Moving to Great Britain and completing tax affairs in Germany.
May 3, 2010 | 20,00 EUR | answered by Dipl.BW/SB Ulrich Stiller
Dear Sir or Madam,
Due to an upcoming move to the United Kingdom, I do not want to leave any open matters with the German tax authorities.
I am an Austrian citizen, and have been registered in Germany as my main residence since August 2007. I filed an income tax return for the year 2007, mainly to receive a significant portion of the income tax for that year back. I have not yet done so for the years 2008 and 2009. Additionally, I have been receiving unemployment benefits since January 2010.
I will completely deregister my main residence in Germany on 31.07.2010 (meaning I will not maintain a secondary residence either).
My questions are as follows:
1. Do I have to submit an income tax return for the years 2008 and 2009 after having done so for 2007, or can I skip this? Since I had hardly any deductible expenses in those years, I do not expect any significant refunds or payments here.
2. How should I handle the seven months in 2010 from a tax return perspective, considering I received unemployment benefits during that time? Can I also skip an income tax return for this period?
3. Will deregistering at the registration office automatically deregister me with the German tax authorities, or do I need to notify them separately?
Thank you for your assistance!
Sincerely,
Dear inquirer,
thank you for your inquiry, which I would like to answer based on the information you provided and considering your situation within the scope of an initial consultation as follows:
As long as you have a residence in Germany, you are subject to unlimited income tax liability in Germany, regardless of nationality.
Question 1
You are required to file an income tax return as an employee if you have additional income, such as from renting or leasing, that exceeds 410 euros.
Specifically, this is regulated in § 46 paragraph 2 of the Income Tax Act (EStG) as follows (version 2010):
Quote start:
If the income consists wholly or partly of income from employment from which tax has been withheld, an assessment is only carried out,
1.
if the positive sum of taxable income that was not subject to tax deduction from employment income, reduced by the amounts according to § 13 paragraph 3 and § 24a, or the positive sum of income and benefits subject to progression clause, each exceeds 410 euros;
2.
if the taxpayer has received wages from multiple employers simultaneously; this does not apply if wages from multiple employers have been combined for tax deduction purposes according to § 38 paragraph 3a sentence 7;
3.
if the sum of the partial amounts of the lump sum for pension insurance considered in the tax deduction from wages according to § 39b paragraph 2 sentence 5 numbers 3 letter b to d is greater than the deductible pension expenses according to § 10 paragraph 1 number 3 and number 3a in connection with paragraph 4;
[...]
Question 2
No waiver as per answer to question 1 and there section 1. Unemployment benefits (ALG I) are subject to progression clause.
Question 3
You should inform the tax office of your change of residence by presenting a deregistration certificate.
Yours sincerely,
Ulrich Stiller
Tax consultant/Diploma in Business Administration
