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, 9% of your income tax is deducted automatically in Hesse. Leaving formally requires an appointment and a fee, and takes effect from the following month rather than retrospectively.
In personWho: You
4
Claim the commuting allowance if you travel to Frankfurt or Mainz
The Entfernungspauschale is a per-kilometre deduction for the distance between home and workplace, claimable however you travel — so it applies even though the Deutschlandticket already covers the S-Bahn. On a daily Frankfurt commute it is a substantial annual deduction that a lot of newcomers never claim.
OnlineWho: You
5
If you are buying, learn the Hessian formula rather than a national one
Hesse charges EUR 0.04 per square metre of land and EUR 0.50 per square metre of building floor space — reduced to an effective EUR 0.35 for residential space by a Steuermesszahl of 70% — then multiplies the total by a Faktor comparing your plot's Bodenrichtwert with the municipal average, and only then applies the city's Hebesatz. It is neither the federal value model nor Baden-Württemberg's land-value one.
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 your declared floor areas, if you own property

Things most newcomers don’t know

Hesse taxes property by area and location, not by value.

The Flächen-Faktor-Verfahren applies EUR 0.04 per square metre to the land and EUR 0.50 to building floor space, with residential space reduced to an effective EUR 0.35 through a 70% Steuermesszahl, then multiplies by a Faktor derived from comparing the plot's Bodenrichtwert with the municipal average. Property-tax reasoning imported from a federal-model state — or from Baden-Württemberg's land-only model — gives the wrong answer here.

Source: Hessische Steuerverwaltung — Flächen-Faktor-Verfahren

In Hesse a large flat in an ordinary street can outpay a small one in a good street.

Because floor area is the base and location is only a multiplier, size drives the bill more directly than in a value-based state. It is a different set of incentives from the one most German property advice assumes, and it is worth modelling before you choose between a big flat in Biebrich and a small one in the Rheingauviertel.

Source: Hessische Steuerverwaltung — Flächen-Faktor-Verfahren

Your Finanzamt follows your address, not your office.

Living in Wiesbaden and working in Frankfurt or Mainz means your tax office, your registration, your church tax rate and your state are all Hessian and Wiesbaden's. That is true even for the left-bank districts with Mainz postal names. The only thing that follows your employer is your payroll.

Source: community-reported

Claim the commuting allowance — this is a commuter city and most people underclaim it.

The Entfernungspauschale is a per-kilometre deduction for the home-to-work distance, independent of how you travel, so it applies to a Deutschlandticket commute as much as to a car. Over a year on a Frankfurt run it is a meaningful refund that goes unclaimed because people assume a covered fare means no deduction.

Source: Bundesministerium der Finanzen

Common mistakes to avoid

Applying federal-model or Baden-Württemberg property-tax reasoning to a Hessian assessment.
Assuming a Frankfurt job means a Frankfurt tax office.
Declaring church membership at Anmeldung without realising it triggers 9% church tax.
Not claiming the commuting allowance because the Deutschlandticket already covers the journey.
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.