Why do I have to pay additional taxes?

What reasons are there for a tax payment?

Receiving an additional tax payment from the tax office is certainly not a pleasant thing and raises a number of questions. This will quickly explain the reasons that could lead to an additional payment and how you can check this.

Income not reported correctly

If unexpected income that is not known to the tax office suddenly appears in the tax return are determined, then this income can be a reason why you expect an additional tax payment must. For example, you have commercial or self-employed income in the assessment year through a Receive secondary employment, for which you will not receive any separate tax advance payments in the current year have paid. It is also possible that you had too low a wage tax deduction due to a salary increase, which will then be made up as part of the tax assessment for the corresponding tax year. As a rule, the automatic payroll tax offset is carried out by the employer through the payroll At the turn of the year, salary adjustments are made automatically over the course of the year based on the income tax that has already been paid to align. However, this depends on a few requirements of the employer and the company and is therefore not a must.

Costs were forgotten to be stated

In addition to income, forgotten costs can also be a reason for additional tax payments. Therefore, when determining your individual income for the relevant tax year, you should also take a closer look at the business expenses that you can still claim. There are also a variety of flat rates that you can use for the deduction.

For commercial or self-employed income, you should look at the so-called profit and loss calculation Examine the loss statement and try to determine whether you still have operating expenses in the amount of your sales can optimize. For this purpose, it is generally advisable to use the services of a tax advisor, as they will help you We can help you determine these types of income with numerous tax-optimizing options can.

You should also consider special expenses, extraordinary burdens or budget-related expenses Services/craftsmen's services should also be checked more closely to see whether you still had costs during the assessment period, which you can take into account.

How can you further check the back taxes?

If you have the tax assessment with the tax determined for the respective assessment period, you should definitely check it promptly. In this context, promptly means within a month. If you noticed a discrepancy from the declaration you submitted when checking the tax assessment, you have A maximum of one month to dispute this and request a change from the tax office before the tax assessment becomes legally binding.

When checking the tax assessment, you should have a calculation list from your submitted tax return at hand so that you can understand the tax office's calculation. Either ask your tax advisor who prepared your return for you, or check the tax software you use to prepare your return have.

Now check position by position with your calculation list. If you notice a discrepancy that is to your disadvantage, you should provide more details in the explanations in the notice Read about the reasons why the tax office deviated from the tax return you submitted when making the assessment is.

If you want to complain about the discrepancy to the tax office, a simple application is often sufficient Change, which you must submit in writing to the tax office within one month of delivery of the notice can. However, if you lodge an objection, you can also cause things to worsen, as the entire tax case will be re-examined if you lodge an objection. In the case of specific changes, it is therefore advisable to simply submit an application for a simple change so that not all items in the declaration are checked again by the tax office.

The additional payment ultimately results if the tax advance payment is lower based on the tax assessed. If you can no longer change the decision or If a complaint could turn out to be more detrimental to you, you also only have a short time to pay the additional payment to the tax office.

If you continue to generate higher income in the following years, it may make sense to Make additional advance payments during the year so that the additional payment with assessment is not too high fails.

If in doubt, you should always seek legal advice. You can also take the tax advisor’s effort into account as a cost in your next tax return.