taxfix app the amount of these benefits is not explicitly mentioned, but they are part of the calculation.
If the calculation of the tax office differs from the calculation in the Taxfix app this could indicate that wage-replacement benefits were not (or only partially) entered in the app. The tax office automatically receives the information from the according institution if you were paid such benefits.
In our example wage-replacement benefits have been considered. This is indicated by the words "taxable under progression clause" ("zu versteuern mit Progressionsvorbehalt"). The amount of the received benefits can be found in the explanation at the end of the tax statement.
Explanation
In many cases, the explanations in the tax statement facilitate the examination of the tax statement (14). They also make it easier to object against the tax statement. For example, here you can find reasons why the tax office has not accepted or only partially accepted certain positions in your work-related costs or your special expenses. This is often due to missing receipts or proofs that can be provided within the objection period.
Legal appeal notice
The last page of your tax statement is the legal appeal. It informs you about your right to object against the statement.
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