How to change tax class in Germany

Ah taxes… Don’t we just all love it?

Probably one of the most boring topics to deal with but also one of the most essential ones, especially in Germany. There are many factors impacting on your income tax rate; few of them are more important than your tax class.

In this post, we will go over what it all means and if you think it’s relevant to your situation, how to change your tax class in Germany.

How to change tax class in Germany

Tax classes in Germany: TL;DR

In nutshell; your tax class in Germany is more or less defined by your marital status. Depending on this, you will be put in different categories by the Finanzamt. This will help your employer apply the correct tax rate on your payslip, hence the name “Lohnsteuerklasse”. This impacts how much wage tax (“Lohnsteuerabzug”), solidarity contribution (“Solidaritätszuschlag”) and Church tax (“Kirchensteuer”) will be taken from your gross salary.

In other words, your net salary is directly related to your tax class in Germany.

As you might have already guessed it; this is only relevant to employees. Self-employed are paying income tax through other means.

Quick overview

There are 6 categories overall.

Tax classMarital status
Steuerklasse 1 You are single, widow(er), separated/divorced
Steuerklasse 2 You are a single parent
Steuerklasse 3 You are married with a higher income (than your partner in Steuerklasse 5)
Steuerklasse 4 You are married with both equivalent income
Steuerklasse 5 You are married with a lower income (than your partner in Steuerklasse 3)
Steuerklasse 6 The class used for additional jobs (Nebenjob or Zweitjob)

Attention married people: you can save money

As you can see, married people can belong to different classes and optimize differently. By default, the Finanzamt will put both partners in tax class 4, when you first register your marriage or marry in Germany. However, for a lot of households, this is often not the best solution. Why, you ask?

It’s quite simple really: the German tax system knows that the higher-earner is often bearing more of the costs in the household. The idea here is to allow for a tax rebate when one of the partners earns significantly less than the other. As a result, moving from tax class 4 to tax class 3/5 might increase the net salary for the higher earner.

When is it worth to change classes in that case?

The higher-earner in the household has to earn a good deal more for this to make sense. They should earn at least 60% of the total household income.

How to change tax classes in Germany

The process to change tax class in Germany is fairly simple:

  1. Get a hold of the form “Antrag auf Steuerklassenwechsel bei Ehegatten” (Request for tax class change for married people). You can fill it online on the official finance ministry website this way When you have filled both pages in, you can download it as a PDF. Alternatively, you can download an empty PDF file here.
  2. Print-it and sign it (both partners)
  3. Send it to your Finanzamt

Important notes

  • The tax class change will happen on the month following the request submission. So that’s when you can see a difference in your net salary.
  • As mentioned at the end of the second page in the document; if both partners are employees and you have been through a tax class change in Germany, it is mandatory to submit a tax statement (Steuererklärung; more info this way) after the end of the year (e.g: do one in 2019 for the year 2018, if you changed in 2018)
You or your Steuerberater will appreciate the change !

FAQ

How many times can i change tax classes in Germany ?

In most cases, this is only possible once a year. However, it is possible to do this more often in the following cases:

  • When your partner is not an employee anymore (becoming a freelancer, retirement, parental leave, unemployment).
  • When your partner is an employee again
  • When one of the partners passes away
  • In case of divorce or separation

What events can be cause of a tax class change?

Very logically, life events that were just previously listed can be cause for change of tax class in Germany; marriage, divorce, death of partner, unemployment, retirement, parental leave, becoming a freelancer.

Can the tax benefit apply retroactively if i change tax classes?

Provided you make the application before 30/11 of that year, you can benefit from that tax cut for the months prior too.

Is worth it for me and my partner to make a change?

You can use this very easy to use simulator. Enter both your gross salaries in it, together with your postal code. You will be able to see if it’s worth to make a tax class change in Germany, and who should be on tax class 3.

I just got divorced/separated, what do i do now to change class?

You would use this form to signify the Finanzamt that you are now separated from your partner. The adjustment will be then made automatically after they process this document.

