Claiming back Tax from Germany

Hey guys,

does anyone know anyone in Dublin / Ireland even that specialises in claiming back tax earned while working in Germany? taxback.com charges 16.5% for filing the return!

Cheers,
S

I don't know of anyone in Ireland doing it, but if you still have a German bank account and address (and understand German!) then I can recommend www.steuerfuchs.de

Their website doesn't give a great impression, but they'll calculate your claim and submit it electronically to Elster for €15. If you don't have a digital signature with Elster then you'll need to print off a PDF that Steuerfuchs generates, then just sign it and post it to your Finanzamt. Then you play the waiting game. It took a month for mine this year.

Even if you don't want to pay for the submission to Elster you can still see how much tax you can get back. I even got a few cents extra.

Thanks for the replies guys...

ccraig said:

www.taxback.com

Click to expand...

as I said, they charge 16.5%!!!

Claim it on your Irish return!!

Are you aware of the double taxation agreement between Ireland & Germany? I could recommend several firms but I don't want to get done for advertising, sorry!

But if you are looking for professional help make sure you go to a firm with an international arm.

Is 16.5% relative to the tax your claiming back? For example, if it was €100 you were claiming the €16.50 would be good value however if you were claiming €1,000,000 then €165,000 would be expensive to say the least!!!!

Not aware of that! Feel free to PM me any names you can recommend... I paid 10k tax in 2007 and was working in germany from jan - june so 16.5% is a nice chunk considering I should get a lot back

- S

What are your circumstances? Are you resident in Ireland or Germany? Domiciled in Ireland or Germany? Do you know the rate of tax you paid? I'm not familiar with Germany tax rates of the top of my head.

Are you self-assessed in Ireland?

I was resident and working in Germany from Feb. 2005 - June 2007. I did a tax return for 2005 while I was there so need to do 2006 & 2007. I was on the highest tax bracket but can't remember the exact figure either. I moved back to Ireland in July 1007 and have been permanently employed here since then. I'm not sure what you mean by self assessed

If you did a tax return for 2005 when you were there, would you not to the same for 2006 and 2007?

If you speak German, you can do it online at https://www.elsteronline.de/eportal/. You need to download the elster software. Then you can decide whether you wish to print out your return, sign it and send it to the tax office, or if you want to sign it digitally. If the latter, then you also need to apply for a public key (or digital) certificate from Elster.

The whole thing costs nothing, and when you fill in your details into the Elster online application, it will calculate the amount of tax back you are due. It may not be 100% accurate if you've unusual circumstances. But you get a good idea of what to expect before you even submit your returns to the tax office.

Just remember that you need to download the correct version of the software for the year(s) you wish to submit tax returns for, as tax law (and therefore also the software) changes every year.

I did the whole thing myself from Ireland when I returned a few years ago. Submitted electronically, and the tax office got back to me asking me for proof of Irish income for the year (as I spent half of tax year here), so sent a copy of my P60. As I still had a German account, they then lodged the tax I was due back to that account. They should now also be able to lodge to any Eurozone account.