In short and in plain language
From 2027, the tax office will often not send your tax notice by letter. It puts the notice in an online inbox. This is the case if you sent your tax return from your own account or through your tax adviser.
You then get an email. The notice is not in the email. You get it from the inbox.
What counts is the day the notice goes into the inbox. Four days later it counts as delivered. This is true even if nobody opens it. From then on you have one month to object. A payment is often due in the same month.
Decide who reads the inbox. Decide who helps when that person is away. Agree with your tax adviser who gets the notice. And save the notice in your own files.
If you want letters, ask the tax office for them.
From 1 January 2027, the way German tax offices deliver tax assessments changes. Anyone who files their return electronically through their own ELSTER account will, as a rule, no longer receive assessments for income tax, corporation tax and trade tax by letter; instead they are made available for download in an online inbox (German Fiscal Code, Section 122a para. 1; Federal Ministry of Finance). Consent is no longer required, and paper is only available on application. For companies this is less a legal question than a process question: the assessment counts as notified on the fourth day after it was made available, even if nobody opens it (German Fiscal Code, Section 122a para. 4). From that day the objection period runs, and usually the deadline for any additional payment as well. An inbox nobody reads is then not a convenience problem but a deadline problem. This article shows which assessments are affected, which routes they take, how the deadlines are calculated and what responsibility, cover, coordination with the tax adviser and filing can look like in a company. How incoming documents become orderly cases is described under document digitisation.
Key takeaways
- Tax assessments based on returns filed through your own ELSTER account or through an adviser with power to receive are to be made available for download if they are issued after 31 December 2026 (Introductory Act to the Fiscal Code, Art. 97 Section 28 para. 2).
- The assessment counts as notified on the fourth day after it was made available, regardless of download (German Fiscal Code, Section 122a para. 4). From then on, one month remains to lodge an objection (German Fiscal Code, Section 355 para. 1).
- Nationwide, electronic notification is currently possible for three types of tax: income tax, trade tax and corporation tax. VAT assessments and separate determinations still arrive by post (Federal Ministry of Finance).
- If the tax office holds an electronic power to receive, the assessment usually lands in the adviser's inbox. It must then be agreed how and by when the adviser reports the amount due and the deadlines to the company.
- An additional payment is due within one month of notification (German Income Tax Act, Section 36 para. 4), and an objection does not suspend it. Late payment costs 1 percent per month or part month (German Fiscal Code, Section 240 para. 1).
- A previously recorded refusal of consent does not count as an application for paper (Federal Ministry of Finance). Anyone who wants paper applies uniformly per tax number before the next assessment is made available.
What changes on 1 January 2027
Electronic notification of tax assessments is not new. For years, taxpayers have been able to consent in ELSTER to their tax office making assessments available for download instead of posting them. What is new is the direction. Under the version of the German Fiscal Code that has been in the statute since 1 January 2026 (Introductory Act to the Fiscal Code, Art. 97 Section 28 para. 2), administrative acts can be notified to the person concerned or their authorised representative by making them available for data retrieval. That version no longer mentions consent at all (German Fiscal Code, Section 122a para. 1). For assessments based on electronically filed returns, this becomes a default rule: they are to be notified this way in particular.
This default rule was postponed. It only applies to administrative acts issued after 31 December 2026 (Introductory Act to the Fiscal Code, Art. 97 Section 28 para. 2). For 2026, the previous practice therefore continues: notification is electronic only for those who have actively consented in their ELSTER user account or through an electronic power of attorney; everyone else gets post (Federal Ministry of Finance). The Federal Ministry of Finance settled the transitional questions in a letter of 13 August 2026 to the supreme tax authorities of the federal states. It describes the electronic tax assessment as the default from 2027 and postal notification as the exception.
Anyone who still wants paper has to apply for it. The Fiscal Code provides for an application for one-off or permanent postal notification. The application and its withdrawal only take effect for the future and only once the tax office receives them (German Fiscal Code, Section 122a para. 2). According to the ministry's letter, what matters is that the application is on file when the assessment is made available, and it can only be made or withdrawn uniformly for all assessments under the same tax number (Federal Ministry of Finance). A company therefore cannot specify that the corporation tax assessment arrives digitally and the trade tax base assessment on paper if both are held under the same tax number.
