Request to reduce income tax advance payments (Germany)
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This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
Your request to the German tax office (Finanzamt) to bring the quarterly income tax advance payments into line with lower income under § 37(3) of the German Income Tax Act (EStG) — after fewer orders, higher business costs, parental leave, illness or the end of an activity. The letter gives the year, the current and the requested payment and the expected income, explains the change, covers the solidarity surcharge and church tax, and asks for overpaid amounts to be refunded. For the self-employed, freelancers and landlords. In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Applicant
- Applicant's address
- Tax office (Finanzamt)
- Tax office's address
- City
- Date
- Tax year or period
- Tax number (Steuernummer)
- Current advance payment per due date (€)
- Expected income for the year (€)
- Advance payment asked for per due date (€)
- Reason
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Until when can German income tax advance payments be reduced?
- At any time during the year and up to the end of the fifteenth calendar month after it: until then the tax office may adjust the advance payments to the tax expected (§ 37(3) EStG). An early request, before the due dates of 10 March, 10 June, 10 September and 10 December, does the most good. It can be posted or sent through Mein ELSTER as a ‘Sonstige Nachricht an das Finanzamt’.
- What evidence does the German tax office need to reduce advance payments?
- A plausible reason and figures: a profit forecast for the year, the current cash-basis accounts or management accounts, and for letting, a list of rents and costs. Reasons may be lost orders, higher business expenses, parental leave, illness or the end of an activity. The sounder the figures, the more likely the tax office is to follow the request.
- Can German income tax advance payments be dropped altogether?
- Yes, if the expected tax is small: advance payments are set only if they come to at least €400 a year and €100 per due date (§ 37(5) EStG). In that case enter 0 as the payment requested. If income turns out higher after all, the difference is payable with the assessment, and after a grace period interest of 0.15% a month runs on it (§ 233a AO).
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