Your First German Tax Return as an Expat: 2026 Guide

You moved to Germany not long ago, you’re holding your first Lohnsteuerbescheinigung (annual salary statement from your employer), and the whole tax system feels like a puzzle in a language you’re still learning. Breathe. Most expats get a refund of €800–€1,500 in their first year. This guide walks you through the whole thing, in plain English.

In short: You moved to Germany and worked at least one job? Filing a tax return is almost always worth it. Typical first-year refund: €800–€1,500. You need three things to start: your Steuer-ID, your Lohnsteuerbescheinigung, and a record of your income from the country you moved from.

Do I even have to file a tax return?

The first question isn’t can you file — it’s do you have to. The answer changes the deadlines and the penalties.

You are required to file (Pflichtveranlagung) if you:

• Had more than one employer simultaneously (Steuerklasse 6),
• Received wage-replacement benefits (Elterngeld, Krankengeld, Kurzarbeitergeld) above €410,
• Had foreign income in the same tax year you moved (so any salary from your home country before your move counts),
• Are married and on tax class 3/5 or 4/4 with a factor,
• Had side income above €410.

Almost every first-year expat automatically falls into the third category — foreign income earned before the move — so filing is usually mandatory the first year.

The good news: those are also the cases where refunds tend to be largest. Your German employer withheld Lohnsteuer as if you had worked the whole year in Germany. If you actually only worked 4–6 months here, too much was withheld, and you get the difference back through the tax return.

The three documents that start everything

Before diving into forms, collect these three. Nothing moves without them.

1. Steuer-Identifikationsnummer (Steuer-ID)

• 11-digit number, valid for life
• Mailed automatically by the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern 2–4 weeks after your first Anmeldung at the Bürgeramt
• No Steuer-ID, no tax return — and no employer can run your payroll without it

Tip: If the letter never arrived or you misplaced it, you can request it again from the BZSt. A new letter comes by post within about 4 weeks.

2. Lohnsteuerbescheinigung (annual salary statement)

• Year-end summary from your German employer
• Shows gross salary, withheld Lohnsteuer (wage tax), Solidaritätszuschlag (solidarity surcharge), Kirchensteuer (church tax, if applicable), and social security contributions
• Issued by end of February of the following year (for 2025, expect it by end of February 2026)
• Usually available on your HR portal or mailed to you

3. Proof of your pre-move income

• Pay slips or year-end statements from your home country for January through the month you moved
• Or your home-country tax return
• UK P60, US W-2, Spanish “Certificado de Retenciones”, Indian Form 16 — any official annual summary works

This foreign income is not taxed in Germany, but it is required for the Progressionsvorbehalt (more on that below).

Which forms (Anlagen) do I need?

Germany loves forms. For most first-year expats, three of them:

• Hauptvordruck — the main form. Personal details, marital status, children, bank details for your refund.
• Anlage N (Einkünfte aus nichtselbständiger Arbeit) — employment income. This is where the numbers from your Lohnsteuerbescheinigung go, along with your Werbungskosten (income-related expenses): moving, commuting, work equipment.
• Anlage AUS (ausländische Einkünfte) — foreign income. This is where your home-country income goes. It’s entered as “tax-exempt income under Progressionsvorbehalt” — untaxed, but rate-relevant.

If you also worked as a freelancer (Freiberufler) in Germany, you’ll additionally need Anlage S and Anlage EÜR for profit calculation. See: freelancer tax deductions in Germany.

Moving costs: your biggest lever in year one

If you moved to Germany for work — which is true for nearly every expat — your moving costs are fully deductible. In most first years, this is the single largest line item on your return.

Deductible Umzugskosten include:

• Transport costs — moving company, international container shipping, insurance on the move
• Travel costs — flight or train for you and your family (one-way)
• Realtor fees — for the new apartment in Germany
• Temporary housing — hotel or Airbnb for up to three months, until your new place is ready
• Double rent — if you kept your home-country apartment during the transition, up to three months

On top of that you can claim the 2026 Umzugspauschale (a flat rate that requires no receipts):

• €964 single
• €1,927 with a partner
• +€850 per additional household member (child, dependent relative)

A typical international move adds up to €3,000–€6,000 in deductible costs. At a marginal tax rate of 30–40%, that translates to €900–€2,400 back in your pocket.

