Income tax and church tax

Who pays income tax? Employers deduct income tax directly from their employees’ salaries and pass it on to the tax office. The amount paid is calculated based on taxable income. Church tax is a tax collected by religious communities from their members. The amount paid is based on the amount of income tax paid.

Services in Income tax and church tax

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Apply for a certificate for income tax deduction
The tax office can issue a certificate for wage tax deduction if it is not possible to retrieve the electronic wage tax deduction details (ELStAM).
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Apply for a change of tax class for single parents
As a single parent with at least one child in the household who is entitled to child allowance or child benefit, you can apply for the tax relief amount for single parents and thus for tax class 2.
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Apply for a status certificate for a reduction in tax on income from foreign investment funds
Foreign investment funds that generate taxable income in Germany can, under certain conditions, apply for a status certificate to reduce their tax burden.
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Apply for capital gains tax exemption
Here you can find out how to avoid a capital gains tax deduction.
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Apply for exemption certificate for tax-privileged foreign investors of investment funds
Tax-privileged foreign investors in investment funds may, under certain conditions, apply for an exemption certificate for full or partial tax exemption of the investment fund.
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Applying for (partial) exemption from German capital gains tax for foreign corporations
If you would like to be exempt from German capital gains tax, you can obtain an exemption certificate under certain conditions.
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Applying for a change of tax class during marriage or civil partnership
Would you like to switch to a different tax class? Then please note the conditions for such a change.
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Applying for a refund of capital gains tax paid to persons resident abroad
If you are a foreign recipient (creditor) of domestic investment income, you may be fully or partially exempt from capital gains tax under certain circumstances.
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Capital gains tax
Investment income earned on private assets is subject to a separate tax rate. As a rule, income tax on investment income from private individuals is settled with the withholding...
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Change electronic income tax deduction features after the death of a spouse
If your spouse or civil partner dies, you will generally be placed in tax class III in the year of death and the following year.
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Change electronic income tax deduction features on marriage
If you do not wish to retain the tax class combination IV/IV automatically assigned to you on marriage, you and your spouse can apply for a tax class change at your local tax office (see further information).
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Change electronic income tax deduction features when joining a church
To join or re-join a tax-collecting religious community, you must first submit a declaration to the religious community.
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Change electronic income tax deduction features when leaving the church
To leave a tax-collecting religious community, contact the office responsible for you. There are different regulations depending on the federal state and religious community.
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Change electronic income tax deduction features when resuming a partnership or marriage
If you are no longer permanently separated from your spouse/partner, you are again entitled to the tax class combination III/V, IV/IV or IV/IV with factor.
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Change electronic wage tax deduction features on separation
If you are permanently separated from your spouse/partner, the family-friendly tax class combination (III/V; IV/IV; IV/IV with factor) can no longer be taken into account in the year following the separation.
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Changing electronic income tax deduction characteristics for multiple employers
If you are employed by several employers side by side, you can decide for yourself which employer should retrieve the family-friendly electronic payroll tax deduction characteristics.
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Church tax
Anyone who is a member of a religious community that levies church tax is liable to pay church tax.
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Electronic income tax deduction characteristics change of address and personal data
If your address or personal data changes, you must communicate the changed data.
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Electronic income tax deduction characteristics change tax class VI for further employment
Wages from all other employment relationships are taxed according to tax class VI.
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Electronic wage tax deduction features (ELStAM)
ELStAM stands for Elektronische LohnSteuerAbzugsMerkmale. These are the individual tax characteristics that the employer needs to carry out the wage tax deduction and which were...
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Income tax
Income tax is a tax levied on the income of natural persons.
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Insert a blocking note on religious affiliation
If you do not want your religious affiliation to be checked, you can make a blocking note. The blocking note obliges you to submit a tax return in order to pay any church tax on capital gains tax yourself.
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Lock or unlock electronic wage tax deduction features for employees
You can have your income tax deduction details (tax class, child allowances) blocked by notifying your tax office. Your employer will then tax your wages according to tax class VI.
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Report non-deduction or under-deduction of tax on domestic income of foreign investment funds
Foreign investment funds whose domestic income was wrongly not taxed or under-taxed must report this and pay the tax in arrears.
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Request tax identification number (IdNr) or church tax deduction feature (KiStAM)
If your company is obliged to deduct church tax, you can submit a request for the church tax deduction feature for your company.
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Tax card
The wage tax cards were replaced by an electronic data transmission procedure, the so-called Electronic Wage Tax Deduction Characteristics - ELStAM.
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View electronic wage tax deduction features
The electronic wage tax characteristics (ELStAM) used for wage tax deduction are shown in the payslip and can be viewed in various ways.