My partner is living abroad, can i still change class?

In the case you are married or in a civil partnership and you partner still lives outside of Germany, you cannot change tax class. You’d be then treated as a single person.

For a tax class change to be possible, both partners need to be “unbeschränkt einkommensteuerpflichtig”, which means to be subject to an unrestricted income taxation. In practical terms, this is made possible only when the partner is also a German resident.

Hope this little guide helped. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment if anything is unclear.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4  

183 Comments

  • Reply Milos 13/09/2019 at 10:46

    Hi Bastien,

    Regarding this switch to classes 3 and 5, it looks to me that in order to benefit from this, the family should also earn less. Family incomes from €109,990 up to €521,064 are taxed at 42%. So it looks to me that if husband and wife are together making somewhere in this range, then they will be taxed the same amount at the end of the year whether they are in 3&5 or 4&4 tax groups. Do you agree with this observation?

  • Reply Linneman 10/09/2019 at 12:15

    Hi Bastian,

    I have a situation in which my wife started working in the month of August and I went to the Finanzamt in September to change the tax class and the effective change of tax class is only from October. Can we file for a income tax rebate for the August and September where she was taxed at class 5? It also means I was taxed at level 3 for these months. But what is important is that she has a higher salary than mine and she is receiving a huge joining bonus as well. So for us it makes sense to get to tax class 4 retrospectively from August. Is it possible to claim the return tax?

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 10/09/2019 at 21:00

      Hey Linneman, you can claim the difference when doing your tax return next year.

  • Reply Suresh 10/09/2019 at 08:52

    Hello,

    I have submitted form for tax class change today(10-09.2019) and got feedback that it will be changed from 01.10.2019… but my wife is resident here from July 219… Is it possible to get the extra tax paid between July to September as lumpsum in October pay? Or I should get this as tax refund by filing tax return? Or I am not eligible to get extra tax paid between July to September since tax class change is effective only from October??

    Sorry for too many questions. I appreciate your support for many clarification..

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 10/09/2019 at 20:55

      HEy Suresh. You can get this back when doing a tax return.

  • Reply Shade 07/09/2019 at 22:17

    Hello this post is amazing. My problem is also similar to the one above. I’ve lived in Berlin for 3yrs then left for a yr and came back to Munich to live and work. I’m married with a daughter but my husband lives in the UK. Yet I’ve been classed as tax band 6, when I was in Berlin I was tax 2 with no change to my circumstances. So it’s strange how I got moved to 6 because I now live in Munich. Any help or advice would be great!

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 08/09/2019 at 16:01

      Hey Shade. This is beyond my humble knowledge sorry. I have no idea.

  • Reply Deva 01/09/2019 at 20:54

    This is a very nice article.

    I have a question. We ( me and my wife) moved to Germany in 2018 and My Wife had to leave Germany due to medical reasons. She was registered in Town Hall but she did not get the resident permit( before that itself she had to leave the country)

    Since my wife got a townhall registration, she got a TAX ID and my tax class changed to -3. Now my wife is coming back again this month. My wife will get a Resident permit this month

    Question : What happens to my last year tax class ? Will it remains in TAX-3 or should it go to TAX-1 ?

    Thanks in advance

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 02/09/2019 at 09:45

      Hey Deva. You will probably stay in a 3/5 situation. Why would that change?

      • Reply Deva 03/09/2019 at 16:58

        I thought since my wife went back to India last year and coming this year-end would impact my tax slabs?

  • Reply Patrick 22/08/2019 at 13:24

    Hi – very informative post.

    Can i ask if i should send the filled form for tax class change by hand (directly to the Finanzamt) or should i post it via post office?

    I live quite near to the Finanzamt actually.

    Thanks.

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 25/08/2019 at 13:52

      Hey Patrick. Your Finanzamt probably has a mailbox on site, where you can insert your form.

  • Reply Terry 21/08/2019 at 13:51

    Hi,

    Awesome articles!

