Income tax class; applying for a change

The wage tax class is part of the electronic wage tax deductionfeatures(ELStAM). A change must be applied for at the relevant tax office.

Description

To ensure that the income tax withheld is as close as possible to the expected income tax, employees are assigned to different tax classes according to their personal circumstances. You can have the tax class stored as ELStAM changed at your tax office. A tax class change can only be made with effect from the month following the application.

In the case of marriages during the calendar year, the tax class combination IV/IV is automatically created for spouses. The spouses can jointly apply to change the automatically formed tax class combination IV/IV to III/V or IV/IV with factor (§ 39f EStG). In this case, the change of tax class - in contrast to the usual cases of changing the tax class combination - takes effect from the beginning of the month of marriage or from the first day of the month of marriage.

You are obliged to have the tax class and the number of child allowances changed by the tax office if the entries differ from the actual circumstances, for example because the spouses/partners are permanently separated and the requirements for tax class III have therefore ceased to apply.

This obligation also applies if tax class II is certified, but the conditions for taking into account the relief amount for single parents no longer apply in the course of the calendar year.

Deadlines

You can have the tax class saved as ELStAM changed at your tax office during the calendar year by November 30 at the latest.

In principle, the (chosen) tax class combination of spouses/partners continues to apply in the following year if the legal requirements are met. However, you must apply for a new factor to be taken into account after two years at the latest.

Forms

  • Form, Bavaria-wide: Antrag auf Steuerklassenwechsel bei Ehegatten/Lebenspartnern
    Please note

    This form has to be signed and sent to the responsible authority. You can sign the form manually and send it by email/fax or sign the form electronically with your qualified electronic signature an send it by (secure) email. If the responsible authority has set up a De-Mail account, you can also send the form by De-Mail using an sender-confirmed message.

  • Form, Bavaria-wide: Erklärung zum dauernden Getrenntleben
    Please note

    This form has to be signed and sent to the responsible authority. You can sign the form manually and send it by email/fax or sign the form electronically with your qualified electronic signature an send it by (secure) email. If the responsible authority has set up a De-Mail account, you can also send the form by De-Mail using an sender-confirmed message.

  • Form, Bavaria-wide: Erklärung zur Wiederaufnahme der ehelichen/lebenspartnerschaftlichen Gemeinschaft
    Please note

    This form has to be signed and sent to the responsible authority. You can sign the form manually and send it by email/fax or sign the form electronically with your qualified electronic signature an send it by (secure) email. If the responsible authority has set up a De-Mail account, you can also send the form by De-Mail using an sender-confirmed message.

Online procedures

  • ELSTER - Ihr Online-Finanzamt

    ELSTER - Your Online Tax Office bundles the online services of the tax authorities. Here you can prepare and submit tax returns and tax registrations via the Internet.

Remedy

Objection

Links to more information

Status:07.11.2023

Responsible for editing:Bayerisches Staatsministerium der Finanzen und für Heimat

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  • Online transactions, Bavaria-wide
  • Online transactions, locally limited
  • Form, Bavaria-wide
  • Form, locally limited
  • Prefillable Form, Bavaria-wide
  • Legal bases, Bavaria-wide
  • Legal bases, locally limited
  • Fees, Bavaria-wide
  • Fees, locally limited
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