The hiccups happen where the tax class automatically assigned to you doesn’t reflect your situation. The latter depends on your marital status. The first will be valid during your stay in Germany (not to be confused with the tax number which is issued by the local tax authorities and changes when you move to another district). How do you obtain a tax class? After registration in Germany, the Finanzamt (tax office) will assign you a tax ID and a tax class.
Taxes for freelancers and self-employed in Germany are a different story. There you will find a number ranging from 1 to 6, or, as the tax class is given in Roman numbers, I to VI. You will find your tax class on your payslip in the left upper corner of the personal information, indicated as SKI.
Tax class VI is assigned to persons on multiple wages from more than one employer. 
Tax class V is for those married to a spouse with tax class III. But if you arrive in Germany with your spouse or, if you marry in Germany, you will be assigned class IV by default. This class is actually meant for spouses earning more or less the same. Tax class IV will be assigned to both spouses. Tax class III is for married people whose spouse is classified under tax class V or recently deceased. Tax class II is for single parents living separately. If you are an unmarried expat in Germany or your spouse lives back home, the tax authorities will assign you class 1 on arrival in Germany by default. Married persons not in classes II, III or IV can also be in class I. This includes widowed and divorced people as well as those living in civil partnerships. Tax class 0 is assigned to people who are not German residents. As this will not apply to most of you interested in changing their tax class, we will only mention it here. What tax classes are there in Germany?Īctually, there are seven, not six tax classes, starting with 0. If you are in the right tax class, that is. Shortly put, the more of the household spending depends on your income, the less tax will be deducted from it. The tax classes are an integral part of the German tax system and are designed to alleviate the monthly tax burden on household income. The overall tax you pay over a year stays the same. In other words, your tax class impacts how much is deducted per month. It will, however, determine how much tax you have to pay each month. The tax class in Germany will not impact the amount of tax you pay.
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