Wage tax classes and tax office responsibility for employees in Berlin
As an employee in Berlin, you are automatically assigned one of six wage tax classes (Lohnsteuerklassen) – you do not need to apply for this as long as you do not want to change your standard classification. Single persons usually go into tax class I, married persons automatically into tax class IV/IV. Your employer retrieves the necessary data electronically from the tax administration (the so-called ELStAM procedure, electronic wage tax deduction data) – for this you only need to provide your tax identification number and date of birth once. Married couples can instead actively choose between the combinations III/V, IV/IV, or IV/IV with factor to distribute the monthly tax burden differently between the two partners.
This page covers only the wage tax classes for employees. How you get your tax identification number in the first place (automatic dispatch by the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (Federal Central Tax Office) after registration at the Bürgeramt (citizens' office)) is explained on the topic page "Social insurance, tax ID, and bank account in Berlin". If you want to become self-employed, other rules apply – see the topic page "Self-employment and starting a business in Berlin".
- Understand the automatic classificationYour wage tax class initially follows automatically from your marital status: single, divorced, or permanently separated persons generally go into tax class I; single parents entitled to the relief amount for single parents go into tax class II. Married persons or registered partners are automatically classified in tax class IV/IV if both are subject to unlimited income tax liability and do not live permanently separated – regardless of whether both partners work.
- Give your employer your tax ID and date of birthSo that your employer can retrieve your electronic wage tax deduction data (ELStAM) from the tax administration, you must give your employer your tax identification number and date of birth at the start of the employment relationship and state whether it is your main or an additional employment. If you do not yet have your tax ID (for example because you have only just moved here), your employer may provisionally withhold wage tax for up to three calendar months based on the expected data.
- For marriage/civil partnership: actively choose a combination (optional)If you want to deviate from the automatic classification IV/IV, you can apply to your competent Finanzamt (tax office) for the combination III/V (one person pays considerably less, the other considerably more wage tax per month) or for the factor procedure IV/IV with factor (an arithmetically fairer split than III/V, but higher per month than plain IV/IV for the lower earner). Since 1 January 2020, the change can be applied for several times per calendar year – also by only one of the two spouses if a change back to IV/IV is wanted.
- Note the 30 November deadline for the current yearA requested change of tax class only takes effect from the first day of the month after the application and must be submitted by 30 November at the latest for it to apply to the current calendar year. Applications from 1 December onwards take effect only for the following year.
- With several jobs: plan for tax class VI for the second jobIf you take up a second or further employment alongside your main job, tax class VI is automatically applied to this additional employment – the class without allowances and with the highest deduction. This can be balanced out again via a tax return at the end of the year.
- Determine the competent tax office via the official searchFor wage tax questions beyond the pure ELStAM mechanics (e.g. applications to change tax class, queries), the Finanzamt in whose district you live is responsible. Determine it via the postcode- or street-level online search on service.berlin.de or at the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern – there is no blanket "one district = one tax office" table in Berlin (see the "Attention" section).
- A complete, publicly published table "Berlin district or postcode → competent tax office" was not found here either – as already stated on the topic page "Social insurance, tax ID, and bank account in Berlin". What could newly be determined, however, is the structure behind it: the Senatsverwaltung für Finanzen (Senate Department for Finance) lists for Berlin 17 regional tax offices for natural persons named after the historical former districts (Charlottenburg, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Lichtenberg, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Mitte/Tiergarten, Neukölln, Pankow/Weißensee, Prenzlauer Berg, Reinickendorf, Schöneberg, Spandau, Steglitz, Tempelhof, Treptow-Köpenick, Wedding, Wilmersdorf, Zehlendorf). Since these names go back to the former districts before the district merger of 2001, several tax offices lie within the same present-day district (e.g. Mitte/Tiergarten AND Wedding for today's Mitte district; Charlottenburg AND Wilmersdorf for Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf) – the exact allocation can only be determined via the street- or house-number-level online search (GemFA) on service.berlin.de or at the BZSt, not via a simple district list.
- The "Finanzamt Berlin International", also based in Berlin, is NOT responsible for ordinary employees, not even for newly arrived ones: according to its own description of responsibilities, it is centrally responsible for all of Germany for taxing certain persons with limited tax liability and for the VAT of certain foreign entrepreneurs (among others companies without a seat in Germany). For normal wage tax questions, the tax office of your place of residence remains responsible.
- Since 1 January 2020 there has no longer been a limit of one change of tax class per calendar year (Drittes Bürokratieentlastungsgesetz, Third Bureaucracy Relief Act) – older advice pages that still say "only once a year" are outdated on this point.
- On how long it takes in practice for a first-time requested ELStAM change to reach the employer (beyond the statutory monthly provision), no confirmed information with a processing time in days is available. No confirmed information is available on this.
- According to the available sources, the same tax class rules apply to registered civil partnerships as to married couples; a separate primary source specifically on this equal treatment was not additionally checked – the statement relies on the general wording in § 38b EStG ("Ehegatten/Lebenspartner", spouses/civil partners).
