Must: if you had tax class VI, worked for two employers at the same time, or had other untaxed income above 410 euros (§ 46 EStG). May: everyone else, for up to four years after the tax year, and it pays if wage tax was deducted although your taxable income stayed under the basic allowance, 12,348 euros for 2026 (allowances come off your gross pay first, so the line sits higher than that). After leaving Germany you can still file for the years you lived here. If you never lived here and only worked a few weeks, the wage tax deducted is usually final; a refund is then only open to EU and EEA citizens.
§§ 1, 32a, 40, 46 and 50 EStG, §§ 123 and 169 AO (gesetze-im-internet.de), the tax offices of North Rhine-Westphalia (deadlines), Federal Ministry of Finance (basic allowance 2026, double taxation), Berlin service portal, Federal Central Tax Office (IBAN), ELSTER. All checked on 21 September 2026, links at the bottom. This is not tax advice: for your own figures, the tax office answers questions, and a Lohnsteuerhilfeverein or a tax adviser does the return for a fee.
If wage tax was deducted from your pay, the tax office only assesses you in the cases listed in § 46 Abs. 2 EStG. The ones that hit students: wage tax was deducted under tax class VI, or you drew pay from two employers at the same time (Nr. 2); or you had other income of more than 410 euros that was not taxed at source (Nr. 1). Then you must file. For the 2025 return the deadline was 31 July 2026, or 1 March 2027 if a tax adviser files for you; the tax offices of North Rhine-Westphalia publish the dates for each year.
Everyone else may file (Nr. 8). The application is the tax return itself, and you have four years: for the tax year 2026 until the end of 2030 (§ 169 AO; the Berlin service portal shows the example).
Why bother: income tax in 2026 starts only above a taxable income of 12,348 euros a year (§ 32a EStG). Wage tax is calculated for each pay period, usually the month, for short assignments sometimes the day, as if you earned that much all year. A strong summer month is therefore taxed high although your income for the year stays low. Three months of full-time work on tax class I, and the tax office is usually holding money that a return brings back. Tax class VI deducts from the first euro; there the return is where the money comes back, if your total income for the year was low.
The exception: if your employer taxed a short-term job at the flat 25 percent (§ 40a EStG), that tax is owed by the employer and is not credited in your return (§ 40 Abs. 3 EStG). Nothing to reclaim. At echt Personal short-term jobs run through your tax class, so your payslips show the wage tax you can claim back.
The years you lived here stay yours. You were fully liable to tax while you had a home or your habitual residence in Germany (§ 1 EStG; what counts is where you lived, not the registration), and you can file for those years from anywhere in the world, within the four years. In practice: address the return to the tax office of your last German address and say in a note that you have moved abroad; it tells you if another office is responsible. If you live outside the EU and the EEA, the tax office can ask you to name someone in Germany who receives your post; if you don’t, a letter counts as delivered one month after it was posted (§ 123 AO).
Practical: set up your account at Mein ELSTER, the online tax office of the tax administration, while you are still in Germany. The refund goes to the bank account you give in the return. If your account is outside the SEPA area (Europe), ask the tax office in advance how it can pay you.
Never lived here, only worked a few weeks, no home and no habitual residence in Germany (what counts is whether you had a place to live here, not whether you registered at the Bürgeramt)? Then you were subject to limited tax liability, and the wage tax your employer deducted is final: no assessment, no refund (§ 50 Abs. 2 EStG). The exception: citizens of an EU or EEA country who live in the EU or EEA can apply for an assessment and get money back; the tax office of your employer (Betriebsstättenfinanzamt) handles it (§ 50 (2) EStG). Swiss citizens living in the EU or Switzerland are treated the same way.
Double taxation: Germany taxes the pay for work done in Germany. Whether your home country taxes it again depends on the treaty between the two countries; the Federal Ministry of Finance keeps the list. Your German tax assessment notice (Steuerbescheid) is the paper your home tax office may want to see.
No, not in that case. You may, and if your taxable income for the year stayed below the basic allowance (12,348 euros for 2026) while wage tax was deducted, it is worth it: the tax comes back.
Yes. Tax class VI or pay from two employers at the same time means compulsory assessment (§ 46 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 EStG). For the 2025 return the deadline was 31 July 2026, or 1 March 2027 with a tax adviser.
Yes, for the years you lived in Germany, up to four years back (§ 169 AO). Use Mein ELSTER, the online tax office; set up your account while you are still here.
Only if you are a citizen of an EU or EEA country and live there: then you can apply for an assessment at the tax office of your employer. For everyone else the wage tax deducted is final (§ 50 Abs. 2 EStG).
No. The flat-rate wage tax is owed by the employer and is not credited in your return (§ 40 Abs. 3 EStG). Nothing to reclaim there.
To the bank account you give in the return. If your account is outside the SEPA area (Europe), ask the tax office in advance how it can pay you.
Susanne Schmidt-Dizdarevic. Authorised officer (Prokuristin) of echt Personal GmbH, responsible for HR. Trained hotel specialist, in staffing since 2009. Signs short-term employment contracts with students and school pupils every week.
The number the tax office knows you by: your German tax ID. From outside the EU? Your residence permit decides your working days: which permit allows what.
At echt Personal short-term jobs run through your tax class, so your payslips show the wage tax you can claim back. Keep every payslip and the wage tax statement (Lohnsteuerbescheinigung) for the return. Looking for a side job right now: jobs in your city.