assess income tax

In principle, the tax office at the place of residence is responsible.

In principle, the tax office of residence is responsible for each partner.

In the private sector, there are generally no statutory retention periods for tax purposes - except for tradesmen's invoices in connection with a property (= 2 years from issuance of invoice) and for donation receipts/confirmations of donations (= 1 year from notification of tax assessment).

However, it is advisable to retain tax-relevant documents (invoices for tax-reducing expenses, bank statements, tax certificates, etc.) until the tax office has completed processing the tax return or until the deadline for appealing the tax assessment has expired. However, if receipts are important for several years (e.g. medical certificates), they should be kept for a correspondingly longer period.

Income from capital assets is tax-free up to the flat-rate savings amount of €801 for a single tax assessment or €1,602 for a joint tax assessment.

However, taxes on investment income such as interest on savings, dividends and gains from the sale of securities are withheld directly by the respective bank and paid to the tax office (so-called final withholding tax). Therefore, this investment income only has to be declared in the income tax return if no domestic capital gains tax (final withholding tax) has yet been withheld. This would be the case, for example, with foreign investment income or interest from a personal loan.

In order to avoid an excessive withholding of capital gains tax, either the bank can be given a so-called exemption order https://www.finanzen.bremen.de/steuern/einkommensteuer/abgeltungsteuer-5240 up to the amount of the saver's lump sum or the issuance of a so-called non-assessment certificate (NV certificate) can be applied for at the tax office of residence.

There are no statutory deadlines for this. Nevertheless, the income tax assessment should be kept in one's own interest, as it also serves as proof of income for submission to other authorities (e.g. for parental allowance, benefits under BAFöG, daycare fees).