Subsequent application for favorable tax treatment

If an application for a favorable tax assessment in the original tax return would have come to nothing, an application may still be considered in the event of a subsequent amendment of the tax assessment.

In the case of investment income, the tax office only checks whether taxation at the standard income tax rate or the final withholding tax is more favorable for the taxpayer if this is requested in the tax return. This more favorable tax assessment is then also carried out again in the event of subsequent changes to the tax assessment. However, in a case where the final tax assessment was subsequently amended due to other circumstances and the application was not made in the original tax return, the tax office did not want to accept a subsequent application for a more favorable tax assessment. The Cologne Fiscal Court, however, allowed the application. Prior to the amendment, the plaintiff could not reasonably be expected to file the application, because it had gone nowhere and was therefore meaningless.