Understanding and checking your tax statement (Steuerbescheid)

Once the tax office has processed your tax return, you will receive your tax assessment notice. It details how your income tax was calculated and whether you will receive a refund or have to pay additional taxes.

🚀 Your Guide 

• Step-by-Step: Key Tips for Reviewing
• Structure of the Tax Assessment Notice
• 1. Personal Data and Tax Assessment
• 2. Tax Calculation
  • Income and Work-Related Expenses
  • Insurance, Special Expenses & Extraordinary Burdens
  • Wage Replacement Benefits
  • Tradesperson Services & Household-Related Services
• 3. Explanations of the Assessment
• 4. Legal Remedies Information

Step-by-Step: Key Tips for Reviewing

📃 Compare it with your tax return: Download your submitted tax return as a PDF in the Taxfix app.
✏️ Mark differences: Print out the notice to make discrepancies easier to spot.
🚨 Check the notice promptly: You only have one month to file an objection. Missing documents can be submitted later.
ℹ️ Unclear points? If you need further explanations, contact the tax office directly.

Structure of the Tax Assessment Notice

A tax assessment notice always follows the same structure:
1️⃣ Your personal data and the tax assessment
2️⃣ Calculation of the tax
3️⃣ Explanations of the assessment
4️⃣ Legal remedies information

Using an example tax notice, we explain the most important points.

Please note: Since each tax return is unique, your tax assessment notice may differ in some aspects.

1. Personal Data and Tax Assessment

On the first page, you will find:
📌 Your personal information: Address, Tax ID, and Tax Number (important for inquiries).
📌 Notice details: The date of the notice is crucial because the objection deadline is only one month.
📌 Tax assessment: Here, you can see whether you need to pay additional taxes or will receive a refund.

The table displays your determined income tax and the tax already withheld by your employer. These amounts are balanced—resulting in either a refund, additional payment, or a neutral amount.
If the result differs from the Taxfix app's calculation, you should carefully review the notice.

👉 Important:

• The "Tax deduction from wages" should match your income tax certificate.
• In a joint assessment, both incomes are combined.
• If you entered incorrect values, the tax office automatically corrects them.

⚠ Example case: Late fee: If you submit your tax return late, a penalty fee may apply. More about submission requirements and deadlines can be found in our articles.

2. Calculation of the Tax

On the following pages, your income and expenses are listed in detail.

Key points to check:

💰 Income and Work-Related Expenses

• Compare your gross salary with your income tax certificate.

• If a salary statement is missing from your tax return, differences may arise. The tax office automatically receives this data from your employer. Objections are only possible in exceptional cases.

• Check the listed expenses and their amounts:

  • Only approved costs appear in the notice.
  • Missing expenses may not have been recognized—check the explanations section.
  • If your work-related expenses are below the lump sum, the employee allowance (work-related expense lump sum) is automatically applied.

📑 Insurance, Special Expenses & Extraordinary Burdens

ℹ️ Expenses reduce your taxable income and, in turn, your tax burden.

• Health, long-term care, and pension insurance contributions are automatically reported to the tax office.
• Special expenses include childcare costs, donations, or church tax.
• Extraordinary burdens (e.g., medical costs, disability allowance, or caregiver allowance) are only considered if they exceed the reasonable burden threshold. If this threshold is not exceeded, a "0" appears under "Excess Burden Amount."

📉 Wage Replacement Benefits

• Income tax is based on your taxable income. In our example, there is the Splitting tariff: In this case, the splitting tariff applies due to a joint assessment of a married couple, which can reduce the tax burden.
• Progression clause: Wage replacement benefits such as sick pay, parental allowance, or short-time work benefits are tax-free but increase the tax rate.
• In the tax notice, these amounts are often hidden within the tax calculation and explanation section. There, you will find the exact amounts considered by the tax office.
• Relevant institutions automatically report this data to the tax office.
• If your notice differs from the Taxfix calculation, this may be because you did not or only partially reported wage replacement benefits.

🛠 Tradesperson Services & Household-Related Services

These expenses directly reduce your tax burden by deducting 20% of the costs from the tax owed.

They appear at the very end of the tax calculation section under tax reductions.

3. Explanations of the Assessment

In this section, the tax office explains how your tax has been determined. Read this section carefully.

• Here, you will find justifications if work-related or special expenses were not recognized or reduced.
• If documents are missing, you can submit them within the objection period.
• Some points in the notice may be provisional, meaning later adjustments can be made without requiring an objection if the legal situation changes.
• The explanations also help when filing an objection, as they clarify which items were reviewed or corrected.

4. Legal Remedies Information

The last page of your tax notice explains how and by when you can file an objection.

⚠ Important: You must submit an objection within one month to the tax office.

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