Wage tax allowance; application

You can already save taxes when deducting income tax if you have expenses that are likely to be incurred in the calendar year recorded in advance as an allowance in the electronic income tax deduction features (ELStAM).

By creating an allowance as a wage tax deduction feature, the wage tax that your employer must withhold from your wages is reduced. An allowance can be entered for the following expenses, for example:

• Income-related expenses from employment, insofar as they exceed 1,230 euros, e.g.
  • Expenses for travel to work (so-called commuting allowance)
  • Expenses for work equipment (e.g. specialist literature, tools or typical work clothing)
  • Travel expenses on the occasion of a so-called external activity (insofar as these are not already reimbursed tax-free by the employer)
  • Expenses for further professional training
  • Additional expenses due to a double household management for professional reasons
• certain special expenses if they exceed the lump sum of 36 euros for single persons and 72 euros for spouses/life partners, e.g.
  • Maintenance payments to the divorced / permanently separated spouse or partner
  • Church tax paid (excluding church tax on flat-rate withholding tax)
  • Expenses for your own first vocational training or first degree course
  • Childcare costs
• Extraordinary expenses, e.g.
  • Allowance for special needs for vocational training of an adult child
  • Maintenance expenses for persons legally entitled to maintenance
  • Lump sum for people with disabilities
  • Lump sum for surviving dependants
• Losses from other types of income, e.g.
  • Commercial, freelance or agricultural activity
  • Losses from a rented property

The allowable income-related expenses, special expenses and extraordinary expenses must exceed the application limit of EUR 600 in total.

The application can be submitted at the earliest on November 1 of the previous year for which the allowance is to apply. For consideration in the current calendar year, the application for income tax reduction must be received by the tax office by November 30 of the year.

The tax-free allowance can be applied for two years at once.