tax return
noun · Steuererklärung
Steuererklärung is the tax return, but the German return sits in a different process. The taxpayer declares, § 149 and § 150 AO, and the Finanzamt then assesses and issues a Steuerbescheid. The ordinary annual return is not a self-assessment in the English sense, the figure is fixed by the authority, not by the filer, so a translated tax return can suggest a control over the outcome the German taxpayer does not have.
Which translation, when
Why
A UK tax return under self-assessment is where the taxpayer both reports and calculates, and the figure stands unless the revenue enquires. The German Steuererklärung is only the first half of that. The taxpayer is obliged to file the return, § 149 AO, in the official form, § 150 AO, setting out the facts, but the tax itself is then fixed by the Finanzamt through a Veranlagung ending in a Steuerbescheid, § 155 AO. The taxpayer declares, the authority assesses. The Steueranmeldungen for VAT and wage tax are an exception, there the filer does calculate the tax, but for the ordinary income tax return the German filer does not self-assess and does not set the final number, and the moment that matters is not the filing but the assessment that comes back. Rendering tax return as Steuererklärung is correct, but an English reader who carries the self-assessment model may assume the return settles the liability, when in Germany it opens an assessment the tax office completes.
Typical mistakes
- A German Steuererklärung is a declaration, § 149 and § 150 AO, not a self-assessment, so assuming the filer sets the final figure, as under UK self-assessment, misreads the process.
- The tax is fixed by the Finanzamt in a Steuerbescheid after the return, § 155 AO, so treating the filed return as the settled liability is premature.
- The obligation and form are prescribed, § 149 and § 150 AO, so a casually rendered tax return understates that filing is a legal duty on set terms.
What matters
A client used to UK self-assessment asking what filing in Germany involves: rendering the step as a Steuererklärung is right, but the reader must see that under § 149 and § 150 AO the taxpayer only declares, and the Finanzamt then assesses the tax, so the return does not fix the liability the way a UK self-assessment does.
What the machine misses
Tax return is translated Steuererklärung dependably, and the word fits, but the output cannot convey that the German return only declares the facts, § 149 and § 150 AO, while the Finanzamt assesses the tax afterwards in a Steuerbescheid. The English reader brings the self-assessment assumption that the return settles the bill, and misses that in Germany the authority, not the filer, fixes the figure, so the translated return implies a finality it does not have.
Examples
| to file a tax return | eine Steuererklärung abgeben |
| the income tax return | die Einkommensteuererklärung |
| a joint tax return | eine gemeinsame Steuererklärung |