Receive relief from German tax deduction in accordance with § 50c EStG

You must apply for withholding tax relief in the BZSt online portal (BOP) at the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt), Division St II 9.

Online application:

• Register in the BOP.
• If you have already registered for another procedure accessible via the BOP or registered in the ELSTER online portal, you do not need to register again.
• Select the form "Application for relief (refund/exemption) from German tax deduction pursuant to Section 50c EStG (including licenses, artists, athletes)".
• Complete the form and send it off.
• Attach a certificate of residence and the other required documents to the application form.
• Your application will be processed and checked by the BZSt.
• You will receive a certificate of exemption or a notice of exemption (refund) or a notice of rejection of your application. The BZSt's decision will also be made available to you via the BOP.
• If a certificate of exemption is issued, the refund debtor will receive a corresponding notification in the form of a copy of the certificate of exemption for their files.
• In the case of applications for reimbursement, the reimbursement amount will be paid approximately 4 weeks after receipt of the exemption certificate.

Written application:

A written paper application is now only provided for hardship cases. The prerequisite for a written application is that the applicant does not have the option of submitting an application via the BOP.

If the informal application for recognition of a hardship case is granted, the applicant will receive the application form by letter.

Applications can be submitted by

• foreign artists
• foreign sportsmen and sportswomen
• foreign licensors
• foreign supervisory board members

Further requirements:

• In the case of reimbursement: payment of withholding tax

A double taxation agreement must exist between Germany and the country of residence.

You must submit the following with your application

• Certificate of residence
• copy of the contract
• in the case of authorization: Power of attorney
• in refund cases: the tax certificate issued by the person liable for the refund
• in reimbursement cases where payment is to be made to a person other than the reimbursement creditor or the person submitting the application: an original authorization to collect issued by the reimbursement creditor

If you are submitting an application for a corporation, association of persons or estate, you must also enclose the following documents:

• Extract from the commercial register
• Organizational chart (with details of the percentage shareholding)

If necessary, the BZSt will request further documents for examination.

There are no costs.

for refund applications: within 4 years of the end of the calendar year in which the remuneration was received or not before the end of 1 year after payment of the tax deductions

• § 50c Absatz 2 Nummer 1 (Freistellung) und Absatz 3 (Erstattung) Einkommensteuergesetz (EstG)

• Appeal
• Fiscal court action (Cologne Fiscal Court)
  

Forms available: Yes

Written form required: Yes

Informal application possible: No

Personal appearance required: No

Online services available: Yes

The text was automatically translated based on the German content.