Before you start

Steuer-ID, issued automatically after Anmeldung
Understanding of your tax class
Records of foreign income and foreign accounts
An ELSTER account, if filing yourself

Step-by-step

1
Give your employer your Steuer-ID as soon as it arrives
Until they have it, payroll applies the least favourable class and a large amount comes off your pay — recoverable at filing but painful in your first months.
Via employerWho: YouAs soon as issued
2
Understand your tax class
Steuerklasse determines monthly withholding: class 1 for single people, 3/5 or 4/4 combinations for married couples. Choosing 3/5 where incomes are uneven reduces monthly withholding, though the annual liability settles at filing either way.
OnlineWho: You
3
Check your church tax position
If you declared church membership at Anmeldung, 8% of your income tax is deducted automatically here — against 9% in every state except Bavaria. Leaving formally requires an appointment and a fee, and takes effect from the following month rather than retrospectively.
In personWho: You
4
If you are buying, do the land-value arithmetic, not the building one
Baden-Württemberg's Grundsteuer B is plot area multiplied by the official land value, then the state Steuermesszahl of 1.3 per mille — reduced by 30% to 0.91 per mille for predominantly residential use — then the municipal multiplier, which in Mannheim is 365% from 2025. A large plot with a small house can owe more than a small plot with a large one, which is the opposite of the intuition everywhere else in Germany.
OnlineWho: You
5
Mind the state line if you work or move across the Rhine
Rhineland-Palatinate charges 9% church tax and uses the federal property-tax model. Moving from Mannheim to Ludwigshafen changes both, and it is easy to carry the Baden-Württemberg assumptions across a bridge that takes five minutes.
OnlineWho: You
6
File a return even if not required
A return frequently refunds — commuting costs, work equipment, relocation expenses, professional training and double-household costs are all deductible. The relocation year especially.
OnlineWho: YouBy 31 July following the tax year

Documents you’ll need

Steuer-ID
Lohnsteuerbescheinigung — the annual employer certificate
Records of deductible expenses, including the move and the commute
Foreign income and account records
Grundsteuer assessment and the land-value figure for your plot, if you own property

Things most newcomers don’t know

Church tax is 8% here, not the 9% almost every guide quotes.

Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria are the only two states that levy 8% of the income tax liability; everywhere else it is 9%. Generic German relocation advice quotes 9% as though it were national. On a substantial salary the difference is worth checking rather than assuming.

Source: Ministerium für Finanzen Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg taxes the ground and ignores the house on it.

The state legislated its own modified land-value model rather than adopting the federal one. Grundsteuer B is plot area times official land value times the Steuermesszahl times the municipal multiplier, and the building does not enter the calculation at all. Two identical plots in the same street owe the same tax whether one holds a bungalow and the other a block of flats — before the 30% residential reduction. Nothing about the property-tax advice written for NRW, Bremen or Berlin transfers here.

Source: Ministerium für Finanzen Baden-Württemberg — Grundsteuer FAQ

Mannheim's multiplier is 365%, and comparing it to another state's is meaningless.

Hebesätze are only comparable within one valuation model. Mannheim's 365% sits on a land-value base; Bremen's 755% and Aachen's 637% sit on a federal-model base that produces much smaller assessed values. A lower percentage does not mean a lower bill, and the comparison is the single most common error in property-tax coverage after the 2025 reform.

Source: Ministerium für Finanzen Baden-Württemberg — Grundsteuer FAQ

Relocation costs are deductible and the moving-year return usually refunds.

Costs of a work-related move — transport, travel to view flats, double rent during the transition, and a flat-rate incidentals allowance — are deductible. New arrivals frequently do not file in their first year and leave a refund unclaimed.

Source: Bundesministerium der Finanzen

Common mistakes to avoid

Budgeting 9% church tax when Baden-Württemberg charges 8%.
Applying property-tax reasoning from another state to a land-value model.
Comparing Hebesätze across states as though they measured the same thing.
Carrying Baden-Württemberg assumptions across the Rhine into Rhineland-Palatinate.
Not filing a return in the relocation year and forfeiting a likely refund.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.