Get Tax Returns for Students in Germany | Even If You Have Paid Zero Taxes !!!

If you are a student in Germany or if you were a student in Germany, filing a tax return will get you a considerable amount of money, even if you have paid zero taxes. You don't believe me. Let's get started.

Hey, if you are new here, my name is Srijith, and in my blogs, we talk all about wealth and happiness. And sometimes taxes. Now I am not a financial advisor or tax expert. I am just a random guy on the Internet sharing my experiences. So please do your research before you act on any of the things I mention here.

College time is both exciting as well as a struggle. Your income is usually limited as a student, but you still have costs associated with your studies. In every aspect of life, having more expenses than income is bad except for one. Filing your taxes. If you are a student, in most cases, you don't have to pay any taxes because any income below 10.908€ (*2023) is not taxable, and most mini jobs pay less than that per year. So why should finanzamt refund us anything if we haven't paid any taxes?

Most students aren't aware of the fact that they can carry forward their expenses for up to 7 years and reduce their taxable income from their future job. This is called Verlustvortrag or Loss carryforward. All you have to do is file a tax report stating your expenses and tick a small check box "Erklärung zur Feststellung des verbleibenden Verlustvortrags:” in your declaration.

You will get a separate loss assessment notice from the tax office. The game continues until you no longer study and start earning a taxable income. The collected losses are then deducted from your taxable income, and you can get a substantial tax refund.

For example, Peter did a master's degree in Engineering in 2019 and 2020, costing him 10000 euros/year. Luckily Peter had read this blog, So he files the tax return and gets his loss registered by the finanzamt. Now in 2021, he joins a company at a salary of 50,000 euros. Since he is starting with a net loss of 20,000 euros, he has to pay taxes only for the remaining 30,000. That's a considerable amount in returns.

But unfortunately, the rule does not apply to all students. It also depends on the type of expenses you had as a student. And tax loss carry forward is only valid for those expenses that are related to generating an income also called the Webungkosten. And which all expenses will be considered as werbungkosten depend on if you are studying a first-degree or a second-degree program.

A first degree is a course of study that you start immediately after graduating high school, like vocational training or a bachelor's.

Costs for the first-degree program are considered special expenses or sonderausgaben. This includes, for example, contributions for your personal insurance, private health insurance, pension, church taxes, donations, etc. But direct expenses such as tuition fees or expenses for work material cannot be deducted as special expenses. There is also a limit of 6000 euros, and you can't carry it forward to the coming year.

So if you are in your first degree, a voluntary tax return is only worthwhile if you earn more than the basic tax-free allowance and pay some taxes.

But things get a lot better if you are in your second-degree program, like a master's or a dual study.

• Bachelor's degree after completing vocational training

• Second vocational training

• Dual Studium

• Masters

Now, in this case, you can claim the entire study costs as webungkosten. This includes semester fees, transport costs, expenses for work materials, application costs, library fees, everything that helps you to complete your studies.

Both tuition fees and semester fees can be completely deducted. You just need a confirmation of payment as proof. Work equipment such as pens, folders, calculators, or even computers can be fully considered as werbungskosten, if you can prove the purchase with an invoice. Without such proof, a maximum of 110 euros per year can be deducted. If the price of an equipment is above 800 euros, then you must write off the costs over several years based on the depreciation rate decided by the Federal Ministry of Finance. Specialist books and journals can also be completely deducted with a flat rate of 80 euros per year.

You can deduct the travel costs from your apartment to university with a flat rate of 0.30 € per kilometer if the distance is less than 21 kms and at the rate of 38 cents if the distance is more than that. This also includes the travel to the library or a part-time job. If you commute by public transport, then, instead of the distance flat rate, you can include the costs for individual tickets or a monthly ticket. If you have a separate room in your apartment that you only use for your studies, then you can claim that at a flat rate of 1,260 euros per year.

If you don't have a separate room, you can still claim the home office flat rate since 2020. For every day that you worked at home for your studies and were not in university or library, this is 5 euros until the end of 2022, a maximum of 600 euros a year. From 2023, this will increae to 6 euros a day and a maximum of 1,260 euros per year.

If you rent an apartment or room near to your place of study, and commute regularly from your main residence, you may be able to claim the rent, utility, and commute costs under double household management. Note that this is only applicable if the place of study is not the "place of life". Means the student must have another primary residence where they pay at least ten percent of the running costs. You can also claim the costs for training abroad if certain conditions are met, the main one being that the study achievements at a foreign university are recognized in Germany.

If you are a member of an alumni association or a student association, then you can claim the membership fees in your tax return. You can also claim the fees for a language course if you can prove that the language skill is needed for your professional activity. Bank account management fees are always recognized by the tax offices with a lump sum of 16 euros per year without proof. Also, you can deduct the interest payments on your student loan as Werbungkosten.

Even if you don't have any claimable expenses, there is a lump sum tax exemption of 1,000 € without proof. This means you don't have to provide any receipts to claim this.

But now, some of you may be thinking this sounds complicated. Even if I have these expenses to claim, I don't know how to file a return. And getting support from a tax advisor comes with additional costs. Don't worry. Finanzamt is kind enough to provide you with a tool called Elster, where you can fill out some forms and do it without paying a penny.

And which forms to fill depends on your personal situation.

Hauptvordruck: This contains basic personal and account details, and this is one form everyone has to fill.

Form N: Now, this form is to be filled out if you were an employee at some company and received a salary. It could be a Hiwi job or your job at a supermarket. At the end of the year, you will receive a tax certificate from your employer called the lohnsteuerbescheinigung, where you will find all the information you need to complete this form.

Form S: You must fill out form S if you worked as a freelancer. These jobs are clearly defined in Germany. So do check this to see if you belong to one of these categories.

Form G: This must be completed by anyone who has generated income from a business.

Form AV: You need this form to register expenses to pension contributions

If you need help with these forms, you can find my other blogs with detailed instructions on my website. So do check them out.

I hope you got some value from this blog. If so, share this information with your friends so they can also make use of such benefits. When you are a student, every euro counts. Until I see you with another one, have a wonderful rest of the day, take care and bye.

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Disclaimer: The Content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. It is important to do your own analysis before making any investment.