private pension insurance
June 4, 2012 | 30,00 EUR | answered by RAin/StBin Henriette Regulla-Schiessl
Hello, I have the following problem:
I have always prepared my tax returns myself and had them checked by a very good acquaintance at the tax office's advisory center before submitting them. For very personal reasons, I declared a non-existent private pension in my income tax returns for 2006 and subsequent years for the following reasons:
I only receive a very small pension from the statutory pension insurance and simply wanted to appear in a good light in front of my acquaintance and also wanted to avoid any potential discussions about my pension situation in my social circle.
So far, nobody from the tax office has asked about this pension. Now, a new and very meticulous case worker is responsible for my case and is requesting proof of the amount of the pension.
I cannot provide this proof, of course, and do not want to hide anything here either. My questions to you are:
1. Have I violated any laws or regulations? There is no tax evasion, since I have paid more taxes than required, although in practice this has not had any effect as my taxable income has always been negative due to other losses.
2. Should I expect any repercussions, such as a tax audit or investigation, since the situation may not be believable for the tax authorities?
3. How and what should I respond to the tax office?
Dear inquirer,
Thank you for your inquiry, which I will be happy to answer in the context of an initial consultation, taking into account your contribution and the rules of this platform. The response is based on the information you provided. Adding, omitting, or changing information, ambiguities, or errors in the facts can alter the tax result.
You have declared and "taxed" a non-existent pension without anyone else claiming tax deductions for pension payments.
Therefore, you have not committed any tax offense or misdemeanor, as the common characteristic of tax evasion or tax evasion over time is not present. I cannot provide information regarding other laws and misdemeanors within the scope of this forum.
However, you mentioned that you have incurred losses elsewhere, and as a result, your taxable income has always been negative. Here is the distinction: If you have built up losses in the years since 2006, i.e., always generated a negative total income, you have received too low loss carryforwards through the "better calculation." Thus, you have not even gained an advantage in terms of a loss carryforward. If loss carryforwards have been "used up" in the corresponding years, you may have prevented the offsetting of losses through the better calculation and thus "preserved" the loss carryforward. In this case, you may have gained an advantage, but you have not paid too little tax.
Therefore, I cannot see any tax evasion in any way.
If your information is not credible to the tax office and there are any indications of tax evasion, a tax audit/close company audit may be expected. However, according to your information, this is not the case. In my opinion, a tax audit and certainly not an investigation can be carried out solely due to the overdeclaration of income.
Since the case officer has inquired, you should now uncover the incorrect facts and inform the tax office that the pension does not exist and describe the situation when asked.
I hope this information has been helpful to you.
Kind regards,
Henriette Regulla
Attorney at Law
Tax Advisor
