In short: As an employee you often get money back: enter your work-related expenses, special expenses and household costs, then file via your tax authority’s portal or guided software. This guide uses Germany as the example; for complex cases a tax professional is worth it.
Plenty of employees are owed a refund but never claim it. With a little preparation you can get back what is yours – for simple cases, often without an advisor.
Check whether you must file or may file voluntarily: in Germany, with a single employer a voluntary return often pays off, frequently refunding a four-figure sum.
Collect receipts throughout the year: commuting, work equipment, home office, insurance and household or tradesperson invoices.
Enter your work-related expenses – only the amount above any standard allowance reduces your tax further.
File electronically – in Germany free of charge via the official ELSTER portal (elster.de) or through guided tax software (this example uses the German system).
What matters
The biggest misconception: people think a deduction hands back the full amount. In reality you only save your personal marginal rate — at 30 percent, €1,000 of expenses returns roughly €300, not €1,000. The second mistake is counting items below the standard allowance (in Germany, as of 2024, around €1,230 for employees): that is granted automatically, so only amounts above it count extra. Household and tradesperson services are badly underused — in Germany the labour portion of such invoices reduces your tax bill directly (within legal caps), not just your income. Collect receipts all year instead of hunting in spring. This is general information, not tax advice — when in doubt or for tricky cases, a tax professional is worth the cost.
ExampleExample: at a 30 percent marginal rate with €3,000 of expenses, €1,770 sits above the roughly €1,230 allowance — returning about €531 as a refund (€1,770 × 30%).
If terms like deductible expenses are new to you, start with the tax basics.
In depth
Beat the flat allowances, don’t just meet them
Many people settle for the automatic flat allowances and quietly leave money on the table. You only gain more once your itemised proof exceeds them: the employee flat allowance has sat at around 1,230 € per year since 2023, while the special-expenses allowance is a mere 36 €. If you commute 30 km to your main workplace on 220 days, the distance allowance alone comes to roughly 2,156 € (per one-way trip 20 km × 0.30 € plus 10 km × 0.38 €, so 9.80 € a day) – clearly above the employee allowance, so every further work-related cost then adds on top. The classic advanced mistake is to gather receipts diligently while forgetting that only the amount above the allowance counts as “new” for tax purposes. So before you start collecting, check whether you even clear the relevant allowance, otherwise the effort is wasted.
Extraordinary burdens and the reasonable threshold
Medical costs, dental work or glasses count as extraordinary burdens, but they only take effect once they exceed your individual “reasonable burden”. This threshold depends on income, marital status and number of children, landing roughly between 1 and 7 percent of your total income. Someone earning around 40,000 € with no children bears roughly the first ~2,000 € themselves; only the part above that reduces the tax. This leads to a smart move: bundle plannable larger expenses, such as a costly dental treatment, into a single calendar year rather than spreading them across two, so the combined sum breaks the threshold. Mind the distinction – household-related services and tradesperson work are handled separately and deducted proportionally straight from the tax owed, with no reasonable-burden hurdle. A common error is to mix the two pots together.
Deadline, assessment and appeal
The next level is what happens after you hit send. If you are required to file, the return is generally due by 31 July of the following year; using a tax adviser extends this considerably. If you file voluntarily, you have four years – so for 2023 until the end of 2027 – letting you catch up on several years at once. When the assessment arrives, compare it carefully: do the recognised work-related costs match your figures, and are there signs of trimmed items? If you disagree, you have one month from notification to lodge an informal written appeal. Watch out for a provisional note or a cut “for lack of proof” – here a short letter with the missing receipt attached often works better than a brand-new form.
Checklist
Commuting allowance logged for each working day
Work equipment and home-office flat rate entered
Insurance and donations noted as special expenses
Tradesperson and household invoices kept (submit only on request)
Common myths
Myth: A deduction gives me the full amount back.
Reality: You only save your tax rate — at 30 percent that is about 30 cents per euro deducted.
Myth: A tax return is barely worth it for employees.
Reality: Quite the opposite — many employees receive an average four-figure refund.
Frequently asked questions
What is the deadline for filing?
In Germany a mandatory return is usually due by 31 July of the following year; a voluntary one can normally be filed up to four years back. Deadlines can change and other countries differ — check your local, current rules.
Do I really need an advisor for a simple return?
Not necessarily. With one employer and modest expenses, the official portal or low-cost software is often enough. An advisor pays off mainly for complex situations.
