Lohnsteuer durch Arbeitgeberinnen und Arbeitgeber anmelden und zahlen

§ Section 41a of the Income Tax Act (EStG)

The legal basis can be found on the website of the Federal Ministry of Justice:
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ao_1977/

As the employer, you withhold income tax from the wages paid and pay the income tax to the responsible tax office after electronically transmitting the income tax registration.

As a domestic employer, you are obliged to withhold income tax from every wage payment to your employees. You must register the withheld wage tax with your competent tax office and pay the wage tax.

You must submit the wage tax registration to your tax office on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis.

The income tax registration period is
- generally the calendar month,
- the calendar quarter if the wage tax to be paid for the previous calendar year amounted to more than EUR 1,080 but not more than EUR 5,000,
- the calendar year if the wage tax to be paid for the previous calendar year did not exceed EUR 1,080.

If your business did not exist for the entire previous calendar year, the wage tax to be paid for the previous year must be converted to an annual amount for the determination of the wage tax registration period.

If your business did not yet exist in the previous calendar year, the wage tax to be paid for the first full calendar month after opening the business is decisive. To determine the wage tax registration period, this must be converted to an annual amount.

As an employer, you are legally obliged to submit the wage tax registration electronically.

You can only submit the income tax return with an electronic certificate. You will receive the certificate if you have registered with My ELSTER. Please note that registration can take up to 2 weeks.

Only in exceptional cases can your competent tax office waive electronic transmission of the income tax return upon request (so-called hardship case regulation). If you are granted an exemption, you must submit the income tax registration on the officially prescribed form.

In order to avoid queries from the tax office, please always enter the number of your employees in the field provided for this purpose in the income tax registration form.

If you discover that an income tax return that has already been submitted is incorrect or incomplete, you must submit a corrected income tax return for the relevant registration period. Entries must also be made in the lines in which no changes have occurred.

In principle, no documents are required.

You have employees and have registered as an employer with your local tax office.

None

- First, inform your local tax office that you employ people.
- Register with My ELSTER and apply for a certificate for the authenticated transmission of income tax returns to the tax authorities.
- Once you have successfully submitted your income tax return, print out the transmission protocol. This serves as proof of electronic submission and is intended for your records.

Generally none; wage tax declarations are usually processed exclusively by automated means.

The wage tax to be withheld must be registered and paid no later than the 10th day after the end of each wage tax registration period.

Information for employers can be found on the Internet on the ELSTER Your Online Tax Office page
https://www.elster.de/elsterweb/infoseite/arbeitgeber

You can apply for the certificate for the electronic transmission of income tax declarations on the ELSTER Your Online Tax Office website
https://www.elster.de

Online registration / authentication is possible on the Internet on the ELSTER Your Online Tax Office page
https://www.elster.de/eportal/registrierung-auswahl

You can obtain programs for the electronic transmission of income tax returns on the Internet on the ELSTER Your Online Tax Office page
https://www.elster.de/elsterweb/softwareprodukt

You can find your local tax office on the website of the Federal Central Tax Office
https://www.bzst.de/gemfa

The income tax registration is a tax return within the meaning of Section 150 of the German Fiscal Code (AO). As a tax return, it is equivalent to a tax assessment subject to review (§§ 164, 168 AO). An objection can be lodged against this (§§ 347, 357 AO; see further information).

- Registration and payment of wage tax by the employer Provision of information
- Employment of persons in an employment relationship
- Information to the tax office about employer status
- Electronic transmission of the wage tax registration for each registration period to the tax office (see further information); authentication is required for this
- Responsible: Tax office

Tax office

In exceptional cases, the so-called hardship regulation, there is a written form requirement. You can obtain the income tax registration form from your local tax office
(see further information).