General

What is an income tax certificate?

The wage tax certificate is an official document that employers must provide to each employee upon termination of employment or at the end of a calendar year.

This document lists all remuneration paid during the year, as well as the tax amounts withheld and other tax-related information. This data serves as the basis for income tax assessment at the employee's local tax office.

Please note:
An income tax certificate should not be created only if the income tax was levied exclusively on a flat-rate basis in accordance with Sections 40, 40a, or 40b of the Income Tax Act (EStG).

Submission of the income tax certificate

The income tax statement must be created by the last day of February of the following year at the latest (e.g., February 28, 2026, for the calendar year 2025) and submitted electronically to the tax office. Since 2023, only the employee's tax identification number (IdNr) has been permitted for this purpose. The transmission is authenticated via a fee billing program or via the Elster portal. The obligation to report applies to both employees with unlimited and limited tax liability.

After successful transmission, the employee must also be provided with a printout in accordance with the officially prescribed template for the income tax certificate, including the electronically issued transfer ticket.

Once the wage tax certificate has been submitted, the wage tax deduction for the calendar year is complete. Subsequent changes are generally no longer permitted from this point on, unless there is a legal reason for doing so.

Correction of the wage tax certificate

Correcting an incorrect income tax deduction is generally no longer permitted after the income tax certificate has been submitted. This also applies if the employer has withheld too much or too little income tax:

If too little income tax has been withheld, the employer may file a report with the tax office responsible for the place of business for reasons of liability. The tax office can then initiate the additional claim for the missing tax deduction from the employee by means of an income tax assessment or a notice of additional claim. Reimbursement to employees for excessive tax deductions is only possible within the framework of an income tax return.

Since 2017, Section 93c of the German Fiscal Code (AO) has stipulated a legal obligation to correct incorrectly transmitted data in the income tax statement. However, this obligation only applies to reasons for corrections and cancellations that are already expressly regulated. Extensive or arbitrary amendments to income tax deductions are still not provided for under Section 41c (3) of the Income Tax Act (EStG). A correction is therefore only possible if there is a transmission error in the data record and the income tax deduction itself was correct.

However, the tax authorities generally accept it if an income tax certificate that has already been submitted electronically is corrected by the deadline in February, even if there is no legal reason for correction (see BMF letter dated September 5, 2024, IV C 5 - S 2378/19/1002 :002, Federal Tax Gazette 2024, 1255).

A correction is also permitted if, for example, the carryover of data from the payroll account to the income tax certificate is incorrect. In this case, the correction must be made using the same identification number as in the original certificate, with the note "Correction." In addition to amendments, under certain circumstances it is also possible to cancel, for example in the case of incorrect personal details or the wrong year.

retention period

Employer

The employer is legally obliged to retain wage tax certificates for each employee for six years from the end of the calendar year in which the certificate was created. This deadline is based on Section 41 of the Income Tax Act (EStG) in conjunction with Section 147 of the Fiscal Code (AO). During this period, the certificates should be available at all times for any tax audits or inquiries by the tax authorities.

Employee

There is no legally prescribed retention period for employees. However, it should be kept in a safe place in the case of queries from the tax office or discrepancies in your tax return. It is recommended that you keep your wage tax certificate for at least four years, as the tax office can still make changes to the tax assessment within this period in accordance with Section 169 (2) No. 2 of the German Fiscal Code (AO).

Structure of the income tax statement

Sample income tax certificate

After sending the electronic income tax statement, the employer is required to provide the employee with a printed copy. This must be prepared in accordance with an officially prescribed template, stating the identification number, and handed to the employee or provided in electronic form.

Please note:
A unique ID (KmID) must be created for each electronic income tax certificate to enable clear assignment in the event of amendments or cancellations, for example.

Personal details of the employee

The entries made by the employer in the payroll account serve as the basis for the wage tax certificate. In addition to the employee's personal data (name, address, date of birth, and identification number), the ELStAM characteristics taken into account in the wage tax deduction procedure must be included:

the tax bracket and, if applicable, the factor for tax bracket IV
the number of child allowances for tax classes I to IV
if applicable, religious affiliation subject to church tax
if applicable, the annual allowance or additional amount

Employer details

The following information about the employer must be provided on the wage tax certificate:

Employer's address
the tax number of the permanent establishment liable for payroll tax or of the third party, if the latter has assumed the employer's payroll tax obligations on behalf of the employer
the name and number of the tax office to which the income tax was paid

Duration of the employment relationship

In line 1, enter the duration of employment with the employer during the calendar year.

Periods without entitlement to remuneration, such as unpaid leave, do not interrupt the employment relationship.

Please note:
If the employer pays other remuneration after employment termination, the month in which the remuneration is paid to the employee must be recorded.

Capital letters

The capital letters F, FR, M, S, and U must be entered in line 2 of the income tax certificate.

Capital letter U	The letter U must be entered if entitlement to remuneration has been lost for at least 5 consecutive working days, e.g. due to illness. However, this does not apply to tax-free payments that are subject to the progression clause, e.g., short time allowance or maternity benefit supplements.
Capital letter M	The letter M must be entered if the employee receives a meal worth up to €60.00 from their employer or, at the employer's request, from a third party while on a business trip or in the context of maintaining two households. This is done regardless of the number of meals and the tax treatment. The letter M is not certified for business-related hospitality.
Capital letter F	The letter F is entered if the employer transports the employee between their home and their primary place of work or a meeting point free of charge or at a reduced rate. For this tax-free collective transportation, the deduction of income-related expenses for the distance allowance does not apply. No entry of "F" is made if the transportation is provided as part of business travel or through the provision of a tax-free bicycle. The number of days of transportation does not need to be specified.
Capital letter S	The letter S must be entered in tax classes I–V if an employee has changed employers during the calendar year and the new employer had to estimate the wages from the previous employment relationship. If this previous wage was not taken into account when calculating other income, "S" must be noted on the wage tax certificate. In this case, the employee must file an income tax return.
Capital letter FR	The letter FR must be entered for French cross-border workers who live in France and work in Germany within the border area. The employer bears FR1 - Headquartered in Baden-Württemberg FR2 - Headquartered in Rhineland-Palatinate FR3 - Headquartered in Saarland if income tax deduction is not applicable. In this case, an exemption certificate from the tax office must be available.

