Basic allowance increased
Many pensioners are free of the burden of tax
April 15, 2024, 7:30 a.m
To compensate for inflation, the basic tax allowance will be increased on January 1, 2024. Anyone whose annual income is less than 11,604 euros does not have to pay taxes on it. Tens of thousands of pensioners will benefit from this increase.
Around 244,000 pensioners will no longer have to pay taxes this year because they will benefit from the increase in the basic tax allowance. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Finance announced this upon request. At the same time, 114,000 pensioners would also be new taxpayers due to the pension increase coming in July.
“Taken together, around 6.3 million people would remain in the ‘taxpayers with pension income’ category in 2024,” the spokesman explained. In total there are around 21 million pensioners in Germany.
The basic tax allowance applies to all taxpayers and refers to the annual income up to which no tax has to be paid. To compensate for inflation, it was increased by 696 euros to 11,604 euros at the turn of the year. Finance Minister Christian Lindner is aiming for an even larger increase retroactively – this is currently being discussed within the traffic light coalition. According to the spokesman, this is not yet taken into account in the Finance Ministry’s figures.
Pensions in Germany will rise by 4.57 percent on July 1st. The taxation of pensions was changed in a reform in 2004. Gradually, an increasingly larger part of the pension becomes taxable, while contributions during the working phase are made tax-free. The later the pension starts, the higher the taxable portion of pension income. Many pensions therefore remain tax-free if the pensioners have no further income.