Forgotten Your Tax Return? Here Is What to Do!

In both cases, the following applies: First carry out a brief stocktake. Identify which steps you still need to complete. If you work with a tax adviser, ask yourself: what information and documents does he or she require? Some taxpayers still have large portions of their bookkeeping to complete; others are missing only individual figures in their cash-basis income statement.

Important: Even under severe time pressure, work conscientiously. Gaps in your bookkeeping — and consequently in your tax return — can have costly consequences. A classic mistake is overlooking business expenses or special expenses, resulting in unnecessarily high taxes. Take a little extra time, even though you have already missed the timely filing deadline.

Freelancers and traders must submit at least an income tax return. This distinguishes them from taxpayers who may file voluntarily. For those who file voluntarily, missing the general deadline is less serious: they can simply submit their return retrospectively without difficulty.

For business owners the situation is different: they must send in their income tax return by 31 July of the following year at the latest. If you entrust your tax return to a tax adviser, this deadline is automatically extended to the end of February of the year after that.

Many self-employed individuals must also submit additional tax returns — the filing deadline is the same:

• VAT return: This return is required if you charge VAT and reclaim input tax. You can dispense with it only if you make use of the small-business (Kleinunternehmer) scheme.

• Trade-tax return: This obligation is limited to traders; freelancers are exempt from trade tax.

• Corporation tax: This is a tax levied on companies with limited liability, such as GmbHs. As it relates directly to the company, you submit the return in the name of that legal entity. Profit distributions to yourself are recorded in your personal income tax return.

Have you realised with alarm that you have forgotten your tax return and that the filing deadline has passed? In that case, the tax office may take various steps. The following sanctions may be imposed on you:

• Late-filing surcharge: This accrues monthly and is based on the assessed tax. It amounts to 0.25% of that tax sum per month and at least 25 euros. In the first months after the filing deadline, tax authorities may waive this surcharge — this is at the discretion of the tax official.

• Coercive measures: These instruments are used to put pressure on you. The most common measure is an enforcement penalty. From the tax office's perspective, the aim is not for you to pay the penalty, but rather for you to submit your outstanding tax return. If you fulfil this obligation, you will escape this financial burden.

• Tax estimate: If you continue to fail to submit a tax return despite being requested to do so, the tax office may issue a tax assessment on the basis of an estimate. As a rule, this estimate will be higher than your actual income. You are still required to submit your tax return.

• Late-payment interest: This interest is calculated on the assessed tax sum. It further increases your tax payments if you owe additional tax.

Have you realised with alarm that you have forgotten your tax return? Do not lose time — begin this task immediately. With a bit of luck, a prompt late submission will allow you to avoid all negative consequences such as a late-filing surcharge or an enforcement penalty. In particular if the filing deadline has only been exceeded by a few days or a small number of weeks, there is a good chance that the tax office will refrain from imposing sanctions.

Proceed step by step:

• Check whether your bookkeeping and your cash-basis income statement are complete.
• Supplement and revise your bookkeeping as necessary.
• Sort and check your receipts and supporting documents.
• Send all necessary data and documents to your tax adviser. If you are not entirely sure which information and documents your tax advisers need, ask immediately.

Some taxpayers think of their tax return in time but later discover omissions. For example, they may have forgotten to include business expenses or special expenses — resulting in an unnecessarily high tax assessment. This situation can also arise when you work with a tax practice: a complete tax return requires you to send your tax advisers all relevant information.

In many cases, errors can be corrected:

• If the tax office has not yet sent a tax assessment notice, you or your tax adviser can resubmit the amended tax return. The tax authority always processes the most recently submitted return.

• If you have already received a tax assessment notice, you can make use of the one-month objection period. This is also valuable when the error lies with you.

• Alternatively, an application for a simple amendment (Antrag auf schlichte Änderung) may be appropriate. A point in favour of this option is that the tax office may not amend the assessment to your disadvantage. However, any demand for additional tax payment remains in force — this application does not have a suspensory effect.

• If you forgot to include information in your tax return and the objection period has expired, there may still be opportunities for correction. The ordinary objection period does not apply if you received only a provisional assessment notice or if the assessment is subject to a reservation of review.

Objections and applications for amendment are complex: it is best to leave this task to tax professionals.

Forgotten your tax return? You can avoid this potential headache by engaging a tax practice such as Guhr Steuerberatung. Our experts prepare all your tax returns and remind you in good time when data and supporting documents are missing.

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