Landungsbrücken

Permanent separation of spouses and life partners leads to a change in the tax class

If you live permanently separated from your spouse/partner, the family-friendly tax class combination (III/V; IV/IV; IV/IV with factor) can no longer be taken into account in the year after the separation.

Important notes

Prerequisites

Permanent separation of spouses / civil partners or divorce / dissolution of marriage / civil partnership.

Documents required

Submit the form "Declaration on permanent separation" with tax identification number and signature or application with ELSTER.


The application only needs to be signed by one of the parties concerned.

Please note

  • For ELStAM matters, you can contact any regional tax office in Hamburg.
  • The registration offices are responsible for changing the civil status data in the registration register (e.g. marriage, birth).

Deadlines

The notification must be made immediately on the officially prescribed form at the responsible tax office.

Procedure & Fees

Procedure

In order for the correct tax class to be taken into account, you must inform your responsible tax office immediately of a permanent separation, divorce or annulment of the civil partnership on the officially prescribed form.
For this you can use the corresponding application of the online tax office ELSTER.

Processing time

After you have submitted a corresponding request, it will be implemented immediately. The change in the wage tax deduction procedure can be accessed by the employer at the beginning of the calendar month following the application.

Fees

No

Service description

For the allocation of tax classes III/V, IV/IV, IV/IV with a factor, it is a prerequisite that you and your spouse or your spouse/life partner on 1.1. of the year do not live permanently apart.

A permanent separation is to be assumed if the life and economic community belonging to the marriage/life partnership no longer exists in the long term according to the overall picture of the circumstances.

  • If the separation takes place after 1.1. of a year, the previous tax brackets still apply for the current year.
  • In the year of separation, only a change of tax class from tax class III to V or vice versa or to IV/IV is possible.
  • Only from 1.1. of the following year, you and your spouse or partner will be placed in tax class I. Your employer will be informed of the changed tax class automatically.
  • Live with your child from 1.1. of the following year in a household, you can – if the other requirements are met – also apply for tax class II.

If your marriage is divorced/your civil partnership is dissolved, the following applies:
  • Did you and your spouse or partner already on 1.1. lived separately during the divorce/year of annulment, there are basically no changes in the tax class. You remain assigned to tax class I or, if the requirements are met, to tax class II.
  • Did you and your spouse or your spouse/life partner on 1.1. the year of the divorce or the year of annulment, the previous tax brackets still apply in principle for the year of the divorce/annulment of the civil partnership.
    • It is only possible to change tax class from tax class III to V or vice versa or to IV/IV.
    • Only from 1.1. of the following year, you and your former spouse or your spouse/life partner will be classified in tax class I. Your employer will be informed of the changed tax class automatically.
    • Live with your child from 1.1. of the following year in a household, you can also apply for tax class II.

Choose one of 32 facilities ...

Enlarge map

Public Service Disclaimer

Please note: This service on hamburg.com uses machine translations powered by Google. Some content may not be translated accurately or reliably. The translations are constantly being improved. If you have any issues with Google Translate, please visit https://translate.google.com/support.