    My spouse and I have been on tax class 4 but I am now going on unemployment benefits and we wanted to know if this means she should change her class, and if so to which one? Given that I will be unemployed.

    thanks in advance

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 21/08/2019 at 23:22

      Hey Terry. Probably not, since you are going to find a job soon enough, right?

  • Reply Ahsan 21/08/2019 at 10:40

    Hi Bastien,

    Thank you for this post, really helped alot.

    My situation is I got married in 2018 in Pakistan, but my wife arrived in Germany in 2019, now we’re a registered married couple here.
    My question is what is the marriage date that i should enter in the form a: the Pakistani marriage date, or b: the date we got registered as a married couple in Germany.

    Thanks 🙂

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 21/08/2019 at 23:20

      Hey Ahsan, in my opinion, it makes more sense to put the marriage registration date.

      • Reply Ahsan 23/08/2019 at 12:24

        thanks 🙂

  • Reply Dwaipayan Roy 16/08/2019 at 22:45

    Hey! I found you blog super helpful!
    I have a different and difficult problem and do not know the solution. My scenario is, I have a job which I joined, in Cologne with a contract of 2 years. I am married and my wife and infant baby would be staying back in our country (India). I didn’t want the marriage tax benefit from Germany (as wife would not be staying in Germany) and so I didn’t apostille our marriage certificate and was hoping to be categorized in the Class I (1) category of tax class.

    However, when I went to the tax office, they told me I need to register my marriage anyway and they have categorized me in ClassVI (6) category which is something I never expected of! Simple scenario, I didn’t want the tax benefits and they are charging me an extra 10% of tax!!

    I am not sure about challenging the office. an you please help? FYI, I belong to the TVL-13 category for the employee, in Koln.

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 19/08/2019 at 09:52

      Hey Roy. I’m also very puzzled about this. Your main job is not a nebenjob, i don’t get why you’d be in tax class 6? Did you ask about that?

  • Reply Anand 10/08/2019 at 21:22

    Hello,
    My wife and I had moved to Germany last month. I am having a job here, whereas my wife is not. We both went to the Finanzamt office on 31st July and got our tax class changed (class 3 for me and class 5 for me). The person at the Finanzamt said that the change was done and that we could leave. Since I am on deputation here, my parent company gives me the salary and not the company for which I work here in Germany. My parent company is considering me under tax class 6. They have asked me to provide the updated tax class form. Is there any way to get this tax class form via online instead of going to the finazamt office again?

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 12/08/2019 at 10:59

      Hey Anand. This is Germany… so not for this. Sorry.

  • Reply racks 10/08/2019 at 12:42

    Hallo, informative post! I have a question. I and my wife both are students and also registered on a student visa. Do we have to submit our “marriage certificate” (which is from our home country) with the “Antrag auf Steuerklassenwechsel bei Ehegatten” ? Or, just submitting the form will work?

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 12/08/2019 at 10:57

      Hey Racks. You would have to first register your marriage in Germany before doing anything else. Then make sure to ask if the change happens automatically, or if you need the send form in extra.

  • Reply SAvas 06/08/2019 at 10:23

    Hello,
    I filled form, We move to germany 3 months ago, My wife dont have tax ID. Without her tax ID, should I send to to e post office? Do they accept only mine?

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 09/08/2019 at 16:22

      Hey Savas. Post office? why?

  • Reply Giulia 04/08/2019 at 12:13

    Thanks so much for writing this post!
    Super super useful!
    I would like to ask:
    My partner and I are not married and we are expecting a baby.
    I earn more than him. He’s freelance and his income is very low and basically not taxed.
    We are not registered in the same flat.
    Now my questions are:
    – Can we apply for a tax change if we are not married but if we register as a parents?
    – Can we apply as registered parents if we are not registered in the same flat?
    – If he doesn’t pay income taxes and I do, would be more convenient for me to apply for a tax change as single mum or to switch to III class?
    Thanks a lot!
    Giulia

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 05/08/2019 at 11:28

      Hey Giulia. You need to be either married, or in a registered partnership. You’d probably both belong to class 2.

