German VAT, the Finanzamt, pricing.
Your questions, answered.

No. You can be based anywhere in the world. For non-EU sellers (e.g. UK post-Brexit, US, China) we act as your German tax correspondent so all tax-office mail is handled by us, in Germany.

Online VAT platforms typically subcontract the actual filing to a tax advisor you never meet. Vaytax IS the tax advisor: a named, licensed German tax firm whose advisors personally review and file every return.

No. Your subscription covers routine Finanzamt correspondence, Mahnungen, queries, registration follow-ups, anything our team handles in the normal course. The standalone letter intake at /finanzamt-letter is for foreign companies who aren't subscribers, or for complex cases (Schätzbescheide with back-year cleanup, audit notices) that fall outside routine subscription scope. If you're a subscriber and you've received a complex letter, just email us or use your dashboard inbox, we'll route it correctly and let you know if a separate quote is needed.

The general 19% and 7% rates are unchanged. New in 2026: restaurant and catering food dropped to 7% on 1 January, and the EU's €150 customs duty exemption ended on 1 July, replaced by a transitional €3 flat duty per parcel. E-invoicing phases in for Germany-established businesses in 2027 and 2028. Full overview: German VAT changes 2026.

We submit your application to the Finanzamt within 48 hours of receiving your registration. The Finanzamt typically takes 4–8 weeks to issue your Steuernummer and USt-IdNr. You can start selling immediately; we backfile the period once your Tax IDs arrive.

Yes. Storing stock in Germany triggers a German VAT obligation regardless of where your customers live. We file the German part: monthly UStVA, ZM, and the annual VAT return (Jahreserklärung). If you sell B2C to EU consumers, you'll also need OSS: filed through Germany if Germany is your member state of identification (we can file it), or in your home country if you're EU-established (your home-country accountant, running alongside Vaytax). If you sell only B2B to dealers in other EU countries, you don't need OSS at all (OSS is B2C-only), and German VAT plus ZM is everything, both included.

No. Germany does not require a fiscal representative for a standard VAT registration, unlike some other EU countries. Your company registers directly and we act as your authorised recipient for Finanzamt correspondence.

Usually yes. The marketplace "deemed supplier" rules can make Amazon or TikTok account for the German VAT on your B2C sales, but storing goods in a German warehouse still requires your own German VAT registration: for the movement of your stock, your reporting, and recovering import VAT. We confirm the exact treatment for your setup during onboarding so your returns are filed correctly.

No, because Germany does not require fiscal representation for standard VAT compliance in the first place. A foreign company registers directly and can appoint a licensed German tax advisor; no guarantee, deposit or bond is involved. See why no fiscal representative is needed.

Not if you store goods in Germany: registration is due from the first unit, with no threshold. The €10,000 EU-wide threshold only applies to EU-established sellers shipping cross-border B2C from another EU country. Non-EU companies (UK, US, China) selling from German stock need a registration from day one.

Monthly VAT return filings with the Finanzamt, the annual VAT return, EU ZM (Zusammenfassende Meldung), all routine tax-office correspondence, and a dashboard in English. Not included: incoming-invoice review, tax advisory, and legal advice, those are tax advisory on request and billed at €200/hr. The EU One-Stop-Shop (OSS) is a separate add-on, not part of the €79/month.

Yes. Notice runs to the end of the following month. We file any return whose period falls within your active subscription, then close your account and deregister you with the tax office if requested.

It depends on the case. A direct response to a single Mahnung typically sits at the lower end (around €99-€250). A multi-year retroactive Schätzbescheid covering Amazon marketplace sales with prior-period filings can be €1,500-€2,500+. We quote based on what your specific case actually requires, not a tiered menu. You pay nothing to receive the quote and nothing if you decide not to proceed.

All routine filings: the monthly VAT return (UStVA) every month, plus the annual VAT return. There is no per-filing charge for this routine cadence. Two things sit outside the flat price: catch-up filings for months before you joined (€79 per past month) and corrections to an already-submitted return (a Berichtigung), which we quote per case.

Union OSS (One-Stop-Shop) lets a non-EU-established seller with stock in Germany report B2C sales to other EU countries through one quarterly return, filed via Germany. It costs €250 one-time plus €150 per quarter. You only need it if you ship cross-border to consumers in other EU countries above €10,000 per year EU-wide. If you sell only within Germany, you do not need OSS. If your company is established in another EU country, your OSS registration belongs in your home country, not Germany.

Steuerberater: €200/hr, Manager: €150/hr, Senior: €125/hr, Assistant: €90/hr. Billed in 15-minute increments plus 19% VAT and a 4% expense surcharge (max €20). These rates apply to complex advisory work, Finanzamt inquiries, and audit support, not to your regular monthly filing.

€499 one-time for a standalone German VAT registration. It includes preparation of your Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung, submission to the Finanzamt, and all correspondence until your Steuernummer is issued. If you sign up for the €1,199/year all-in plan, registration is already included, so the €499 only applies if you book the registration on its own.

Yes. If you already have a German VAT number, annual billing is €853/year, roughly 10% off compared to €79/month. Same service, same cancellation terms. New registrations use the €1,199/year all-in plan, which is billed yearly and already includes the registration.

Yes. You receive an email reminder ahead of every filing deadline, so nothing is missed. You enter your figures into the portal and we review and submit the return on time.

Both. The portal captures your figures and runs plausibility checks; a licensed German Steuerberater then reviews and files every return. The review covers the VAT return itself (correct treatment and plausibility), not full bookkeeping or a line-by-line review of your underlying invoices, which would be a separate service.

