How much house can I afford?

Hello, we have just gone through the story with the parental allowance. Unfortunately, we only found out late that it basically makes sense to change the tax class (were 4/4). Then we changed it, and my wife was in tax class 4 for 6 months and tax class 3 for 6 months in the 12 months before the birth. However, only by excluding the maternity period. For my 2 months of parental leave (6 months tax class 4 and 6 months tax class 5), the tax class I had last was taken into account. In general, the tax class that you had more of counts; with an even split (i.e., 6 months each), the one you had last counts. For us, in the end, that worked out well since my wife receives 12 months of parental allowance and I only 2 months. For the next child, I will try not to optimize it so that tax class 3 counts for each of us.

Evening everyone, can someone please explain this to me step by step? Isn't it totally irrelevant which tax class you have since at the end of the year or with the tax return [4/4] is used?

For the calculation of [Elterngeld], the net income is used. Therefore, it is recommended for the person who wants to receive it for 12 months to choose tax class 3.

Sounds plausible...

The tax authorities just go along with that? I could imagine a certain gray area there.

I think it is mentioned in almost every magazine for parents that deals with parental allowance.... Many people in our circle of friends do it that way

It is indeed like that. On the other hand, the money also has an impact on the income tax. It is called tax-free, but the tax rate still changes.