  • Reply Mamanding Ndow 31/07/2019 at 13:32

    Hello,

    Thank you for the good explanation.
    I am the only person working. My wife is not working and has no source of income. What should be my tax class.
    Under Section B: Steuerklassenwechsel of the Tax Class Change Application form, which options should I chose?

    Thank you

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 05/08/2019 at 11:01

      They there. Probably the 3/5 combination makes most sense in your case.

  • Reply Qianying 30/07/2019 at 22:07

    Hallo Bastien,
    Thank you for your useful post. I have a question on my tax class.
    I am a new employee at a research institute in Germany starting from July 2019. I am married. But my husband is working and living in Denmark. His salary is higher than mine. Both of us are subject to an unrestricted income taxation, even though my husband pays tax to Denmark.
    My HR does not know which tax class I belong to, so she put me in Class 1 now. In my situation, which tax class I belong to? Class 1 or Class 5?
    Thank you for your answer in advance.

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 31/07/2019 at 09:39

      Hey Qianying. No idea, sorry.

    • Reply Tung 13/08/2019 at 14:40

      Hi QIANYING,
      In the post it says “In the case you are married or in a civil partnership and you partner still lives outside of Germany, you cannot change tax class. You’d be then treated as a single person. ”
      So I guess you are class 1.

  • Reply Vinay 30/07/2019 at 20:29

    Hi,
    First of all thanks for this helpful post.
    This is my current situation. I will start working in Germany may be from next month. My wife and my kid will join me from India later in a month or two.
    These are my doubts.
    1. Should I first opt for class I and then apply for class change (class III) once my wife and kid are here?
    2. Is there a chance to opt for class 3 even before they are here?
    3. My wife will not be working at least for couple of years. Is it required for any kind of tax registration required for her?
    4. Approximately what could be % of tax deduction if my gross is between 50k-60k with a kid and wife not working?

    Really apologize for too many questions. But I am really confused with this topic on taxes.

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 31/07/2019 at 09:38

      Hey Vinay. 1. Yes, that’s the only way for now. 2. No, since your partnership/marriage won’t be registered in Germany yet. 3. She will get a Steuernummer/Identifikiatiosnnumer like you, when she registers. See here 4. See here.

  • Reply Juan 23/07/2019 at 10:19

    Hi Bastian! Your article was very useful to me. Thanks!! I have already filled the form to change my tax class. Should I send it by post or hand in in person ?

    Thanks again !

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 23/07/2019 at 20:42

      Hey Juna. Best by post since you can then prove it you have sent it.

    • Reply yasmin 16/08/2019 at 11:39

      Hey Bastian! I have a question. My husband is working full time and I have a minijob and we have a child, we are also married, my question is as the minijob is free of taxes, will we have any problem if we change tax catergory?

      thanks!

      • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 19/08/2019 at 09:48

        Hey Yasmin. Not that i can think of.

  • Reply Karin 18/07/2019 at 20:52

    Hallo Bastien,
    Thank you for your time. question, we are married couple, im with tax class iii and my wife with slight less income with class vi. now, since we have a pre nup Agreement and living with a separate accounts, shes not happy of bearing most of the cut in her salary although im taking care of the household cost as a whole. the question, can we both sit on class iii ?

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 19/07/2019 at 14:18

      Hey Karin. Not that is not possible. 3 is only possible in combination with 5.

  • Reply Jamal 17/07/2019 at 13:29

    Hi Bastien,

    Thank you for the helpful post. Can you tell me what the difference between Steuernummer and Identifikationsnummer is? Apologies and I’m totally new to this?
    I have all these numbers but not sure which is which. How many digits are each usually? That would help too.

    Thanks again!

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 19/07/2019 at 14:09

      Hey Jamal. This is explained in this post.

  • Reply Esther 16/07/2019 at 05:10

    My husband works in the Netherlands and its different no steuer klasses there so I have Steuer klass 5 . Can I change my Steuer klass in Germany

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 16/07/2019 at 09:55

      Hey Esther, you need to both be “taxable” in Germany.