An old refusal of consent is not an application
Which assessments are affected
The new rule sounds comprehensive, but it is not yet. Nationwide, electronic notification is currently possible in principle for only three types of tax: income tax, trade tax and corporation tax (Federal Ministry of Finance). For all other tax assessments and separate determinations, the ministry says the technology is not yet in place, and it names VAT assessments explicitly. In 2027 a company will therefore live with an inbox and a letterbox at the same time: some assessments arrive digitally, some still on paper, and both need the same deadline list.
Trade tax deserves a closer look. The tax office issues the trade tax base assessment, and the municipality then issues the trade tax assessment with the amount due. ELSTER makes the base assessment available nationwide, but the municipal trade tax assessment only in some municipalities (ELSTER). The same tax therefore often reaches the company by different routes. Anyone who wants to object to the base assessment has to anchor the deadline to the date it was made available in the inbox, not to the municipality's later letter.
| Assessment | Electronic from 2027 | Issued by | What it means for intake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income tax assessment, including prepayments | yes, as the default | tax office | affects sole traders and shareholders |
| Corporation tax assessment | yes, as the default | tax office | affects GmbH, UG and associations |
| Trade tax base assessment | yes, as the default | tax office | basis for the municipal assessment |
| Trade tax assessment | only in some municipalities | municipality | amount due often still arrives by post |
| VAT assessment | not at present | tax office | still by post |
| Separate determination | not at present | tax office | still by post, for example for partnerships |
The table is based on the Federal Ministry of Finance's letter of 13 August 2026 and the overview of electronic provision on ELSTER. Both describe an interim state: the ministry says the remaining assessments cannot yet be notified electronically, without naming a date for further types of tax. Anyone setting up their processes now should therefore build them so that another type of tax can be added later without rework.
The tax administration's figures show how big the step is. In 2025, ELSTER made 7.97 million administrative acts available for download nationwide, compared with 3.75 million in 2024 (ELSTER statistics). In 2025, 53.47 million tax returns were also received electronically, including income tax, corporation tax, VAT and property tax returns (ELSTER statistics). The figures cannot be set against each other one to one, because not every return leads to an assessment that can be notified electronically. But they show that so far only part of all assessments arrive digitally and that the inbox as a delivery route will be new to many companies.
Two routes: your own account or the adviser
Where the assessment goes is decided when the return is filed. The Fiscal Code names two cases in which making it available for download is to be the default route: the return was filed by the person concerned through a user account provided by the tax administration, or it was filed by a person within the meaning of Section 80 para. 2, such as a tax adviser, to whom the assessment is to be notified (German Fiscal Code, Section 122a para. 1). The assessment is to be notified to the adviser if the tax office holds a written or electronically transmitted power to receive (German Fiscal Code, Section 122 para. 1). If an adviser has not yet transmitted the power to receive electronically, for example via a power of attorney database, post remains the route in 2027 (Federal Ministry of Finance).
In the first case, the assessment lies in the company's inbox. The notification goes to the email address stored in the ELSTER account, and whoever operates that account in practice decides whether the deadline is noticed in the company. In the second case, the assessment lies with the adviser. The company only sees it if the adviser passes it on, and has to rely on the amount due and the payment date arriving in time. Legally, the company shares the risk: when reinstatement after a missed deadline is considered, a representative's fault is attributed to the person represented (German Fiscal Code, Section 110 para. 1).
| Question | Return filed via own ELSTER account | Return filed by adviser with power to receive |
|---|---|---|
| Where is the assessment? | in the company's inbox | in the adviser's inbox |
| Who gets the notification? | the email address stored in the account | the adviser |
| Who in the company needs to know? | accounting, management, payments | the same people, via the adviser |
| What needs to be agreed? | passing it to the adviser for review | reporting amount due and deadlines to the company |
| When does the deadline start? | from provision in your own inbox | from provision in the adviser's inbox |
Sole traders face an additional point. If an assessment concerns spouses or civil partners with a joint address, it is sufficient for one of them to have a copy made available and be notified, provided nobody has applied for paper (German Fiscal Code, Section 122 para. 7). If one partner runs the business and the other operates the ELSTER account, the household needs to be clear about who opens the income tax assessment and who keeps an eye on the deadline.
The deadline runs from provision, not from download
An assessment made available for download counts as notified on the fourth day after it was made available (German Fiscal Code, Section 122a para. 4). ELSTER puts it plainly on its help page: this applies regardless of whether the download is actually carried out (ELSTER). The person entitled to download must be notified electronically on the day of provision (German Fiscal Code, Section 122a para. 1). For the deadline, however, this message now only has an informative function: unlike under the previous law, notification of the assessment is no longer tied to the email but to the provision (Federal Ministry of Finance).
