Parental allowance, marriage, and tax brackets?
November 14, 2012 | 25,00 EUR | answered by Dr. Yanqiong Bolik
Which tax class should we choose ?!
Hello, it's getting complicated now:
We will get married in November. Since January, my husband has been receiving a gross salary of 2,750 EUR with tax class 1.
I have been receiving maternity pay of 1,650 EUR until June, and from June onwards I will receive parental allowance of 960 EUR. In January and February, I still received my regular salary. Which tax classes should we switch to after the wedding, so is it worth switching to 3 and 5, or rather 4 and 4 (to possibly get some money back)? How is the parental allowance taxed?! If I start working again next year and earn around 2,000 EUR gross, which tax classes should we choose then?!
Dear inquirer,
Thank you for your inquiry, which I will gladly answer taking into account your input and the rules of this platform.
Please note that my explanation is based on the facts presented, and that adding, omitting, changing information, or the ambiguity of information can alter the tax result.
Parental allowance as a social benefit is based on your net income. If you choose an unfavorable tax class V, your net income will be lower accordingly, which could reduce your parental allowance.
From an income tax perspective, the tax class combination has no effect on the determination of income tax. In principle, it can be used to regulate liquidity throughout the calendar year. If you wish to have more net income available during the year, it would be advisable for your husband as the higher earner to choose the more favorable tax class III and for you to choose tax class V. With this distribution of tax classes, there may be a tax repayment. If you want to avoid a repayment as much as possible, the tax class combination IV/IV is recommended. Based on a rough calculation using a monthly net income of 2750 EUR and 2000 EUR, the difference in the ongoing tax burden between tax classes III/V and IV/IV is less than 10 EUR, as the difference between 2750 EUR and 2000 EUR is not very high.
Please note that the rough calculation is only for initial orientation. Information on other factors (e.g. social security contributions, etc.) is missing.
I hope I was able to assist you.
If there is still any uncertainty, please feel free to use the follow-up function.
Best regards,
Dr. Yanqiong Bolik
Tax consultant
Bildstöckle 6, 70567 Stuttgart
Tel: +49 (0)711 / 2132 1815
Email: info@zdbz.de
www.steuerberatung.zdbz.de
