Free tax advice

Once again, you don’t know how to do your tax return? Or are you just not quite sure what you can actu­al­ly deduct from your tax­es? The free tax advice will help you! It is an offer of the AStA of the Heil­bronn Uni­ver­si­ty in coop­er­a­tion with the Tax office Peter Schröder (for HN, Thurs­days) and the Tax office Ralph Ben­ner (for SHA/KÜN, Tues­days and Thursdays).

And of course one thing is clear: every­thing you dis­cuss with the tax advi­sor will of course be treat­ed confidentially!

The offer is only valid for enrolled stu­dents of Heil­bronn Uni­ver­si­ty!

Dates and reg­is­tra­tion for the free tax consultation

Dates in Heilbronn

Con­sul­ta­tion appoint­ments are always held on Thurs­days and online. They are lim­it­ed to 20 min and take place between 15:00 and 17:00:

  1. Dead­line: March 30, 2023
  2. Date: April 20, 2023
  3. Date: 04 May 2023
  4. Date: May 25, 2023
  5. Date: June 22, 2023
to the appoint­ment book­ing for HN

Dates in KÜN/SHA

The con­sul­ta­tion appoint­ments are always held online on Wednes­days. They are lim­it­ed to 20 min and take place between 16:00 and 18:00.

  1. Date: March 22, 2023
  2. Date: May 10, 2023
  3. Date: 07 June 2023
  4. Date: June 21, 2023
to the appoint­ment book­ing for KÜN/SHA
Pho­to by olia danile­vich: https://www.pexels.com/de-de/foto/mathematik-technologie-display-geschaft-5466793/

FAQ’s on the sub­ject of tax returns/tax advice

As a stu­dent, am I required to file a tax return?

In itself, there is no oblig­a­tion to file a tax return for stu­dents. How­ev­er, there are excep­tions and keep in mind that it can also often be worth­while to file a tax return.

When do I have to file a tax return as a student?

You must file a tax return if you have been employed by sev­er­al employ­ers and/or if you earn income that exceeds the basic tax-free amount of € 9,984 (2022) per year. This income can be gen­er­at­ed, for example:

  • through self-employed or free­lance activities.
  • through rental income or cap­i­tal gains.
By when do I have to file my tax return?

If you want to file a tax return, it must be sub­mit­ted to your tax office by July 31 of the fol­low­ing year.

How­ev­er, due to Coro­na, the dead­line for fil­ing the 2021 state­ment has been extend­ed to Octo­ber 31. 

How do I know which tax office to file my tax return with?

The tax return must be filed where you are reg­is­tered with your residence.

When is it worth fil­ing a tax return?

It is worth­while as soon as you have earned income from a vaca­tion job or a paid intern­ship, for exam­ple. In these cas­es, income tax was deduct­ed from your salary, which you can reclaim. You can also deduct all expens­es that are clear­ly incurred in the course of train­ing or stud­ies from your income tax. Adver­tis­ing costs recov­er. Inci­den­tal­ly, the tax return is par­tic­u­lar­ly worth­while for any­one who has a Sec­ond degree Unlike your first degree, you can deduct the expens­es for your sec­ond degree as income-relat­ed expens­es on your tax return.

(Source: https://www.absolventa.de/karriereguide/gehaltsrahmen/steuererklaerung-studenten)

Adver­tis­ing costs

Income-relat­ed expens­es are all expens­es incurred in con­nec­tion with your stud­ies or training.

Which costs can I take into account?

The clas­sic study costs, which you can off­set as income-relat­ed expens­es, include:

  • Semes­ter fees and tuition
  • Trav­el costs between home and uni­ver­si­ty or library
  • Study trips and excursions
  • Semes­ter abroad or internships
  • Tech­ni­cal lit­er­a­ture and work­ing mate­ri­als (fold­ers, writ­ing uten­sils, etc.)
  • Print­ing and bind­ing of final and sem­i­nar papers
  • Print­er, lap­top, smart­phone & Co.

Note, how­ev­er, that you must keep the receipts and vouch­ers for this pur­pose. This is because the tax office may require you to pro­vide proof of the expenses.