For letters, the Fiscal Code also counts to the fourth day, in that case after posting (German Fiscal Code, Section 122 para. 2). For letters, however, the law names an exception: if it was not received or was received later. Section 122a para. 4 contains no such exception; in case of doubt the authority only has to prove when the assessment was made available. For the organisation this means that a letter lying in the letterbox during the holidays and an assessment lying in the inbox are not the same. Sooner or later someone in the building notices the letter; the inbox is only noticed by whoever logs in.
From notification, one month runs for the objection (German Fiscal Code, Section 355 para. 1). The calculation follows the German Civil Code: the day of notification is not counted, and the period ends at the end of the day in the following month that bears the same number (German Fiscal Code, Section 108 para. 1, with Sections 187 and 188 BGB). If the end falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the period ends at the end of the next working day (German Fiscal Code, Section 108 para. 3). An example without public holidays shows how the dates fit together:
Made available in inbox Monday, 8 Feb 2027 day 0
Email notification Monday, 8 Feb 2027 information only
Deemed notified Friday, 12 Feb 2027 day 4, s. 122a(4) AO
Objection period starts Saturday, 13 Feb 2027 s. 108(1) AO, s. 187 BGB
Objection period ends Friday, 12 Mar 2027 s. 355(1) AO, s. 188 BGB
Final payment due Friday, 12 Mar 2027 s. 36(4) EStGThe example shows why the download date does not matter. If someone only downloads the assessment after the holidays on 1 March, eleven days of the one-month period remain, without anyone having noticed. For the company's deadline list, what counts is therefore the day of provision. The notification has to be sent on that day, so its date serves as the reference point. How a deadline list calculates rather than just reminds is shown with a different example in our article on tracking inspection deadlines digitally.
When the fourth day itself falls on a weekend
Payment: the same clock, its own consequences
Notification does not only start the objection period. If the assessment results in an additional payment, for income tax it must be paid within one month of notification of the assessment; to the extent it corresponds to prepayments that fell due but were not paid, immediately (German Income Tax Act, Section 36 para. 4). For corporation tax, the provisions of the Income Tax Act apply accordingly (Corporation Tax Act, Section 31 para. 1). For trade tax, the final payment is likewise due within one month of notification of the tax assessment, in this case the municipality's assessment (Trade Tax Act, Section 20 para. 2). Conversely, a surplus in the company's favour is paid out after notification.
An objection does not change the payment at first. It does not suspend enforcement and in particular does not halt collection of the tax (German Fiscal Code, Section 361 para. 1). Anyone who does not want to pay while the objection is being decided needs a suspension of enforcement. It is to be granted on application if there are serious doubts about the lawfulness of the assessment (German Fiscal Code, Section 361 para. 2). Whether that is the case is for the tax adviser to judge. But such an application also takes time, and that time only starts on the day someone actually sees the assessment.
If payment is late, a late-payment surcharge of 1 percent of the rounded-down arrears arises for each month or part month (German Fiscal Code, Section 240 para. 1). The arrears are rounded down to the nearest amount divisible by 50 euros (German Fiscal Code, Section 240 para. 1). For a delay of up to three days the surcharge is not levied, though not for every method of payment (German Fiscal Code, Section 240 para. 3). Nobody should build a process on this grace period. It is a buffer for payment processing, not for an inbox nobody has opened.
Who reads the inbox and who covers
The ELSTER inbox belongs to a user account, not to a desk. To download, the person entitled must authenticate (German Fiscal Code, Section 122a para. 3), and the notification goes to the email address stored in the account. That may be the address of someone who set up the account years ago and has other duties today. As long as assessments came by post, nobody noticed. From 2027, that address decides whether anyone in the company learns that a deadline has started.
The notification itself is sent unencrypted. According to ELSTER, it contains the tax number and a short description of the assessment, but no further personal data and not the assessment itself (ELSTER). That makes a case for routing it to a functional address, such as an accounting shared mailbox that several people can see. How such a mailbox turns into traceable cases with clear responsibility is described in our article from shared mailbox to traceable case.