    • Reply Charisma 08/09/2019 at 11:41

      Hi ! I’m having now tax class 4, for 5 years I didn’t change it. But my husband works in Netherlands. I have low income than him.But we both living in Germany. Can I get the class tax 1 or 5 ? or just stay on 4?
      Thanks in advance!

      • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 08/09/2019 at 16:03

        Hey Charisma. That border business is a little bit out of zone, sorry. I can only guess: If your husband is also a German resident, liable for taxes here, and there are no subtle tax relief schemes in place, then i guess you could have a 3/5 arrangement.

  • Reply Page 25/06/2019 at 19:20

    Hey Bastian – we are long time readers. We are on our way to changing tax class brackets as a married couple. Do we need to go to our local Finanzamt? Our local one is actually geographically further away than a closer one which is not technically our local Finanzamt?

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 26/06/2019 at 16:41

      Hey Page. Glad to have been helping for a while. You should deal with the Finanzamt you depend from.

  • Reply Simeon 15/06/2019 at 14:38

    Hi Bastien, Thanks for all the info… I’ve got a couple of questions. I divorced in end of 2015 (remained single parent), but never changed my tax class and returning money since, as in reality I’m in class 2 as s single parent, and before this I was in class 3. In 2018 December, I married again and my partner came living with me. These are the questions:
    1. How can I register with the tax office together with my new partner so that I’m again in class 3 for 2018 and 2019? In other words, I don’t need to change tax classes just the identity of the partner…
    2. My partner has only income from Ireland and no income from Germany – what document does she need to show to the tax office here?
    Thanks a million!

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 17/06/2019 at 10:57

      Hey Simeon. 1. As mentioned in the post, it’s too late for 2018. Not too late for 2019 if you change before end of November. If you married here in Germany, the tax class change should have happened already. If not, then refer to the post to do that.
      2. If she/he is now a German resident, she has to declare all income, regardless of origin via the Steuererklärung, Anlage AUS.

  • Reply Konstantinos 06/06/2019 at 12:04

    Bastien hi!
    I would be so grateful if you could help me here…i am very confused.
    I moved to Germany in the beginning of 2018 and I am an employee (teleworking) for a company abroad. I am official registered in Germany however I do not have any income in Germany. All of my income is generated abroad.
    Do i have to declare my income in Germany? I am entitled to any tax relief?
    thank you so much

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 07/06/2019 at 09:18

      Hey Konstantinos. Have you had a look at this post?

  • Reply Jason 05/06/2019 at 12:13

    Hi there Bastien,

    This blog is very very useful so thank you for keeping this going!

    Here’s an overview of my situation and my question:

    [edited by SiB Editor – Very very long comment. Please: the comment section is for short question only, not a whole consulting request. I am no consultant]

    I am very grateful for any advice you are able to offer.

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 07/06/2019 at 09:14

      Hey Jason. sorry, i am no consultant. I can only give a few pointers in the comments section or some short advice, no a whole detailed response to complex cases.

  • Reply Joseph Dela Cruz 26/05/2019 at 20:17

    Hi ,
    We are lebenspartners we both in Full timer worker,,
    My man is in class 3 taxer and i’m class 5,,
    But now my parner is no more work with the class 3 taxer,
    And i work full time as class 5 taxer,
    Do we have to change the tax class that will not affect is support from the Arbeitam?
    Thank you .

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 28/05/2019 at 10:51

      Hey Jospeh. It’s not related.

  • Reply Surya 22/05/2019 at 13:45

    Hi Bastien,
    I am presently in Tax Class 1. Now my wife moved to Germany and she has started an internship which will be for 6 months only and finishes in November 2019.
    Please let me know if my wife should be registered in Tax Class 5?
    I believe I will change to Tax Class 3 .
    Would be great if you can confirm my understanding

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 28/05/2019 at 10:42

      Hey Surya. You would need to look at the tax simulator to understand if it makes sense. Can’t reply on so little details.

