Aufforderung zur vorzeitigen Abgabe der Steuererklärung

Has your tax return been requested by the tax office prematurely?

Taxpayers who have their tax return(s) prepared by a member of the tax consulting professions are obliged under Section 149 (3) of the German Fiscal Code (AO) to submit their tax return(s) for 2018 by 29.02.2020 at the latest.

However, the tax office is entitled, under certain conditions laid down by law, to request the tax return(s) before the expiry of this period, i.e. before the deadline.

A condition is that one of the facts mentioned in § 149 Abs. 4 AO is present. Currently the tax office refers to the cases in which the tax return(s) for the previous year was (were) submitted late or not at all (§ 149 paragraph 4 sentence 1 No. 1a AO).

The requested tax return must be submitted within the deadline set by the tax office (the deadline is 4 months).

If the deadline specified in the letter from the tax office is not met, a late fee is generally to be set. In addition, the tax office may force the submission of the tax return by means of coercive measures (e.g. a penalty payment) or estimate the basis of taxation.