Important: Keep every receipt — flight tickets, moving-company invoices, hotel bills, realtor confirmations. Finanzamt audits moving costs more carefully when the total is high.

Progressionsvorbehalt: what happens to your pre-move salary

This is the part that trips up almost every expat. Here it is in one paragraph:

• Your salary from your home country earned before your move is not taxed in Germany.
• But it does raise the tax rate applied to your German income.
• The Double-Tax Treaty (Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen, or DBA) between Germany and your home country ensures you don’t get taxed twice.

A concrete example

Luca moves from Milan to Berlin on August 1, 2025:

• January–July 2025 in Milan: €22,000 gross
• August–December 2025 in Berlin: €24,000 gross

Without Progressionsvorbehalt, Luca would pay tax on €24,000 at a normal rate — roughly 14%.

With Progressionsvorbehalt, his tax rate is calculated as if he had earned the full €46,000 — roughly 22%. But that 22% rate is only applied to the €24,000 actually taxable in Germany.

Sounds worse? Yes, but: his German employer withheld tax as if he would earn €24,000 × 12/5 ≈ €57,600 over the full year. The correction still lands in Luca’s favor — a refund of about €1,100.

How and where to file

You have three paths. All are acceptable — the difference is effort and cost.

Option 1: ELSTER (free, official)

• The official Finanzamt filing portal: elster.de
• Completely free, but only in German
• Registration takes about two weeks (an activation code is mailed to you)
• Works if you can read German and have a straightforward situation

Option 2: English-language apps

• Taxfix, Wundertax, Steuerbot, and similar
• €30–€40 per return for guided filing in English
• Good for simple cases — often weaker on Anlage AUS and Progressionsvorbehalt
• Always double-check the final summary before submitting

Option 3: A Steuerberater (tax advisor)

• €300–€800 for a first-year expat return
• Essential for US citizens (FBAR/FATCA coordination), complex DBA situations, or first-year self-employment
• Often worth it in year one — catches deductions most apps miss

Restio tip: Even if you plan to file through ELSTER or Taxfix, a quick pre-check pays off. Our AI tax assistant answers your specific questions in English or German — no appointment, no waiting.

Deadlines: no panic, you have time

• Mandatory filing: due by July 31 of the following year. For tax year 2025: July 31, 2026.
• Voluntary filing: you can go four years back. In 2026, that still covers 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
• With a Steuerberater: extended to around end of February of the year after next (for 2025, that’s end of February 2027).

If you’ve been in Germany for a couple of years and never filed, you likely have thousands of euros still on the table. See also: What to do if you missed the German tax deadline.

Common mistakes first-year expats make

1. Mixing up Steuer-ID and Steuernummer — Steuer-ID (11 digits) is for life; Steuernummer (10–13 digits) changes when you move cities or switch Finanzämter.
2. Incomplete moving costs — flights, temporary hotel, double rent, realtor fees: all of it counts.
3. “Forgetting” foreign income — not declaring is tax evasion (Steuerhinterziehung), even when the income isn’t taxable. Anlage AUS is mandatory.
4. Only looking at the Lohnsteuerbescheinigung — work-from-home days, commuting, language classes (if job-required), and work equipment are all separate line items. See: complete list of tax deductions in Germany.
5. Missing the mandatory deadline — Verspätungszuschläge (late-filing surcharges) start at €25 per month.

How Restio helps

Restio is your calm voice inside the German tax system — in English and in German. For your first year, that means:

• Instant answers — Ask in English or German how to enter moving costs, what Progressionsvorbehalt actually does, or which Anlage you need. The AI tax assistant replies in seconds.
• Receipt scanning — Photograph your flight ticket, hotel bill, or moving-company invoice. Restio automatically detects whether and how it’s deductible.
• Deadline guardian — A reminder well before July 31, so the €25/month late fee never happens.
• Export — All your tracked expenses as a CSV you can hand to your Steuerberater or use directly in ELSTER or Taxfix.

Restio doesn’t replace ELSTER or your Steuerberater. It helps you make the right calls before you file, so your first return goes smoothly and you don’t leave money behind.