German Tax Offices

The responsibility for taxation in Germany is shared between the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt) and the Finanzamt. In this article you will read what the main responsibilities of the two agencies are and how you can find your responsible agency.

Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt)

• This is the Federal Central Tax Office and deals with national tax matters

• They are dealing with matters like : allocating VAT numbers for entrepreneurs or issuing Tax IDs

• Depending on the nature of your request, the contact details are different. Those can be found on the website of the BZSt: BZSt’s website.

Finanzamt

• This is the tax office that on the behalf of the municipality, federal state and the federal government administrates taxes (except the custom duties) 

• In Germany there are around 650 tax offices and those are responsible for collecting income taxes, calculating and collecting property taxes, collecting business taxes, processing annual tax returns and registering freelancers and new businesses

• The responsible tax office is determined upon where you are based in Germany. If you change your address, the responsible tax office may change as well. Your closest tax office can be found by entering your postcode here.

• For companies, which are not based in Germany, please click here for a list of responsible tax offices.