Without a tax advisor, the 2025 Umsatzsteuer-Jahreserklärung is due by 31 July 2026. Filed through a licensed tax advisor, the deadline extends automatically to 1 March 2027 (the legal date, 28 February 2027, falls on a Sunday). Every 2026 date is in our printable calendar.

Quarterly preliminary returns are due on the 10th of the month after each quarter: 10 April (Q1), 10 July (Q2), 12 October (Q3, shifted from a Saturday) and 11 January 2027 (Q4). With Dauerfristverlängerung each deadline moves one month later. Quarterly filing applies when your prior-year German VAT was between €2,000 and €9,000.

Yes, German domestic deadlines shift to the next working day (§108(3) AO). The exception is the EU One-Stop-Shop: OSS returns and payments stay due on the last day of the month after the quarter even when that date is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.

Usually not directly. German returns are filed electronically via ELSTER in German, and representation before the Finanzamt is restricted by German law (StBerG) to authorised persons, in practice a licensed German Steuerberater. Most foreign accountants hand the German piece to one; that is the role Vaytax fills, in English.

Yes. If you already hold a Dauerfristverlängerung (the permanent one-month extension on every German VAT deadline), tell us at signup and every deadline in your account shifts by a month automatically, so you never track two sets of dates. Routine filings under the extension are included in your plan. If you want to set one up, we arrange it with your licensed German tax advisor. Full explainer: German VAT deadline extension, explained.

The Amazon VAT Transactions Report, exported for the month you are filing. In Seller Central: Reports → Fulfilment by Amazon → Tax section → Amazon VAT Transactions Report → Request .csv Download. Not the "All Orders" report, and nothing under the discontinued "VAT Services on Amazon". Upload the file exactly as it downloaded, without opening and re-saving it in Excel.

Full guide →

The Rechnungsausgangsbuch (outgoing-invoice ledger), exported as CSV. In easybill: Auswertungen → Rechnungsausgangsbuch → set the date range to your filing month → Ergebnis exportieren → Ergebnistabelle als CSV. Not the accounting-software formats under the separate Export tab (DATEV, Lexware, and similar); we cannot read your VAT figures from those.

Full guide →

The Amazon and easybill reports are your outgoing invoices, which is what the sales side of your return is built from. Input VAT (Vorsteuer) on your German purchases is added separately, by you or by us, so the return is complete.

No. The Finanzamt letter intake at /finanzamt-letter is a separate one-shot service. Send us the letter, a licensed German tax advisor reviews it, and you get a fixed-price quote within 24 hours (weekdays). No subscription, no ongoing commitment. If you decide afterwards that you'd like ongoing monthly filing, we'll credit your letter-case payment toward your first subscription month.

Send your letter →

Three steps. (1) Upload the letter and describe your situation on our intake form at /finanzamt-letter. (2) Within 24 hours (weekdays), a licensed German tax advisor replies with a fixed-price quote covering the response, plus any prior-period filings the case requires. (3) Accept the quote, pay via Stripe, and we handle the response with the Finanzamt directly. You never need to interact with the German tax office in German.

Schätzbescheid (estimated assessment), Mahnung (reminder/dunning notice), Anhörung (formal hearing notice), Nachforderung (request for additional documents), late-filing surcharges, registration queries, UStVA reminders, and most other foreign-seller-targeted Finanzamt correspondence. If your case is outside our scope (e.g. tax litigation requiring a specialised lawyer), we'll tell you upfront and recommend a referral, no charge.

Yes, when Germany is your OSS member state of identification. If you're a non-EU or German-based seller storing stock in a German warehouse, your Union OSS is filed through Germany, and we file it for you (€250 setup + €150/quarter, added to your German plan). If you're EU-established, your OSS is filed in your home country, typically by your existing accountant, and runs alongside the German VAT we handle. Either way, a German warehouse plus EU-wide B2C customers means you need both the German registration and OSS.

Yes. Routine correspondence about your filings (acknowledgements, standard queries, routine letters) is included. More complex matters, a full audit, or substantive tax advice are quoted separately before any work starts.

No. The e-invoicing issuing mandate applies to businesses established in Germany. A foreign company that is only VAT-registered, with no German establishment, does not have to issue XRechnung or ZUGFeRD invoices. You should still be able to receive and archive e-invoices from German suppliers.

Not if your stock sits in Germany. Marketplaces collect German VAT on many sales by non-EU sellers as deemed suppliers, but storing goods in a German warehouse still triggers your own registration and filing obligation, and marketplaces demand proof of it. Details: TikTok Shop and Amazon FBA.

Nothing separate: the change of representation is handled as part of onboarding. If past months are still unfiled when you switch, we catch them up at €79 per past month. There is no lock-in on our side either.

Almost always a period mismatch: the invoices in the file are from a different month or year than the filing period you selected. Only invoices dated inside the selected period count. Export the report for the exact month you are filing, one month per file, and upload that.

CSV is simplest and most reliable. Excel works too. The important part: send the file exactly as it came from Amazon or easybill. Opening it and re-saving it in Excel changes the formatting and we can no longer read the figures.

The free checker at /amazon-vat-calculator reads your file in your browser; nothing is uploaded there. When you file with Vaytax, you upload the report to us so we can prepare and file your return: it is stored on EU servers (Frankfurt region) and handled by the team of a licensed German Steuerberater, bound by professional secrecy.