Application for a tax clearance certificate (Germany)
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This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
Your application to the German tax office (Finanzamt) for a certificate on your tax affairs (Bescheinigung in Steuersachen), often called a tax clearance certificate — asked for in public tenders, for a restaurant licence and other trade permits, and by banks. It shows whether any tax is in arrears and whether returns have been filed, as at the day it is issued. The letter gives the tax number, the purpose and the date by which you need the certificate. No official form is required; post it or send it through ELSTER. In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Applicant
- Applicant's address
- Tax office (Finanzamt)
- Tax office's address
- City
- Date
- Tax number (Steuernummer)
- Purpose
- Requested deadline
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- What is a German tax clearance certificate needed for, and what does it cost?
- Public contracting bodies, authorities and banks ask for it — in tenders, for a restaurant licence or other trade permits, and for loans. It states, without comment, whether tax is in arrears, how payments have been made and whether returns have been filed. The tax office issues it on an informal application, free of charge according to the Länder’s service portals; state the purpose you need it for.
- How long is a German tax clearance certificate valid?
- There is no statutory period of validity: the certificate describes your tax account on the day it is issued. How recent it must be is for the body asking for it to decide — in a tender, the requirements are in the tender documents. So apply once you know when you need it, and give that date. The application can be posted or sent through Mein ELSTER as a ‘Sonstige Nachricht an das Finanzamt’.
- What if there are tax arrears when applying for the German certificate?
- Then the certificate shows them, and the body asking for it may hold that against you. Pay outstanding amounts before applying or apply for a deferral with instalments (§ 222 AO), and file any missing returns first. Trade tax and property tax are usually collected by the municipality: whether its certificate is needed too is stated in the requesting body’s documents.
- Is this the same clearance certificate as the one needed when buying land in Germany?
- No. After a land purchase the tax office issues a separate clearance certificate for real estate transfer tax, without which the land registry will not register the buyer (§ 22 GrEStG); the notary usually handles that procedure. The exemption certificate for construction services (§ 48b EStG) and the residence certificate for foreign tax authorities are also separate procedures with their own forms.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
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