Got a letter from a German Finanzamt?
Get a free English translation and explanation of your German tax office (Finanzamt) letter: what it is, what it wants from you, and the date it wants it by. Read by AI in about 20 seconds, backed by a human team.
Assessments, reminders, your Steuernummer, a questionnaire, an audit notice: anything the Finanzamt sends a foreign business. Letters from the French tax office work too.
Your letter. Your call.
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Match the subject line
Find the line after Betreff near the top of the letter. You do not need to understand it, just recognise it.
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Our AI reads the letter, then code cross-checks every date and euro amount against the document. Anything we cannot read for sure is left out and flagged, never shown wrong.
Not every letter is real
Fake register and VAT-ID fee demands are dressed up as official post and aimed at newly registered companies. The read names the actual sender, lists the red flags it finds, and tells you not to pay on that document alone. It cannot certify a letter is genuine, and on a suspected fake we sell you nothing, because there is nothing to file.
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Quick answer · reviewed July 2026
If a German Finanzamt has written to you, the letter is almost always one of a handful of things: an estimated tax assessment (Schätzbescheid), a payment or filing reminder (Mahnung), a request to file overdue VAT returns (Aufforderung zur Abgabe), a hearing notice (Anhörung), or a retroactive VAT demand after a marketplace such as Amazon reported your sales. Each carries a short deadline, usually 14 days to one month. A licensed German tax advisor can read it, tell you in English exactly what it means, and respond to the Finanzamt on your behalf before the deadline. The standard German phrases these letters use are translated in our free guide Finanzamt letter phrases, decoded.
Show the letters we see most often
What is the Amazon retroactive VAT letter?
Amazon (or eBay, Etsy) reported your German sales to the Finanzamt. They sent you a tax bill based on those totals, usually covering 2022-2025, usually far too high. We file corrected returns based on your real numbers, and the actual bill is typically a fraction of the original estimate, often 60-80% lower.
What does a payment reminder mean?
You missed a VAT filing or fell behind on a payment, and now they're asking for it. We respond, file the missing UStVA (VAT preliminary return), and request that the Verspätungszuschlag (late penalty) be reduced or waived. Most routine cases get it capped or removed entirely.
What is an estimated assessment?
The Finanzamt has lost patience and estimated your tax bill themselves, usually 2-5x what you actually owe. You have one month under §§ 347 ff. AO to file an objection. Miss that deadline and the estimate becomes the final bill, plus interest. We file the objection, request collection suspension, and submit corrected returns based on your real numbers.
What is a filing request?
Your German VAT returns for one or more months haven't been submitted, and the Finanzamt is asking for them. There's usually a 14-day response window. We catch the filings up, request reduction of any Verspätungszuschlag (late penalty), and put your ongoing filings on a clean schedule so it doesn't repeat.
What is a hearing notice?
Before a Schätzbescheid issues, the Finanzamt sends you an Anhörung, a formal "give us your side or we'll estimate." Usually a 14-day window. If you respond properly, the Schätzbescheid never happens. If you don't, it does. We draft the response and file the missing returns before the deadline.
What is the tax registration questionnaire?
The form that gets you a German tax number. The Finanzamt sends it once you apply, and it asks about your turnover, your activity and your bank details. Nothing is overdue yet, but the answers decide how often you have to file. We complete it and file it for you.
What is a tax number assignment letter?
Good news rather than a problem: your German tax number has been issued. There is nothing to dispute, but your filing obligations start from this point, so the first return is now dated. We take the ongoing filings over from here if you want.
What is a late-filing penalty notice?
A penalty charged for returns filed late, billed on top of the tax itself. It is often applied automatically, and in routine cases it can be reduced or waived once the missing returns are actually filed. We file them and ask for the penalty to be reconsidered.
What is a VAT assessment notice?
The Finanzamt confirming what has been assessed for a period. Frequently it simply matches the figures you already filed, and nothing needs doing. It is worth checking against your own numbers, because a deviation here is what later turns into a demand. Our read tells you which of the two you are holding.
What is an audit order?
An announcement that your VAT will be audited, naming a start date and the periods in scope. It is not an accusation, but the date is binding and the correspondence should be handled properly. We quote for taking the audit correspondence on.
What is an information request?
The Finanzamt asking for documents or an explanation by a stated date, often about a single figure or transaction. Ignoring it is what escalates it. We draft the reply in German and send it before the deadline.
Not on this list? These are just the ones we see most. The read handles any letter the Finanzamt sends you, and if it turns out to be something we cannot help with, we say so and point you somewhere that can.
The letter response itself is one-off work, quoted based on what your case requires (typical range €200 to €2,000+ net depending on complexity). Drafting an Einspruch against a Schätzbescheid, negotiating a Verspätungszuschlag down, or filing a formal Anhörung response: that's separate from ongoing compliance. The €99/month subscription handles your monthly UStVA filings going forward, and months you've already missed can be caught up at €99 per past return. No registration fee if you already have a Steuernummer; if you need registration it is included in our €1,299/year all-in plan. Most foreign sellers who get a Finanzamt letter end up buying both: the response now, plus the subscription so the cycle does not repeat. You see both quotes, you decide.
Quote in 24 hours (weekdays) · You pay nothing until you acceptWhat should you know before you send?
Show common questions
Yes, that is exactly what this service does. The moment you upload the letter you get an instant automated plain-English summary, translation and deadline extraction. A licensed German tax advisor then reads the German original and quotes a fixed price for handling the response within 24 hours (weekdays). If you first want to decode the wording yourself, our free guide Finanzamt letter phrases, decoded translates the standard phrases these letters use.
No, this is an intake channel. After we review your case, we send a fixed-price quote. If you accept, a licensed German tax advisor handles the response itself.
It depends on your specific case. Quotes start at €200 net for a single direct response and reach €2,000 or more for a multi-year retroactive matter. You pay nothing until you accept our quote, and nothing to receive it.
We send the quote within 24 hours (weekdays). After you accept, the work itself takes 3-10 business days. Some of that depends on how quickly the Finanzamt responds to our filing.
No. All our correspondence with you is in English. We handle the German Finanzamt correspondence ourselves, in German, on your behalf.
Send the question. Use the "What happened?" field to describe your situation, leave the file upload empty, and submit. We quote on questions too, not just letters. Common ones: "Amazon froze my listings over a VAT setup issue", "I think I should have been filing but didn't", "I want a second opinion on what my accountant said".
We'll tell you, and we'll point you to better options where we can. No charge for the conversation.
Yes. Mention the deadline in the "What happened?" field and we'll prioritize. If your deadline is within 48 hours, also email contact@vaytax.com directly with your reference number after you submit, and we'll move it to the top of the queue.
Check your deadline and your penalty exposure.
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