The Income tax registration is an employer's Tax return, which is used to declare the Wage tax to be withheld or assumed for a specific registration period to the local tax office. The return is generally submitted electronically.
What is a Wage tax return?
When paying wages, the employer generally withholds Income tax on behalf of the employee. The corresponding amounts are grouped together for the respective Wage tax reporting period and transmitted to the local tax office with the Wage tax return.
The Wage tax return therefore does not concern the tax of an individual employee, but rather the employer's aggregated amounts for the respective reporting period.
What is reported with the payroll tax return?
In Wage tax return, the sums of the Wage tax to be withheld and assumed in the respective registration period are specified in particular.
In connection with the Lohnsteuer deduction, the corresponding details for Solidarity surcharge and Church tax will also be taken into account.
What is the registration period?
The Wage tax reporting period is, as a rule, the calendar month. Depending on the amount of Wage tax payable for the previous calendar year, the reporting period may instead be the calendar quarter or the calendar year.
- monthly generally over 5,000 euros Wage tax in the previous calendar year
- quarterly at more than 1,080 euros, but not more than 5,000 euros
- annually at no more than 1,080 euros
Special statutory rules apply to the determination of the relevant reporting period for newly opened business premises.
When is the Wage tax return to be submitted?
The employer must essentially submit the Wage tax return by the tenth day at the latest after the expiry of the respective Wage tax registration period.
By this point, generally, the total amount of Wage tax withheld and assumed during the registration period must also be paid over to the permanent establishment tax office.
Connection to the Payroll
The tax amounts combined in the Wage tax return result from the Lohnsteuer deduction of the individual employees. This is carried out as part of the Payroll carried out.
The Payroll therefore represents the employee-related accounting, whereas the Wage tax return summarises the corresponding Lohnsteuer amounts for the reporting period vis-à-vis the Tax office.
Wage tax return and Payroll record – what is the difference?
The Wage account is the wage tax record to be kept for every employee and every calendar year.
The Wage tax return, on the other hand, is the periodic Tax return of the employer to the tax office responsible for the permanent establishment.
