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You have received an assessment from the tax office

Challenging a tax assessment and deferring payment

Understand objections, deadlines and deferral, compute the late-filing surcharge, the late-payment surcharge, interest on arrears and on deferral, lodge an objection, apply for deferral and withdraw the objection where appropriate: 8 steps.

Start here: Objections, deadlines and deferral with German tax offices

Understand: objection, deadlines, deferral

  1. Step 1 of 8
    CoursePaid individually59 min

    Objections, deadlines and deferral with German tax offices

    The objection period runs from notification, not from the date printed on the notice, and an objection does not stop the payment: that is what suspension of enforcement is for, with its interest. The second module covers the applications that buy time: filing extensions, deferral of payment, adjustment of advance payments, plus interest on back taxes. The third covers the binding ruling before an arrangement and the binding assurance after a tax audit. Three modules with case studies worked on the statute itself.

Compute: late-filing surcharge, late-payment surcharge, interest on arrears, deferral interest

  1. Step 2 of 8
    CalculatorFree result

    German late filing surcharge — 0.25 per cent per month started

    TWO clocks run: the months of delay count from the FILING DEADLINE, while the duty to impose counts from the END OF THE CALENDAR YEAR. For adviser-prepared returns both land on fourteen months — so the first month of delay is already mandatory there, whereas a self-filer has a seven-month discretionary zone.
  2. Step 3 of 8
    CalculatorFree result

    German late payment surcharge — one per cent per month started

    The surcharge is one per cent for each month STARTED — and it is charged on arrears ROUNDED DOWN to whole EUR 50, which removes small amounts entirely.
  3. Step 4 of 8
    CalculatorFree result

    German interest on tax arrears — 0.15 per cent per full month

    Here only FULL months count — "months begun are disregarded" — and that is the OPPOSITE of ss. 240 and 152, where a single day triggers a whole month. Three provisions of the same statute, two ways of counting.
  4. Step 5 of 8
    CalculatorFree result

    German deferral and suspension interest — half a per cent per full month

    Deferral and suspension of enforcement cost 0.5 per cent per full month — over three times the rate on late assessments under s. 233a, and with no grace period. Part months do not count, and nothing is charged below EUR 10.

Apply: objection, deferral, withdrawal of the objection

  1. Step 6 of 8
    FormFree20 min

    Objection against a German tax notice (Einspruch)

    One month from SERVICE — or from receipt where you challenge your own return: why the objection does not stop collection, when suspension of enforcement SHALL be granted, and what the objection against inaction achieves. Guide, deadlines and worked example.
  2. Step 7 of 8
    FormFree25 min

    Applying to defer a German tax debt (Stundung)

    Two conditions that must both be met — substantial hardship AND a claim not at risk — security as the normal case, interest of one half of one per cent per full month, and the one debt that can never be deferred: withheld wage tax. Guide, deadlines and a worked calculation.
  3. Step 8 of 8
    FormFree15 min

    Withdrawing a German tax objection — and why you would

    An objection opens the notice UP ENTIRELY: the authority reexamines the matter in full and may decide against you — after a warning with reasons. That warning is the signal, because withdrawal is possible only up to NOTIFICATION of the decision. Guide and worked example.

The other paths

A different procedure, the same principle: the three pillars in order.

Read in German