Hello my old friends !

I left Germany last year and moved to UK. I filed the tax return for the period I worked in Germany. The finanzamt asking me about the details of earning in Aussland. I would highly appreciate any comments or answers for the following questions.

1. Why are they asking for the earnings for the period which I never lived in Germany. What should I tell them?

Any answers or comments would be highly appreciated.

Thanks

Tito

2. What should I tell them? Can I send them the copy of Abmeldung bescheinigung?

I suppose that you moved to the UK mid-year last year and the Finanzamt is inquiring about the filed tax return for that year.

As you know, the tax return is calculated on a yearly basis and since you lived/worked outside of Germany for a certain part of that year, they need to know exactly what you did and how much you earned in order to be able to proceed.

You should tell them the truth and supply them with what they are asking from you...

You are right I moved mid of the last year. But the point is I have paid taxes whatever I earned in the UK. I paid taxes whatever I earned in Germany. As you know if your income is below certain amount in Germany, then you can claim a tax amount back from Finanzamt. Why finanzamt is interested in my earnings overseas. I told them I did not earn anything in Germany for rest of the year but they wanna know how much I earned in Aussland. I am not a German national not even a resident.

That's right, but in your case you earned money in the UK so you cannot benefit from what you just mentioned as far as I know.

You want to claim money from them, then they have the right to know, and I wouldn't lie if i was you because I'm sure they could find out that you worked there and what you earned.

You'd better contact a Steuerberater/lawyer if you want to know if there are any workarounds...

AS everyone said, the tax returns are calculated on yearly basis.
I know some guys who came from india to germany and worked for 4-5 months in germany( not onsite ).
The also submitted the earnings from india to finanzamt and the advantage was when you convert to euros its less and good amount of tax returns.

So i am afraid about UK. Finally it depends on you whether to disclose your earnings in UK or not, but it is better to disclose.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. Probably I didn't convey my point correctly. Consider the following scenarios.

I know some people from India who start working in the mid of the tax year in Germany, finanzamt never asks about the previous earnings..do they? Did anyone experience that?

1st Scenario:

You are registered in Germany as a resident. You work there for few months and then start working in some other country but you keep your residence in Germany. You have home or second home somethign like that. In this case "no doubt" they can ask for the earnings abroad, because you are registered in Germany and some sort of burden on Germany economy. I also agree you are obliged to pay taxes for that.

2nd Scenario:

That you move out of the country rest of the things same as in 1st case. You are not registered anymore in the Germany and do not have any first or second home in Germany. In this case if they ask for your income abroad just for the sake of taxes..makes not much sense.

Still I am looking for the exact tax regulation. Sometimes you would have to point people to correct rules and regulations. Finanzamt's ultimate goal is to collect maximum tax and if you do not fight for your right you would not get a single penny back. Thats why I am trying to figure out the correct rule and regulation and this discussion can benefit other people on this forum as well.



Thanks.