Day 70 of 129

Day 70: Deducting the Move to Greifswald

In their shared flat in Greifswald, Carl (B) sits down with his friend Ruben (A) to file Ruben's first tax return online.

How to study this lesson 3 steps
  1. Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
  2. Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a German word to see what it means.
  3. Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native German, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.

Dialogue

Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.

Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning

  1. A

    Sag mal, Carl, wozu tue ich mir das überhaupt an? Das Finanzamt dürfte mir sowieso keinen Cent schulden.

    Seriously, Carl, why am I even putting myself through this? The tax office probably doesn't owe me a single cent anyway.

  2. B

    Da wäre ich nicht so sicher. Du bist letzten April für die Stelle am Max-Planck-Institut hergezogen, und Umzugskosten sind absetzbar, sofern du Belege hast.

    I wouldn't be so sure. You moved here last April for the job at the Max Planck Institute, and moving costs are deductible, provided you've got receipts.

  3. A

    Belege? Die Rechnung für den Transporter müsste noch irgendwo in meinen Mails sein.

    Receipts? The invoice for the van should still be somewhere in my emails.

  4. B

    Sehr gut. Dazu kommt die Pendlerpauschale für deinen Weg zum Institut, für jeden Arbeitstag.

    Great. On top of that there's the commuting allowance for your trips to the institute, for every working day.

  5. A

    Aber ich fahre doch mit dem Rad, das sind gerade mal vier Kilometer!

    But I go by bike, it's only four kilometres!

  6. B

    Die gilt unabhängig vom Verkehrsmittel. Zusammen mit dem Umzug dürftest du locker ein paar Hundert Euro zurückbekommen, zumal du erst ab April Geld verdient hast.

    It applies whatever you travel by. Together with the move you should easily get a few hundred euros back, especially since you only started earning in April.

  7. A

    Ein paar Hundert Euro? Dann bist du ab sofort mein Steuerberater, bezahlt wird in Döner.

    A few hundred euros? Then you're my tax adviser from now on, paid in doner kebabs.

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