Hi,

I´m just planning to do my steuererklärung. In the past years I have used one of the commercial software programs and the help of my german friends to do it.

Recently someone told me that with the help of a Steuerberater one might get a very good quantity of money back and what you have to pay to him/her will be justificable (I don´t know how much it could be).

I would like to know your experience about this topic.

Thanks,

Alex

Alex,

unless your personal tax situation is unusually complex I think it is unlikely that a Steuerberater will get you much more money back than you can recover yourself using a good tax software package and advice from well informed friends.

If you any of the following apply for you:
- investments,
- two households,
- a dedicated home office,
- unusually high work related expenses (such as specialist IT certificates you paid for or mountains of books you purchased),
- own house/flat,
- moved closer to work,
- caring for relatives,
- car accident on the way to/from work,
- more than one Lohnsteuerkarte
- expenses for childcare, cleaner, gardening
it's important to either understand the tax implications or see a professional. There are quite a few other unusual situations which may lead to some tax return, but an accountant won't do any black magic tricks for you.

Did you have any unusual (non-leisure) expenses last year?

How many sources of income do you have (if any other than your normal job)?

Are you married? Does your wife work?

Regards

Marc

Hi Marc,

thanks a lot for you useful reply.

Well, it seems that with the software would be enough.

I have nothing special in my incomings, I´m single and all my money is related with my salary.

As far as I remember, I got the most of my money back with the entry related with the distance between my company and my house, about 11 km (I have no car). Right now my "new" company is 22.5 km far from my house. Maybe I will get a little more but I know that there is a limit and in that case I would have to sho the bus tickets.

In the last year I received about one salary (netto) back from my taxes.

The person who told me about the Steuerberater is married and has one children, so maybe that is the difference. He told me that he received 2 salaries (netto) back.

Thanks a lot for your advice.

Alex

My boss said he got back some money too from the declaration of
- his internet

Iwas in the hospital for 1 week, can I claim that?

How much can one expect back after sending 5000 EUR family support outside germany?

Maximum allowed amount for one supported person in india is for example ~1800 euros. So if you earn 50,000 per year Taxable income, subtract this 1800 Euros. So your new taxable income will be 48,200 euros. Now you can calculate yourself how much you get by subtracting the amount of tax paid for 50,000 -(minus) tax paid for 48,000

@Raj

Your information is valid only if the person is working with a limited residence permit in Germany. If you are in possession of NE then you can not claim any tax back for money sent to family.

@akshay

This is completely ridiculous and NEWS for me. Relationships or need for support is not goin to change becos of ones Residence permit isnt it??

Are you sure people with NE cant claim this benefit, becos i heard even germans can support their parents for a total sum of 7000 Euros a year, unfortunately i dont remember where i read it.

@raj

I thought the same, but instead of arguing who is right and who is wrong, maybe its worth your while checking this up with a Steuerberater, what do you think? :-)

Why do you think tax department bother, what kind of residence permit you have? When you delare you tax returns you will not specify anywhere the kind of visa you possess.

don't panic!

Your information is valid only if the person is working with a limited residence permit in Germany. If you are in possession of NE then you can not claim any tax back for money sent to family.

Wrong.

You could support your parents or grandparents even if you have NE here. But you could claim double-housing only if you have a limited residence permit.

I thought the same, but instead of arguing who is right and who is wrong, maybe its worth your while checking this up with a Steuerberater, what do you think?

And when you are not very sure about something, its worth your while, to just keep quite instead of misleading others.

@HB

Sorry for the mix-up, my post was in relation to double-household. I should have put it more precisely....sorry again.