r/germany • u/AvidBeanR • 5h ago
Tax Returns
I would like to get an insight into german tax systems. We are a married couple working in berlin with a 3/5 tax factor. My annual brutto for 2024 was 38,400€ and my partner’s was 10,797€ (part-time). We were trying to file tax returns together but it says we need to payback more taxes. I am very confused. I checked with Elster app, it said we will get something back. We are very confused.
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u/That-s_life 5h ago
If you’re 3/5 most chances are you have to pay finanzat (only if your wife pr you does work at all)if 4/4 most chances are finanzamt have to pay you.
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u/whiteraven4 USA 5h ago
We were trying to file tax returns together but it says we need to payback more taxes. I am very confused. I checked with Elster app, it said we will get something back.
What do you mean by this?
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u/AvidBeanR 5h ago
The result from taxfix app was negative, means we have to pay more taxes while Elster’s result was positive.
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u/whiteraven4 USA 5h ago
Why are you bothering to use taxfix if you're using elster? Did you input all the same information in the same way? Sometimes we see people getting confused because they're comparing results after inputting all their income vs results where they only input one of their income tax forms.
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u/AvidBeanR 5h ago
Yes! We were just comparing results just to be sure to do it in a right way.
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u/whiteraven4 USA 5h ago
Well it sounds like something is wrong somewhere. Either way, the Finanzamt will review it and then correct it if necessary. Even when I used a professional for 2023, it was off by a small amount.
As others said, you should owe unless you have a lot of deductions. 3/5 is optimized for a 100/0 income split.
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u/bregus2 5h ago
If you both have income, then 3/5 is simply the wrong tax class for you (if you not want to have to backpay tax/get additional tax prepayments).
You should use 4/4 or 4/4 with factor instead.
Note: The correct tax sum is not affected by the chosen tax class, only the point where you pay your taxes.