Those who hand in just a few months too late can hope for the grace of the tax office.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt Last Friday, the phone numbers of tax offices across the country were hard to get through. No wonder, after all, the deadline for filing the 2020 tax return ended on the weekend. In the middle of the pandemic, the legislature had given all those who are obliged to submit an extra three months to submit their return – namely until October 31. Since the date fell on a Sunday, it became November 1st, or November 2nd in the federal states with All Saints’ Day.
The appointment has now passed. That means, whoever submits his declaration at a later date, risks a late fee. This amounts to 25 percent of the fixed tax, at least 25 euros per month or part thereof. Here, however, the tax offices have a margin of discretion.
The civil servants can turn a blind eye, for example, because the taxpayer has otherwise always submitted on time, the submission deadline has been individually extended or she receives a tax refund anyway. The same applies if the tax is zero or the taxpayer’s expenses were so high in one year that the tax is set at a negative value.
This happens regularly, for example, with students who have very high advertising costs due to tuition fees and then carry these losses forward over the next few years. If you are unlucky with your tax officials, the late surcharge even turns a tax refund into a back tax payment. Then those affected can only try to appeal against the corresponding tax assessment.
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In any case, nobody should dawdle too long. “If you do not submit your tax return within 14 months of the end of the tax year, a late surcharge will be set in any case,” emphasize the experts from Vereinigte Lohnsteuerhilfe eV. For 2020, the end of March 2022.
It is also possible to extend the deadline retrospectively
If you do not want to hope for the possible mercy of the tax office, you should get in touch with them now and formally ask again for a delay. “Even after the deadline, taxpayers should immediately apply for a retroactive extension of the deadline and submit the tax return within the deadline communicated to the tax office,” advises Jana Bauer from the Bundesverband Lohnsteuerhilfevereine eV (BLV).
As a rule, however, the tax office only grants an extension of a few weeks. If that is too scarce for you, you still have the option of taking professional help from tax advice or an income tax aid association. Then the tax return for the past year does not have to be with the tax office until the end of May 2022.
Taxpayers should not go to a tax advisor immediately because of the threat of late surcharges. Because the costs for this quickly exceed the surcharges of the tax office. There is a fee calculator on the Internet: For example, if you earn 40,000 euros a year, you can expect tax consultant costs of 200 to 1,400 euros, depending on the effort. Income tax relief associations are cheaper. With the same annual income, they charge around 130 euros. However, the associations are only allowed to advise employees, pensioners and the unemployed.
Those who switch to professional support do not have to inform the tax office separately. “As a rule, the tax advisor shows the tax representation to the tax office. The taxpayer doesn’t have to worry about that, ”says Bauer. Nonetheless, she recommends contacting an income tax aid association or tax advisor as soon as possible and instructing them to prepare the tax return, i.e. to sign a corresponding power of attorney.
Those who give up voluntarily have more time
The deadline of October 31 is only relevant for those who are required to file a tax return. This is the case, for example, if the taxpayers received income from compensation benefits such as short-time working allowance, parental allowance or child / child sickness allowance in excess of EUR 410 in the tax year. Anyone who changed jobs or had income from self-employment must also go into the assessment.
However, the average employee can also voluntarily submit a declaration to claim certain expenses for tax purposes and thus receive a tax refund. Those affected can take their time four years after the end of the tax year to submit such a voluntary declaration. So if you want to be voluntarily invested for 2020, you have to submit your documents to the tax office by December 31, 2024 at the latest.
More: How to get the most out of the tax authorities – our 45-page PDF dossier provides you with helpful tips for your tax return.