Steuerklassenwechsel – changing the tax class, and the deadline

A tax class does not change what you owe the state over a year. It changes when you pay it: how much comes off each month, and how much comes back with the annual return. The monthly difference is large enough to be worth half an hour.

First: the old form no longer exists

Anyone looking today for a standalone tax-class form will not find one. There is a single official application covering everything to do with the tax deduction features, and it is called:

Antrag auf Lohnsteuer-Ermäßigung und zu den Lohnsteuerabzugsmerkmalen

It was extended by an Anlage Steuerklassenwechsel and an Anlage ELStAM, and renamed accordingly. A class change is applied for with the main form together with the class-change annex, not on a sheet of its own.

The download button above opens the finance administration’s own form system on the 2026 version — a page to fill in rather than a file to save.

The lines that matter

• Spouses changing the combination: the main form with the Anlage Steuerklassenwechsel, and the combination you want in lines 4 and 5.
• Class IV with a Faktor: additional entries in lines 6 to 17.
• A permanent separation: must be reported, with its date, in line 18.
• Class II for a single parent: applied for with the main form plus the Anlage Kinder, lines 41 to 47. If the entitlement ends, that must be reported without delay in line 34 of the class-change annex.

There are six classes, written on the German paperwork as I II III IV V VI.

The deadline: 30 November

The statute is explicit. § 39 Abs. 6 EStG: for the change to be taken into account in the current calendar year, the application must be made by 30 November at the latest.

For 2026 that last day is 30.11.2026. After it, the change counts for the following year.

When it takes effect

The law separates two cases, and the difference is practical:

• Circumstances changed in your favour — the birth of a child, for instance: the change applies from the first day of the month in which the conditions first existed.
• Spouses swapping their combination: the change applies from the beginning of the month following the application.

So applying late in a month costs nothing, while applying in early December costs a whole year.

Online

The application can also be filed through ELSTER, the tax administration’s own portal. Registering there takes time, because the activation code arrives by post — so close to the end of November, paper is quicker.

Mistakes that keep happening

• Hunting for a separate tax-class form. There is not one.
• Sending the class-change annex without the main form.
• Applying for class II on the class-change annex instead of the Anlage Kinder.
• Not reporting a permanent separation. It is an obligation, not a choice.
• Waiting until December, and losing the whole year’s effect.

Related

• Applying for Kindergeld
• Applying for Kinderzuschlag
• Applying for Elterngeld
• Familienversicherung, family health cover