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Tax · Germany

Steuerbescheid — your tax assessment and its one-month objection period

A Steuerbescheid is the Finanzamt's official assessment of your tax for a year — a refund or an amount to pay, with a due date. After the one-month objection period, its content is fixed even if it is wrong.

How serious: needs actionAlso called: Bescheid für ... über Einkommensteuer und Solidaritätszuschlag, Umsatzsteuerbescheid, Gewerbesteuermessbescheid

A Steuerbescheid states the tax the Finanzamt has fixed for a year, and either a refund (Erstattung) or an amount to pay (Nachzahlung) with a due date. You received it because you filed a return, or because the Finanzamt assessed you — for example after an employer or bank reported data.

The document has a hard property: once the objection period ends, its content is fixed even if it is wrong. Errors in your favour can then no longer be corrected via Einspruch.

One more mechanism is easy to miss: filing an Einspruch does not by itself postpone payment (AO §361 — no suspensive effect without Aussetzung der Vollziehung). The assessed tax stays due on the printed date unless Aussetzung der Vollziehung is granted.

Who sends it

Your local Finanzamt (tax office) — the Land authority that assesses and collects taxes.

Finanzamt letterhead with your Steuernummer or Steuer-ID, the word 'Bescheid' (for example 'Bescheid für 2025 über Einkommensteuer'), calculation tables ('Festsetzung', 'Berechnung des zu versteuernden Einkommens'), a payment or refund block ('Bitte zahlen Sie bis …'), and a Rechtsbehelfsbelehrung mentioning 'Einspruch' at the end.

The deadline

Einspruch within 1 month of notification (Einspruchsfrist, AO §355: 'innerhalb eines Monats nach Bekanntgabe').

An Einspruch can be filed within 1 month of notification (Einspruchsfrist, AO §355). Notification (Bekanntgabe) is counted by rule: a notice posted within Germany counts as notified on the 4th day after it was posted; posted abroad, one month after posting (AO §122 Abs. 2) — unless it actually arrived later.

If you do nothing

After one month, the Bescheid can no longer be attacked with an Einspruch (AO §355) and becomes binding as issued. The assessed tax stays due on the stated date — an Einspruch would not itself have postponed payment either (AO §361). From the day after the due date, Säumniszuschläge of 1% per started month of the rounded-down tax accrue by law (AO §240).

How it escalates

  1. 01The assessment becomes final; errors in your favour can no longer be corrected via Einspruch.
  2. 02If the Nachzahlung is not paid by the due date, a Säumniszuschlag of 1% per started month accrues on the tax rounded down to the nearest €50 (AO §240) — automatically, by law.
  3. 03A Mahnung with a one-week payment period follows, or an announcement of enforcement (AO §259).
  4. 04The Finanzamt can then enforce by itself, without any court: attachment of wages and bank accounts, seizure of movable property and real estate (AO §309).

Your options, procedurally

  • An Einspruch can be filed within one month — in writing, electronically, or declared at the office — addressed to the Finanzamt that issued the Bescheid (AO §357). The procedure is free of charge.
  • In addition, Aussetzung der Vollziehung can be applied for, so the disputed amount need not be paid while the Einspruch is decided — granted on serious doubts about legality or undue hardship (AO §361). The Einspruch alone does not stop collection.
  • The Finanzamt's Stundungs- und Erlass-Stelle can be asked for Stundung — deferral or installments — if payment on time is not possible.
  • The assessed amount can simply be paid by the printed due date.

Common questions

When does the one month start?

With Bekanntgabe. A Bescheid posted within Germany counts as notified on the 4th day after posting; posted abroad, one month after posting (AO §122 Abs. 2) — unless it actually arrived later.

Does an Einspruch pause the payment?

No. The Einspruch has no suspensive effect on its own. Payment is only paused if Aussetzung der Vollziehung is granted (AO §361).

Does filing an Einspruch cost anything?

No. The Einspruch procedure at the Finanzamt is free of charge.

What if the tax is paid late?

Säumniszuschläge of 1% per started month on the tax rounded down to the nearest €50 accrue automatically by law (AO §240).

Sources

Facts verified against the sources below on 28 August 2026.