Objecting to a tax assessment in Germany (Einspruch)

If a tax assessment (Steuerbescheid) looks wrong, you can object to it with an Einspruch. It costs nothing, a few lines in writing or through ELSTER are enough, and you have one month. For a letter sent by post the month counts from the fourth day after the Finanzamt posted it, a rule that has applied since 1 January 2025. Objecting does not move the payment date: if you don't want to pay the disputed amount in the meantime, you ask separately for it to be suspended. A letter to copy is below.

1. One month, counted from the fourth day

The Einspruch has to reach the Finanzamt within one month of notification (Bekanntgabe) (§ 355 AO). Notification is not the day you open the envelope. A Bescheid sent by post within Germany counts as notified on the fourth day after it was posted (§ 122(2) AO). Until the end of 2024 it was the third day; the Postal Law Modernisation Act added a day for everything posted from 1 January 2025.

Three details move the date:

• Weekends and public holidays. If the fourth day is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, notification moves to the next working day, and so does the end of the month if it falls on one (§ 108(3) AO; the tax administration applies this to the four-day rule too).
• A letter that arrived late. If the Bescheid reached you after the fourth day, the later date counts. In case of doubt it is the Finanzamt that has to prove when it arrived. Keep the envelope.
• Abroad. A Bescheid posted to an address outside Germany counts as notified one month after posting.

An example. A Bescheid is dated and posted on Wednesday 4 November 2026. The fourth day is Sunday 8 November, so it counts as notified on Monday 9 November. The Einspruch has to arrive by the end of Wednesday 9 December 2026.

Bescheide in ELSTER. If the Bescheid was put in your ELSTER mailbox instead of posted, it counts as notified on the fourth day after it was made available there, whether or not you log in (§ 122a(4) AO). The email ELSTER sends is only a notice. This matters more from 2027: for returns filed through an ELSTER account, download becomes the normal way to receive a Bescheid, unless you have asked the Finanzamt for paper.

The month only runs if the Bescheid told you, correctly, how to object, where and by when: the instructions (Rechtsbehelfsbelehrung) at the end. Without them, or with wrong ones, you have a year (§ 356 AO). Counting from the date printed on the Bescheid is the safe way to work out your own deadline. If anything about the date is unclear, file early rather than argue about it later.

2. Simpler routes for simple mistakes

Not every wrong Bescheid needs a formal objection. Within the same month you can also ask the Finanzamt to change it (Antrag auf schlichte Änderung, § 172(1) no. 2(a) AO), for example when a receipt or a figure was left out. The difference: such an application covers only what you ask for, and it does not allow payment to be suspended. An Einspruch reopens the whole assessment.

Two other situations are not tied to the month:

• Typing and arithmetic errors by the Finanzamt can be corrected later, for as long as the assessment period runs (§ 129, § 169 AO).
• A Bescheid "unter dem Vorbehalt der Nachprüfung" (subject to review) can be changed on application for as long as that note stands, normally until the four-year assessment period ends (§ 164 AO).

Whether a mistake counts as "obvious", or a Vorbehalt still applies, is easy to misjudge, and misjudging it costs the month. An Einspruch filed in time keeps every route open. The guide to Finanzamt letters explains the notes on a Bescheid.

3. How to file, with a letter to copy

The Einspruch must be in writing or electronic, or you can dictate it at the Finanzamt (§ 357 AO). A phone call is not enough. The options:

• ELSTER. In Mein ELSTER, the form "Einspruch einreichen inkl. Aussetzung der Vollziehung" lets you file, add your reasons and documents, and apply for suspension in one go (elster.de).
• A signed letter or fax to the Finanzamt named on the Bescheid. Send it so you can prove it arrived in time.
• Plain email is valid too, without an electronic signature, but it leaves weaker proof than ELSTER or a letter.

Mislabelling it does no harm: a "Widerspruch" or "complaint" still counts as an Einspruch if it is clear who sent it and what it is against. The law asks, but does not require, that you name the Bescheid, say how far you challenge it, and give the facts and evidence. Reasons can follow later. The Finanzamt can, however, set you a cut-off date for facts and evidence; anything that arrives after it is disregarded, unless you were prevented through no fault of your own (§ 364b AO), so a "reasons to follow" Einspruch is a way to keep the deadline, not to park the case.

With a joint assessment (Zusammenveranlagung), make clear whether you object for both spouses; the simplest way is both names and both signatures. The letter below is in German, which is what the Finanzamt works in. Replace the parts in square brackets; the tax number and the date are on the Bescheid.

[Ihr Name]
[Ihre Anschrift]
Steuernummer: [Steuernummer aus dem Bescheid]

An das Finanzamt [Name aus dem Bescheid]
[Anschrift aus dem Bescheid]

[Ort], [Datum]

Einspruch gegen den [Art des Bescheids, z. B. Einkommensteuerbescheid 2025] vom [Datum des Bescheids]

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

gegen den [Art des Bescheids] vom [Datum des Bescheids] lege ich hiermit Einspruch ein.

[Entweder:] Begründung: [kurz, welcher Punkt aus Ihrer Sicht falsch ist, mit Belegen]
[Oder:] Die Begründung reiche ich bis zum [Datum] nach.

[Nur wenn Sie das beantragen möchten:] Zugleich beantrage ich, die Vollziehung des Bescheids in Höhe von [Betrag] Euro bis zur Entscheidung über den Einspruch auszusetzen.

