Income tax law distinguishes between the mandatory and the application assessment
- Mandatory assessment: you must file an income tax return without being asked to do so.
- Application assessment: You can voluntarily submit an income tax return in order to get back excess tax (e.g. wage tax) from the tax office
The type of assessment and the submission deadline depend, among other things, on your income
Submission deadlines for compulsory assessment:
Income tax return 2019:
- Submission deadline without a tax advisor: 31.07.2020
- Submission deadline without a tax advisor for income from agriculture and forestry: 31.01.2021
- Submission deadline with tax advisor: 31.08.2021
- Submission deadline with tax advisor for income from agriculture and forestry: 31.12.2021
Income tax return 2020:
- Submission deadline without tax advisor: 31.10.2021
- Submission deadline without tax advisor for income from agriculture and forestry: 02.05.2022
- Submission deadline with tax advisor: 31.05.2022
- Submission deadline with tax advisor for income from agriculture and forestry: 31.10.2022
Income tax return 2021:
- Deadline for submission without tax advisor: 31.07.2022
- Submission deadline without tax advisor for income from agriculture and forestry: 31.01.2023
- Submission deadline with tax advisor: 28.02.2023
- Submission deadline with tax advisor for income from agriculture and forestry: 31.07.2023
Application assessment:
Through the application assessment, you can claim your deductible expenses tax-reducing and get back your overpaid tax from the tax office. In this case, you must file your return with your tax office within four years of the end of the calendar year in which the wages were received.
You have until 31 December 2021 to submit your income tax returns for 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 to your tax office.
Note
In the following video, the tax office of the future explains the filing deadlines for employees simply and quickly.