"What tax class am I?"

There is a certain freedom of choice in tax classes III, IV and V. Which tax class you choose depends on your personal circumstances.

Calculate which tax bracket is favorable

• You are classified in tax class III if you are married and your spouse is also subject to income tax. However, your spouse is not allowed to receive any wages himself, or if he does work, he must be classified in tax class V. If I am III, is the other one V.
• Tax class III is usually always the cheapest for you in terms of wage tax deduction.
• You can also have both of them classified in tax class IV. To do this, you must again be married, your spouse must be subject to income tax and also receive wages.
• If you are single, you will be forcibly recruited for tax class I and, if you are dependent on a child, you will be promoted to tax class II if necessary.
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Income tax rates in Germany - worth knowing

As an employee, you have to pay wage tax from a certain income limit, ...

• The classification in the combination III / V is advantageous if your spouse earns less than you or only works in a temporary employment relationship. As a higher-income spouse, you pay the lowest wage tax in tax class III.

With III you are always well served

• Tax class V has the lowest and tax class III the highest tax allowances. So if I am in III, I have the lowest wage losses in this variant.
• If you and your spouse are both classified in tax class IV, you will usually be deducted too much income tax. This also happens in the combination III / V if your spouse contributes more than about 40% to the family income.
• Conversely, you usually pay too little income tax if your spouse contributes less than 40% to total income and your total income exceeds around € 16,000 per year.
• As a rule, you always have to work out the most favorable tax class for you yourself, taking your personal circumstances into account. You can also do a Income tax calculator use.
• Make sure to decide before the end of the year which tax class you want to belong to. After the start of the year, you can only change the tax class once. If your employment relationships change, you may have to make multiple changes. This can happen if you become unemployed or if you separate from your spouse.
• If in doubt, seek tax advice.
• In principle, you should submit a wage or income tax return Tax office especially if you have high business expenses, special expenses or extraordinary burdens that could not be taken into account in the monthly wage tax calculation.