Indian interest and funds in the German return: a worked example.

Step 1: Two tax years side by side

India's financial year runs from April to March. The German tax year is the calendar year, so the German return for 2025 covers 1 January to 31 December 2025 and takes income from two Indian financial years: January to March 2025 from 2024-25, and April to December 2025 from 2025-26.

German income tax generally counts income in the year it is received (§ 11 EStG). So each payment is taken by the date it was credited, whichever Indian certificate it is printed on.

Step 2: Interest on the NRO fixed deposit

In this sample the deposit pays out its interest every quarter: four credits of ₹9,250.00 each in 2025, ₹37,000.00 in total. The March credit is on the 2024-25 certificate; the other three are on the 2025-26 certificate.

Interest from India is foreign capital income on which no German tax was withheld, so it generally goes to Anlage KAP. Converted in Step 6, the four credits come to €368.41.

The line number is filled in the pack from the published form of the year, once checked. This sample names the section.

Document

The bank's interest certificates for 2024-25 and 2025-26, or the account statement, which list each credit with its date.

Form and section

Anlage KAP, Kapitalerträge, die nicht dem inländischen Steuerabzug unterlegen haben: ausländische Kapitalerträge

Capital income without German tax withheld: foreign capital income

inWst rule: de.2026.forms.item_section (not yet reviewed)

Tax result

The German tax on this interest, after the saver's allowance: calculated in the pack after the Steuerberater review.

Step 3: Tax deducted in India (TDS)

The bank deducted TDS from each interest credit. Germany credits Indian tax only up to the cap in the tax treaty between India and Germany, and that cap is one of the rules in the Steuerberater review. So this sample carries no TDS figure.

For capital income, the creditable foreign tax has its own section in Anlage KAP. Anlage AUS (Anrechnung und Abzug ausländischer Steuern) carries foreign tax on other kinds of income, such as Indian salary or rent, which the pack's first version doesn't cover.

Document

Form 16A for each quarter (Form 131 from tax year 2026-27), cross-checked with Form 26AS or the AIS.

Form and section

Anlage KAP, Steuerabzugsbeträge: anrechenbare noch nicht angerechnete ausländische Steuern

Tax deductions: creditable foreign taxes not yet credited

inWst rule: de.2026.forms.foreign_tax_section (not yet reviewed)

Tax result

How much of the Indian TDS Germany credits: calculated in the pack after the Steuerberater review.

Step 4: A payout from an Indian mutual fund (IDCW)

In this sample, an Indian equity fund in the IDCW option paid out ₹6,400.00 on 17 March 2025, €67.63 after conversion in Step 6.

For German tax, Indian mutual funds are foreign investment funds. Their payouts generally go to Anlage KAP-INV, not Anlage KAP, entered by fund type (for example equity fund).

The line number is filled in the pack from the published form of the year, once checked. This sample names the section.

Document

The fund's account statement, which lists each IDCW payout with its date.

Form and section

Anlage KAP-INV, Laufende Erträge aus Investmentanteilen, die nicht dem inländischen Steuerabzug unterlegen haben: Ausschüttungen

Ongoing income from fund units without German tax withheld: distributions (by fund type, before the partial exemption)

inWst rule: de.2026.forms.item_section (not yet reviewed)

Tax result

The partial exemption for the fund type and the tax on the rest: calculated in the pack after the Steuerberater review.

Step 5: A growth-option fund and the Vorabpauschale

A growth-option fund pays nothing out, but German tax law still counts a minimum yield each year, the Vorabpauschale. The Vorabpauschale for 2024 counts as received on the first working day of 2025 (§ 18 Abs. 3 InvStG), so it counts in the return for 2025.

It is worked out from the fund's price at the start and at the end of 2024, any payouts in 2024, and the Basiszins the BMF publishes for the year. Units bought during 2024 count only from the month of purchase.

Document

The fund's NAV on the first and last business days of 2024, the units held, and the purchase dates of units bought in 2024, from the fund's account statement.

Form and section

Anlage KAP-INV, Laufende Erträge aus Investmentanteilen, die nicht dem inländischen Steuerabzug unterlegen haben: Vorabpauschalen

Ongoing income from fund units without German tax withheld: Vorabpauschalen (worked out in the section Ermittlung der Vorabpauschalen)

inWst rule: de.2026.forms.item_section (not yet reviewed)

Tax result

The Vorabpauschale itself, the partial exemption and the tax: calculated in the pack after the Steuerberater review.

Step 6: From rupees to euros

The German return is in euros. This sample converts each payment at the euro reference rate the European Central Bank published for the day it was credited, quoted in rupees per euro: euros = rupees ÷ rate, rounded to the cent.

Whether the pack uses the rate of the day or another method, such as a monthly average rate, is one of the points in the Steuerberater review. The pack shows the rate and its date next to every converted amount.

Step 7: Where the tax result comes from

Everything above is mechanical: which document, which form and section, which date and which rate. The tax figures depend on rules: the saver's allowance, the partial exemption for funds, the cap on the Indian tax credit, the Vorabpauschale formula.

In inWst those rules live in one rules engine, each with its source, and none of them produces a figure until a Steuerberater has reviewed it. Until then, this sample stops before any tax figure.

Tax result

German tax on the sample's income, the saver's allowance, the partial exemption and the credit for Indian TDS: calculated in the pack after the Steuerberater review.