Einkommensteuererklärung (Income Tax Return)
Annual German income tax return for 2025. Deadline extends automatically to February 28, 2027 if filed through a Steuerberater (tax advisor).
Filing deadline
July 31, 2026
- Country
- Germany
- Tax year
- 2025
- Extension
- 2027-02-28
- Official
- Tax authority
What is this deadline?
The annual Einkommensteuererklärung — Germany's individual income tax return for tax year 2025. For self-preparation, due July 31, 2026. With a Steuerberater, extended to the last day of February 2027.
Who needs to file?
- Mandatory if you're self-employed or a Freiberufler
- Mandatory for employees in various cases (e.g. tax class III/V combinations, multiple employers, income from renting)
- Optional for single-employer PAYE-only employees — but often worth filing for a refund
Key dates
- Self-filing: July 31, 2026
- With Steuerberater: February 28, 2027
How to file
- ELSTER (free official portal)
- Commercial software (WISO, Taxfix, SteuerGo)
- Steuerberater
What people miss
- Freiberufler doesn't pay Gewerbesteuer — don't file a Gewerbeanmeldung unnecessarily
- Häusliches Arbeitszimmer (home office) — flat €1,260 Homeoffice-Pauschale available even without a dedicated room
- Vorsteuer / VAT on business expenses is separate from income tax
- Kleinunternehmerregelung (small business VAT exemption) thresholds changed in 2025 — €25k prior year / €100k current year, hard cutoff when crossed
- Solidaritätszuschlag applies above ~€17k income tax (single)
- Kirchensteuer (church tax) 8-9% of income tax if registered with a church
Prepare this return with open-source skills
These skills are in the OpenAccountants repo. Clone them into Claude, Cursor, or any AI agent and they handle the computation.
Use this skill whenever asked about German income tax (Einkommensteuer) for self-employed individuals (Freiberufler or Gewerbetreibende). Trigger on phrases like "how much tax do I pay in Germany", "Einkommensteuer", "Einkommensteuererklarung", "Anlage S", "Anlage G", "Anlage EUR", "Freiberufler tax", "Gewerbetreibende", "Solidaritatszuschlag", "Kirchensteuer", "Vorauszahlungen", "Betriebsausgaben", "AfA", "Abschreibung", "hausliches Arbeitszimmer", "Fahrtkosten", "Bewirtungskosten", "Grundfreibetrag", or any question about filing or computing income tax for a self-employed client in Germany. Covers Einkommensteuer progressive rates, Solidaritatszuschlag, Kirchensteuer, Anlage S/G/EUR structure, allowable Betriebsausgaben, AfA depreciation, home office, vehicle expenses, quarterly Vorauszahlungen, Gewerbesteuer credit, and interaction with Umsatzsteuer. ALWAYS read this skill before touching any German income tax work.
Use this skill whenever asked about German social insurance contributions (Sozialversicherungsbeitraege) for self-employed individuals, freelancers (Freiberufler), or sole proprietors (Einzelunternehmer). Trigger on phrases like "German health insurance", "Krankenversicherung", "GKV", "PKV", "Pflegeversicherung", "Rentenversicherung", "KSK", "Kuenstlersozialkasse", "Berufsgenossenschaft", "Unfallversicherung", "social contributions Germany", "Krankenkasse debit", or any question about German social insurance obligations. Also trigger when classifying bank statement transactions showing Krankenkasse debits, KSK direct debits, Berufsgenossenschaft invoices, or Deutsche Rentenversicherung payments. ALWAYS read this skill before touching any German social contribution work.
Use this skill whenever asked to prepare, review, or classify transactions for a German VAT return (Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung / UStVA) for a self-employed individual or very small business operating under the Regelbesteuerung in Germany. Trigger on phrases like "prepare VAT return", "do the German VAT", "fill in UStVA", "create the return", "Umsatzsteuer", "Vorsteuer", or any request involving German VAT filing. Also trigger when classifying transactions for VAT purposes from bank statements, invoices, or other source data. This skill covers Germany only and only Regelbesteuerung (standard taxation). Kleinunternehmer, Organschaft, Differenzbesteuerung, partial exemption, and Ist-Versteuerung edge cases are all in the refusal catalogue. MUST be loaded alongside BOTH vat-workflow-base v0.1 or later (for workflow architecture) AND eu-vat-directive v0.1 or later (for EU directive content). ALWAYS read this skill before touching any German VAT work.
This page is informational only and not tax advice. Verify dates and requirements against the official tax authority before filing.