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I moved to Bavaria, Germany, in late march 2021 from Australia. I have paid income tax for that year in Australia.

I recieved letters from the Bavarian state government asking for income tax information for that year, and I was told by friends that their tax rate was impacted by this. Germany has a double taxation agreement with Australia, so I am not sure why I am being approached. This happened after I filed my first tax declaration a few weeks ago here in Germany.

Note that due to convoluted 2 factor authenticaiton I can no longer get access to my Australian tax data which is stored online, despite conversations with the Australian Tax Office. I also am not a resident for tax purposes in Australia and have no assets other than a savings account there.

Do I need to find a way to respond with all my income tax documents and risk them taxing me twice, aren't they missing the double taxation agreement with the other country?

Attached are the documents sent by the Bavarian government for reference. enter image description here

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  • Have the German authorities actually said they will double-tax you? they could just be asking for clarity to ensure the agreement is regulated properly.
    – Rick
    Oct 25, 2022 at 9:38
  • You will not have to pay taxes on your previous earnings in Australia. That is not the purpose of this letter. Your German earnings will be taxed based on your total earnings of the year 2021. For this they to know the amount earned before your arrival to set the percentage. The German income will then be set at that percentage rate. Any difference, that you have allready paid on the German income, will then be refunded or demanded.
    – Mark Johnson
    Oct 25, 2022 at 10:52
  • @Rick From my reading nothing explicit has been said about it, I was just going off an anectode from another immigré. What you have said sounds reasonable if it's just asking for clarity, but I presume sending a proof of filing wouldn't be enough in this case but rather that they want details stretching back to some point in 2021?
    – DropTheLattitude
    Oct 25, 2022 at 10:53
  • @MarkJohnson thanks for the clarification, so from my understanding this will change my tax bracket based on the amount of income from Australia rather than exact tax from the previous income in Australia.
    – DropTheLattitude
    Oct 25, 2022 at 10:56
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    FYI there is also the money.SE that has lots of questions on international taxation issues like yours. (and I'd also recommend the Expatriates.SE for other related stuff as well)
    – Peter M
    Oct 25, 2022 at 14:15

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You need to provide the requested information

You will be taxed in Australia on your Australian income and in Bavaria on your Bavarian income but both systems need to know your total worldwide income in order to work out the correct tax rate. If you earned $50,000 and €50,000 the tax you pay in each jurisdiction is based on the combined income of (roughly) $110,000/€90,000. Just for added complexity, the Australian tax year runs from July to June and the German from January to December.

By law, you have to provide the information you have to provide. The authorities don’t care that it’s hard to get - that’s your problem.

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