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There is a risk of surcharges and interestIf you submit your tax return too late, you will quickly pay for it
Missed deadline, additional costs: Late submission may result in late payment surcharges and interest on additional tax payments.
picture alliance / dpa-tmn / Christin Klose
If you submit your tax return too late, you will quickly pay for it: if you are just a few weeks late, you can face surcharges and interest. However, under certain circumstances, those affected can still prevent this.
Close to filing old tax returns? Anyone who is required to submit one for 2024 has already missed the final deadline of April 30, 2026. The tax would have had to be paid by then – even with the support of a tax advisor or a wage tax assistance association. For the 2025 assessment period, the deadline runs until July 31, 2026, and for tax support until March 1, 2027. But what if the deadline is missed?
“If the tax return is not submitted on time, late payment surcharges and interest on back tax payments may apply,” explains Jana Bauer, managing director of the Federal Association of Wage Tax Assistance Associations (BVL). The interest accrual for a missed tax return from 2024 began on June 1, 2026 – just one month after the deadline. What this means in practice: “Even if the tax return is submitted on time, interest will regularly be charged if the tax return takes longer to process,” says Bauer.
However, there is a loophole through which taxpayers can escape the misery – and through which the interest rates can be reduced in whole or in part. Jana Bauer's advice: voluntarily transfer the additional tax payment that was already forecast when the tax return was submitted to the tax office, stating the tax number and the intended purpose “Income tax 2024 (or 2025)” before the tax notice is issued.
In addition, those affected should inform the tax office – by letter or magpie – that the payment was made voluntarily towards the expected additional income tax payment. If the tax office accepts the voluntary payment, interest on additional payments can be avoided – even for the 2024 declaration.
Because interest is only calculated for full months after the missed deadline, a transfer of the projected tax liability by June 30, 2026 is sufficient to avoid interest. Interest for the 2025 assessment period does not begin until April 1, 2027. The interest rate charged by the tax office is currently 0.15 percent per month.
According to the Bavarian Income Tax Aid (Lohi), taxpayers who are obliged to pay are:
Sources used: awi/dpa
