The tax administration is reviewing approximately 1 million income tax assessments in a special campaign. Due to the large number, the review is not done in one step, but tax office by tax office. "Soon it will be the turn of the tax office Öhringen, then there will be good news for some tax citizens in our catchment area," said the head Katja Konnerth of the tax office Öhringen. Affected are tax citizen inside and tax citizens, who had made illness and care costs valid as unusual load in their tax declarations. The basis is the ruling of the Federal Fiscal Court of 19 January 2017 (file number: VI R 75/14) on the gradual calculation of the reasonable burden in the case of claimed illness and care costs as an extraordinary burden for income tax (Section 33 (3) of the Income Tax Act). Previously, when calculating the reasonable burden, the tax administration allocated the taxable income as the total amount to the relevant income bracket. Now, only the portion of the taxable income that exceeds the respective statutory bracket threshold is charged the higher percentage. This generally results in greater relief for taxpayers.
Since the beginning of June 2017, the tax administration has applied the decision of the Federal Fiscal Court in all open cases. In view of pending appeal proceedings dealing with the constitutionality of the deduction of a reasonable burden, the tax administration issued income tax assessments on this point provisionally as of 29 August 2013. They are now being changed retroactively by the tax administration in favour of the affected persons in a special action. "We are also rolling up the old cases so that citizens benefit as much as possible from the recalculation," adds Katja Konnerth. This is done ex officio. An application is therefore not necessary. The refund amount depends on the respective personal circumstances.