Bitte bestätigen Sie mir den Eingang dieses Einspruchs.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
[Unterschrift]
[Ihr Name]

4. Paying while you object: Aussetzung der Vollziehung

An Einspruch does not stop the Finanzamt collecting (§ 361(1) AO). Back tax on an income tax Bescheid is due one month after notification (§ 36(4) EStG), and if it goes unpaid, late-payment charges of 1% a month run on it. Those charges stay even if the Bescheid is reduced later (§ 240(1) AO). In a dispute, the tax administration waives them in full where you applied for suspension, it was refused although it should have been granted, and the Bescheid was then changed in your favour.

To avoid paying the disputed part in the meantime, you apply for suspension (Aussetzung der Vollziehung), usually together with the Einspruch. The Finanzamt should grant it where there are serious doubts that the Bescheid is lawful, or where paying now would cause undue hardship (§ 361(2) AO). It can ask for security. Two limits:

• Suspension covers, as a rule, only the tax above what was already withheld or set as prepayments, so it does not turn into a refund of wage tax or prepayments.
• If the Einspruch fails in the end, the suspended amount carries interest of 0.5% for each full month (§§ 237, 238 AO), 6% a year. Paying first and objecting anyway avoids that interest; whether it is the better choice depends on the amounts and the chances.

If the Finanzamt refuses, the Finanzgericht can be asked to suspend instead (§ 69 FGO). Suspension only exists alongside an Einspruch; a plain application for change does not give you one.

5. What happens after you object

The Finanzamt has to review the whole case again, not just the point you raised (§ 367(2) AO). The procedure itself is free; if you bring in a Steuerberater, their fees for this stage are yours to pay, even if the Einspruch succeeds (only a later court case can change that, see section 8) (Bavarian finance ministry). What usually follows:

• Questions or a request for documents, sometimes with a cut-off date (see section 3).
• A new Bescheid (Abhilfebescheid) if the Finanzamt agrees, in full or in part. Where it agrees in full, that ends the procedure.
• A pause where your Einspruch relies on a case pending at the Federal Fiscal Court, the Constitutional Court or the EU Court of Justice: it then rests until that case is decided, unless the Bescheid is already provisional on that point (§ 363(2) AO).
• A formal decision (Einspruchsentscheidung) on whatever the Finanzamt does not accept. It explains the reasoning and says how to go to court.

There is no fixed time limit. Many Einsprüche take months. If the Finanzamt has not decided after six months without giving a sufficient reason, you can go to the Finanzgericht without waiting for a decision (§ 46 FGO).

6. A worse result, and withdrawing

Because the whole case is reopened, the Finanzamt may find something in its own favour and increase the tax (Verböserung). It may only do so after warning you, with reasons, and giving you a chance to respond (§ 367(2) AO).

That warning is the moment to decide. You can withdraw the Einspruch until the decision on it is notified, in writing or electronically like the Einspruch itself (§ 362 AO). After a withdrawal, the Finanzamt can only change the Bescheid to your disadvantage where the ordinary correction rules allow it anyway. If the month has not yet run out, a withdrawn Einspruch can even be filed again.

The tax administration skips the warning only where withdrawing could not have prevented the change anyway. A Bescheid subject to review is the obvious case: while the Vorbehalt stands, it can be changed in either direction, Einspruch or not (§ 164(2) AO).

7. If the month has already passed

Once the month is over, the Bescheid is final (bestandskräftig), and a late Einspruch is rejected without looking at the substance. Three ways back remain:

• Restoration of the deadline (Wiedereinsetzung). If you were prevented from meeting it through no fault of your own, for example by a sudden serious illness, you can apply within one month of the obstacle ending, and file the Einspruch in the same step. After a year it is too late, except for force majeure (§ 110 AO). A representative's fault counts as yours.
• Missing or wrong instructions on the Bescheid: the period is a year (see section 1).
• Vorbehalt der Nachprüfung or obvious errors: change remains possible without an Einspruch (see section 2). Beyond that, the AO allows changes to final Bescheide only in narrow cases, such as facts that come to light later and were not known through your own gross fault (§ 173 AO). Whether one applies is a question for a Steuerberater.

8. If the Einspruch is rejected: the Finanzgericht

Against the Einspruchsentscheidung you can sue at the Finanzgericht, the tax court of your federal state. The claim must be filed within one month of the decision's notification (§ 47 FGO). The decision is normally posted like a Bescheid, so the same four-day rule applies, unless it was formally served; the instructions at its end say where to file.

• No lawyer required. You can conduct the case yourself, or be represented by a Steuerberater or a lawyer (§ 62 FGO). Only at the Federal Fiscal Court (Bundesfinanzhof) is representation compulsory.
• Court fees follow the amount in dispute, with a minimum value of 1,500 euros (§ 52(4) GKG). At that minimum, the fee is four times 82 euros, so 328 euros, charged when the claim is filed and halved if the claim is withdrawn in time (§ 34 GKG, fee schedule no. 6110–6111).
• Who pays. The losing side bears the costs. If you win, a Steuerberater's or lawyer's statutory fees for the court case are reimbursed, and those for the Einspruch stage only if the court declares their involvement necessary (§ 139 FGO).

A court case is a different decision from an Einspruch: it costs money, takes longer, and turns on the evidence. How Steuerberater bill for this kind of work is set out in the guide to Steuerberater fees.

The order that works