Wages and other employer benefits

The wage tax certificate contains the following tax-relevant data relating to wages:

line	Comment
Line 3	The taxable gross wage includes all regular and one-time payments, compensation, severance payments, as well as taxable benefits in kind and capital-forming benefits. Tax-free earnings (e.g., premiums for working on Sundays, public holidays, or at night, contributions to company pension schemes) and flat-rate taxed wages are not to be included.
Lines 4 to 7	In lines 4 to 7, enter the total income tax, church tax, and solidarity surcharge withheld from your gross wages. Flat-rate tax amounts are not entered. If there is an annual income tax adjustment, the amounts remaining after offsetting must be deposited.
Line 8	Enter here the pension payments included in the gross salary that are eligible for a pension allowance. Pension payments are ongoing or one-time payments that employees receive after the end of their active employment as retirement, disability, or survivor benefits, such as company pensions or death benefits.
Line 9	(new from 2025) Pension payments for several calendar years must be entered in line 9. The amount must be included in line 3, certifiable gross wages. In addition, the calendar year in which the pension begins must be specified in line 30.
Line 10	(new from 2025) In line 10, enter the wages for several calendar years (e.g., severance payments) without applying the one-fifth rule.
Lines 15 and 15a	All tax-free benefits subject to the progression clause must be entered in line 15. These include, among others: Short time allowance and seasonal short time allowance Contribution to maternity benefit Compensation for loss of earnings under the Infection Protection Act From 2025 onwards, the short time allowance and seasonal short time allowance included in line 15 must also be entered separately in the new line 15a.
Lines 16a and 16b	The tax-free salary for work abroad must be entered here in accordance with the provisions of the double taxation agreement (line 16a) or the decree on work abroad (line 16b).
Line 17	In Zeile 17 sind auf die Entfernungspauschale anrechenbare steuerfreie Arbeitgeberzuschüsse und Sachbezüge für Fahrten mit öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln zwischen Wohnung und erster Tätigkeitsstätte einzutragen. Die Steuerbefreiung gilt nur für Fahrten im Linienverkehr und für Privatfahrten im öffentlichen Personennahverkehr, nicht für Taxis, Mietwagen oder Pkw. Die Beträge mindern die Entfernungspauschale als Werbungskosten. Für steuerfreie Sammelbeförderung wird kein Betrag eingetragen, sondern der Buchstabe „F“ in Zeile 2 vermerkt.
Line 18	All employer benefits (non-cash benefits and allowances) taxed at a flat rate of 15% must be entered here. This includes, for example, the provision of a company vehicle for journeys between home and the primary place of work, which are to be offset against the mileage allowance that is deductible as income-related expenses.
Lines 20 and 21	All tax-free meal allowances for work away from home must be entered in line 20, and all tax-free employer benefits for maintaining two households must be entered in line 21, provided that the benefits are recorded in the payroll account.
Lines 22 and 23	Employer and employee contributions to statutory pension insurance and professional pension schemes must be entered separately here. Contributions must also be certified for marginal employees, provided that no flat-rate taxation applies. For company payers, the employer's contribution is certified in 22b and the employee's contribution in 23b; for self-payers, only the employer's contribution is to be entered in 22b.
Line 24	Tax-free employer contributions to health insurance and nursing care insurance are entered here: 24a: Subsidies for statutory health insurance (voluntarily insured persons) 24b: Subsidies for private health insurance 24c: Subsidies for nursing care insurance Subsidies for short time allowance and foreign insurance companies must also be entered here. No registration for compulsorily insured persons.
Lines 25 and 26	In lines 25 and 26, enter theemployee contributions to statutory health insurance (including additional contributions) and nursing care insurance – in full in each case if the employer pays the contributions directly to the insurance fund (company payer). No entry is made for self-payers.
Line 27	Employee contributions to unemployment insurance must be deposited here.
Line 28	This line is for entering the portion of the pension allowance for contributions to private basic health and long-term care insurance that is taken into account for income tax deduction, including any minimum pension allowance that may have been taken into account. Contributions to foreign insurance companies are not to be entered.
Line 29	In line 29, enter the assessment basis for the pension allowance: twelve times the first full monthly salary plus expected additional pay and all additional granted monetary benefits (e.g., travel allowances, company cars, discounts, reduced-rate housing, subsidies).
Line 30	In this line, enter the relevant calendar year of the start of pension payments from line 9.
Line 31	In line 31, for payments of current pension benefits during the year, enter the first and last month (two digits with a hyphen, e.g. "02–12") must be entered. This also applies if you change your health insurance provider during the year.
Line 32	Death benefits, lump-sum payments/severance payments, and back payments of pension benefits must be entered here if they were taxed as other income. The amounts must also be included in lines 3 and 9.
Line 34	For company pensions paid to employees residing in Turkey, Germany may only tax amounts exceeding €10,000 gross at a maximum rate of 10%. The allowance of €10,000 is reduced by the pension allowance, supplement, and employee lump sum (€102). The amount of the allowance used must be entered in line 34 of the 2025 income tax certificate.

Find the answers you need

The income tax certificate