In depth · Legal basis, figures and practice – for counsellors and professionals
The six wage tax classes (§ 38b EStG)
In § 38b EStG, the Einkommensteuergesetz (Income Tax Act) distinguishes six wage tax classes: Class I for single employees with unlimited income tax liability and for married/divorced persons who do not meet the requirements of class III or IV; Class II for persons who meet the requirements of class I and are additionally entitled to the relief amount for single parents (§ 24b EStG); Class III for married persons if both spouses are subject to unlimited income tax liability, do not live permanently separated, and either the spouse receives no wages or is classified in class V on joint application (also for widowed persons in the year after the spouse's death under certain conditions); Class IV for married employees if both spouses are subject to unlimited income tax liability and do not live permanently separated – this also applies if only one spouse receives wages and no application for III/V has been made; Class V for the spouse of a person in class III if both have applied for this jointly; Class VI for employees who receive wages from several employers at the same time – it applies to the second and every further employment.
Automatic assignment when taking up employment
For single, divorced, or permanently separated persons, tax class I is set up without any action on their part. For married couples/civil partnerships: if no other application is made, the tax administration automatically sets up the combination IV/IV – regardless of whether both partners are employed. This automatic classification is based on the marital status data stored with the tax ID.
Options for married couples and civil partnerships
Instead of the automatic classification IV/IV, spouses and civil partners can jointly choose the combination III/V: the person in class III is taxed considerably less, the person in class V considerably more – in total over the year (with a correct tax return) the tax burden is the same as with IV/IV, but with a very unequal monthly distribution between the two partners. Alternatively, the factor procedure (Faktorverfahren; IV/IV with factor, § 39f EStG) is available: the tax office calculates a factor less than 1, which is applied to both partners' tax burden in proportion to their respective wages – the monthly result is closer to the annual tax actually owed later than with III/V, thus avoiding large additional payments or refunds. Since 1 January 2020, changing between these combinations has been possible several times per calendar year (§ 39 Abs. 6 EStG); the former restriction to one change per year has been abolished. A change from III or V to IV/IV can be applied for by only one of the two spouses alone, whereas a change to III/V only jointly. An application must be submitted by 30 November at the latest for it to still apply to the current calendar year (§ 39 Abs. 6 Satz 6 EStG); it takes effect from the first day of the month after the application.
ELStAM – the electronic procedure
The Elektronische LohnSteuerAbzugsMerkmale (ELStAM, electronic wage tax deduction data) replaced the wage tax card formerly issued on paper. The employer is obliged to register every employee with the tax administration when the employment begins and at the same time to retrieve the ELStAM electronically; for this, the employee gives the employer the tax identification number, date of birth, and whether it is the main or an additional employment. The tax administration makes changes (e.g. after marriage, birth of a child, or a requested change of tax class) available for retrieval in the ELStAM database monthly, at the latest by the fifth working day of the following month. If the ELStAM exceptionally cannot be retrieved – for example because a newly arrived employee does not yet have a tax ID – the employer may, under § 39c Abs. 1 Satz 2 EStG, provisionally withhold wage tax based on the expected taxation data for a transitional period of up to three calendar months; if the person concerned is responsible for the missing information, the employer must retroactively apply the less favorable tax class VI. The mechanics of assigning the tax ID itself (automatic postal dispatch by the BZSt after registration at the Bürgeramt) are not the subject of this page – see the topic page "Social insurance, tax ID, and bank account in Berlin".
Berlin tax office responsibility
According to the Senatsverwaltung für Finanzen, Berlin has a total of 24 tax offices. Of these, 17 are regional tax offices responsible for taxing natural persons (and thus also for employees' wage tax questions) according to the place-of-residence principle; they bear the names of the historical Berlin former districts before the district merger of 2001 (Charlottenburg, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Lichtenberg, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Mitte/Tiergarten, Neukölln, Pankow/Weißensee, Prenzlauer Berg, Reinickendorf, Schöneberg, Spandau, Steglitz, Tempelhof, Treptow-Köpenick, Wedding, Wilmersdorf, Zehlendorf). The other seven tax offices are specialized offices without general responsibility for employees: four tax offices for corporations (I–IV), one tax office for investigations and criminal tax matters, one technical tax office, and the Finanzamt Berlin International, which according to its own description of responsibilities is centrally responsible for all of Germany for taxing certain persons with limited tax liability and for the VAT of certain foreign entrepreneurs – not for the ongoing wage tax of ordinary employees resident in Berlin. Because the 17 names go back to former districts rather than the twelve present-day districts, one present-day district partly covers several tax offices (e.g. today's Mitte district covers the tax offices Mitte/Tiergarten and Wedding); a simple "one present-day district = one tax office" table therefore does not exist. Which of the 17 offices is responsible in an individual case is determined by the street- and, where applicable, house-number-level online search on service.berlin.de or at the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern.
Data gaps
On the specific processing time of individual ELStAM changes beyond the statutory monthly provision period, and on a complete, static postcode table of the 17 Berlin regional tax offices, no confirmed information is available; these gaps are named here rather than silently filled in.
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