Apply for tax class change for single parents

Prerequisites

You are single and you have at least one child in your household for whom you are entitled to a child allowance or child benefit. Furthermore, there may be no household community and joint management with another adult for whom you are not entitled to an exemption for children or child benefit.

Documents required

Form 'Application for wage tax reduction' with tax identification number and signature (see links). The required attachments (here: at least the "Children" attachment) can be added to the main form by clicking on the appropriate box on the first page.

Otherwise, the relief amount for single parents can also be applied for as part of the income tax return, e.g. B. if you are not employed or do not wish to be taken into account in the wage tax deduction procedure.

The insurance for the relief amount for single parents (tax class II) must be attached to the applications for consideration of the relief amount for single parents (either application for wage tax reduction or in the income tax return) that the eligibility requirements are met.

If these are omitted, this must be reported to the tax office immediately. If the requirements for the relief amount for single parents no longer apply, an informal written notification to the tax office is sufficient.

Please note

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

Deadlines

No; if the prerequisites for the consideration of the relief amount for single parents no longer apply, the responsible tax office must be notified immediately.




Note for 2020:


If the increase of EUR 2,100 for 2020 could not be taken into account within the scope of the wage tax deduction procedure, the tax relief takes place via the assessment for income tax. To do this, it is necessary to submit an income tax return for the year.


If you are required to submit an income tax return, you must submit the 2020 income tax return to your responsible tax office by July 31, 2021.


If you are not required to submit an income tax return, you can submit the income tax return for 2020 to your responsible tax office by December 31, 2024.

Procedure

In order to take into account the relief amount for single parents in the wage tax deduction procedure, you must submit an application for a wage tax reduction to your responsible tax office. For this you can use the corresponding application of the online tax office ELSTER. This also applies if tax class II ends automatically when your child reaches the age of 18 and was changed to tax class I in the following month, and the conditions for taking the tax relief amount into account are still met.
If it is not possible or not desired by you to take the relief amount for single parents into account in the wage tax deduction procedure, you can also claim this in the context of an income tax return.

Processing time

The application will be processed as soon as possible.

Fees

No

Legal remedies

objection

Legal basis

Section 24b Income Tax Act (EStG)

Section 38b Income Tax Act (EStG)

As a single parent, you can apply for tax class II and thus for the allowance for single parents to be taken into account if at least one child belongs to your household who is registered with you as your main or secondary residence and for whom you are entitled to the child allowance or child benefit. This applies to a biological child, adopted child, foster child, stepchild or grandchild.

The relief amount for single parents for one child is EUR 4,008 (until 2019: EUR 1,908) per calendar year. For the second and each additional child, this amount increases by EUR 240.00 per child and year.

In tax class II, the relief amount of EUR 4,008 (until 2019: EUR 1,908) is only taken into account for one child, even if you have several eligible children. You must therefore apply separately to your tax office to take the increased amount of EUR 240.00 for the second and each additional child into account.

Tax class II is taken into account at the beginning of the month in which the prerequisites for taking into account the relief amount for single parents are met for the first time.

When your child reaches the age of 18, tax class II is automatically terminated and changed to tax class I in the following month.

You must inform your responsible tax office immediately if the requirements for the consideration of the relief amount for single parents are no longer met, since you are only entitled to tax class II for each full calendar month in which the requirements are met. The prerequisite for taking tax class II into account does not apply, for example, if you establish a marriage-like partnership.


Special hint:
The law on the implementation of tax relief measures to deal with the Corona crisis of June 29, 2020 increased the tax relief for single parents by EUR 2,100 each from EUR 1,908 to EUR 4,008 for the years 2020 and 2021. The increase of EUR 240.00 per additional child does not change.

Due to the extraordinary situation caused by the Corona crisis, an application for a wage tax reduction was assumed because of the direct tax relief for single parents.

For reasons of simplification, the increased relief amount for single parents was determined by the tax office responsible for your place of residence without a separate application and made available to the employer for electronic retrieval.

Further note:
Since the law introducing the right to marry people of the same sex came into force on October 1, 2017, no new civil partnerships can be established in Germany.

Since then, same-sex couples have been able to marry each other and are therefore treated equally to opposite-sex couples. Existing civil partnerships can be converted into a marriage.

However, there is no obligation to do so. Already existing civil partnerships can be continued in the previous form.