Tax refund in Germany: when do you get money back?

A tax refund happens when you paid more wage tax during the year than you actually owed after the final annual calculation. This is common for employees because wage tax is withheld monthly and not all personal circumstances are accounted for.

Important: A refund is not guaranteed. Depending on your situation, an additional payment can also occur if too little tax was withheld or certain conditions apply.

Monthly payroll withholding is basically a prepayment. It is based on your tax class and standardized assumptions. Many deductible expenses are not considered in that monthly calculation.

When you file a tax return, the tax office looks at the full year and can consider deductible costs or tax credits. This often lowers the final tax liability and results in a refund.

Simplified, the process looks like this:

1. You pay wage tax (and possibly solidarity surcharge and church tax) during the year.
2. With a tax return, you report relevant information and expenses.
3. The tax office calculates your final annual tax liability.
4. Tax paid minus final tax equals refund or extra payment.

There are two key levers: deductible expenses (reducing taxable income) and tax credits (reducing tax directly).

Which factors matter most depends on your profile. Typical strong drivers are commute costs, childcare costs, and §35a services (craftsmen and household services). Filing status (single or joint) and the amount of wage tax already paid also matter.

That is why a single number is often misleading. A range is more realistic because a quick check does not ask for every detail.

For many employees, the commute deduction is one of the biggest reasons for a refund. It is based on the one-way distance between home and your primary workplace and the number of workdays.

The longer your commute and the more days you worked on site, the larger the potential effect. Typical pitfalls: it is one-way distance, not round trip, and not every calendar day is a workday.

If you are unsure, a quick check helps: enter distance and workdays and see how much it likely impacts your estimate.

Children can affect taxes in several ways. For many families, childcare costs are especially relevant. Simplified: certain childcare expenses can be considered, while meal costs usually cannot.

In practice, it helps to estimate the amount correctly and keep non-deductible parts separate. Payments should be traceable (for example via bank transfer).

If you have children and paid for childcare, it can significantly increase the likelihood of a refund. The quick check lets you add this as an optional factor.

§35a EStG can be a strong lever because it can provide a tax credit, meaning certain costs reduce your tax directly (not only your income).

Typical examples include household services (cleaning, gardening) and craftsmen. In most cases, only labour costs count (not materials) and payment usually must be non-cash.

If you had craftsmen at your home or paid for household help during the year, it is worth including those numbers in the quick check.

A few common mistakes can reduce refunds unnecessarily:

• Commute entered incorrectly (round trip instead of one-way, or wrong workdays).
• Childcare entered incorrectly (including meal costs, or unclear totals).
• §35a entered incorrectly (materials instead of labour, or paid in cash).
• Mixing up or missing numbers from the wage tax statement.

The quick check is not a full tax return, but it reduces risk by guiding you through the key drivers and giving a plausible estimate.

A realistic estimate means: quickly understand whether you are more likely to get money back or pay extra, and the rough magnitude. For that, a few core numbers from your wage tax statement plus 2–3 strong drivers like commute, childcare, and §35a are often enough.

SteuKompass shows an estimate as a range on purpose, because not every detail is asked. You also get short notes about which inputs mattered most.

If the quick check suggests a refund, the next step is usually straightforward: use a tax app or file your return with a clear checklist.

If it suggests an extra payment, that does not automatically mean you should not file. You may have missed relevant items. That is exactly what the estimate is useful for: it highlights the levers that could change the outcome.