  • Reply Ashish Tyagi 21/05/2019 at 00:36

    Hello,
    I requested the tax class to be changed to 3 from 1 in February, but I am still receiving salary according to class 1. I checked with finanzamt and was told that changes were made in March. Do I need to inform the employer separately or finanzamt sends some information to the employer directly?

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 22/05/2019 at 09:57

      Hey Ashish. The payslip should be adjusted already, but it doesn’t to ask your employer if they have received the update.

  • Reply Ozzy 16/05/2019 at 23:35

    Hi Bastian. My wife has approved family reunion Visa and she will join me. Currently, I am the 1. class and now I would like to change to 3. (and get 5. for my wife). I have a few questions regarding the filling of Antrag auf Steuerklassenwechsel, I hope it will be no problem for you to help me 🙂
    1.) Do I need to fill all fields on both pages? I am especially confused with questions from 32 to 42. Where can I exactly find all those numbers and should I leave empty for my wife since she didnt leave in Germany before?
    2.) Steuernummer… do I enter my existing steuernummer, or we as a couple will get new steuernummer and this field should leave empty?
    3.) 45, 46 and 47 I should leave empty, right?

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 17/05/2019 at 13:55

      Hey Ozzy. 1)Those fields are to fill in if you switch to IV/IV with Faktor. So not relevant for you.
      2) Your current Steuernummer.
      3) Leave emtpy. Those fields are for the Finanzamt.

  • Reply SR 16/05/2019 at 19:02

    Hi Bastien, Thank you so much for all the time & work on this blog- it is a life saver!
    We moved to Berlin in 2017 July and my husband was employed and I a freelancer- tax class 3 and 5 respectively.
    Since july 2018 he left his employment and also changed to a freelancer. At the moment I am making a more regular income then him.
    Do we need to switch the tax class for me being in 3 and him 5 since I make the higher income now? Is it ok to do now or should we have done it before Nov 2018 for it to apply when i do the taxes for last year? Please advice. Thank you.

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 17/05/2019 at 13:47

      Hey SR. You don’t need to do it no. Nothing of this is compulsory. And this won’t have any impact on your tax returns because this only controls the income tax rate on your payslip.

  • Reply Ravindranath 16/05/2019 at 10:57

    Hi Bastien,

    Recently I moved to Germany for my employment. I travel here with my Spouse and Kid. My Spouse will not work and going to join Volkshochschule and kid going to Kinder Creche. I will be in Tax Class 3, but will I get any benefits from my Spouse and Kid?

    Thanks You in Advance

    • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 17/05/2019 at 13:43

      Hey Ravindranath. Yes.

      • Reply Miguel 28/05/2019 at 14:38

        Hello Bastien, first of all thank you for all information and time spent on this blog. It is definitely very useful.
        My situation is similar to RAVINDRANATH. My wife is moving to Germany with me but she doesn’t have a job so I will change from class I to III and she will be class V.
        I have two question:
        1) As an unemployed she will not pay any taxes right?
        2) She will receive any benefits from the government? If yes, what benefits?
        Thanks a lot,

        • Reply Bastien - Settle in Berlin 01/06/2019 at 14:40

          Hey Miguel. 1) If we talking about income tax still; no income, no tax. 2) see dedicated post here.

          • Miguel Berselli 14/07/2019 at 12:56

            I appreciate your reply Bastien!
            Quick question. My wife just registered in Germany. Do I need to wait any confirmation that my tax class changed to IV automatically or I can assume my tax class changed automatically to IV after registering her and I can go ahead and fill the form to finanzamt in order to change my tax class?

          • Bastien - Settle in Berlin 16/07/2019 at 09:48

            Hey Miguel. You’d need to register your marriage/civil partnership in Germany first.

  • Reply Julian 14/05/2019 at 22:22

    Hi,

    We are moving to Germany next month from Argentina. We live together with our spouse and we have a daughter, but we are NOT married (we have a certificate stating that we live together). She will not be working in 2019. Is marrying the only way to file our tax return jointly and be class III?

    Thanks!

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