A few fixed rules are enough for assessment intake. A named person checks for new notifications every working day. A deputy takes over during leave and sickness, with managed access and not with a passed-on password. And for each tax number it is clear whether the company receives assessments itself or the adviser does. Anyone with several tax numbers, for example for a GmbH and for a shareholder's sole proprietorship, can manage them together in ELSTER and choose the type of notification per tax number (Federal Ministry of Finance). What happens if your own systems fail on a deadline day is covered in our article on operating without IT.
Receive the notification
If the company receives assessments itself, the email about provision goes to an address that several people in the company can see. Its date is the reference point for the day of provision, from which notification and deadlines are calculated.
Download the assessment
On the same or the next working day, the responsible person downloads the assessment in My ELSTER or in the software used and saves the PDF.
Log the deadlines
The deadline list records the day of provision, the date of deemed notification, the end of the objection period and the payment date, each with tax number, type of tax and year.
Review and agree
The assessment goes to the tax adviser together with the deadlines. If it differs from the return, the adviser decides on objection and suspension, with a date for feedback.
Pay and file
An additional payment is scheduled for the payment date, a refund noted as expected income. The PDF is filed with the case, not just left in the inbox.
If the company receives assessments itself, the email about provision goes to an address that several people in the company can see. Its date is the reference point for the day of provision, from which notification and deadlines are calculated.
On the same or the next working day, the responsible person downloads the assessment in My ELSTER or in the software used and saves the PDF.
The deadline list records the day of provision, the date of deemed notification, the end of the objection period and the payment date, each with tax number, type of tax and year.
The assessment goes to the tax adviser together with the deadlines. If it differs from the return, the adviser decides on objection and suspension, with a date for feedback.
An additional payment is scheduled for the payment date, a refund noted as expected income. The PDF is filed with the case, not just left in the inbox.
Coordinating with the tax adviser in both directions
Whether an assessment has to be passed on to the tax adviser depends on the receiving route. If the company receives it, the adviser needs the assessment to compare it with the return and decide on an objection. If the adviser receives it, the company needs the amount due, the payment date and the objection deadline without being able to look into the inbox itself. In both cases the deadline runs from provision, however long the hand-over takes. Every hour an assessment lies unnoticed is missing at the end of the review.
For the comparison with the return, ELSTER also offers the retrieval of assessment data: key figures and values from the assessment that software can match against the values filed. This service is purely informative and has no legally binding effect; what is legally binding is the assessment in PDF format (ELSTER). For calculating deadlines, it is therefore the provision of the assessment that counts, not the arrival of the data.
From company to adviser
Assessment as a PDF, day of provision, tax number and a note on what has changed since the return. Through a fixed route, not as an attachment to any old email.
From adviser to company
Amount due, payment date, end of the objection period and a brief view on whether the assessment matches the return. Where it differs: who decides what and by when.
What both record
Who receives for which tax number, who covers and by when feedback is expected. That belongs in the agreement with the adviser, not in the memory of individual people.
The adviser reviews the content; the company organises intake. If the adviser, acting as representative, misses a deadline, that fault is attributed to the company (German Fiscal Code, Section 110 para. 1). A written agreement on reporting routes and feedback dates therefore helps both sides. How such an agreement can be described as a process that stays clear when staff change is shown under process documentation.
Filing: the PDF belongs with the case
After download, the assessment sits as a PDF in the My ELSTER inbox. ELSTER itself recommends saving the document on your own computer as well (ELSTER). For a company this means: the assessment belongs in its own filing system, with the case for the type of tax and the year, together with the return, the adviser's review note and any objection. An inbox in a user account is not an archive, and it drops out of sight as soon as the person who operated it leaves.
For filing, the same standard is advisable as for other documents relevant to tax: unaltered, complete, retrievable. How long which document must be kept and what a deletion concept looks like is described in our article on retention periods. The requirements for immutability and evidence are covered in the article on GoBD-compliant document storage.
The intake route itself belongs in the procedural documentation: who receives, who covers, where the PDF is kept and how deadlines are recorded. A guide to building it is in our article on writing procedural documentation. Anyone who wants to turn the notification into a task with a deadline without retyping will find the technical building blocks under process automation.
By December: what to decide now
For assessments issued by the end of 2026, the default rule does not yet apply (Introductory Act to the Fiscal Code, Art. 97 Section 28 para. 2); this year, only those who have consented receive them digitally (Federal Ministry of Finance). The weeks until then are enough to make the few decisions the switch requires. They fall at a time when many companies are preparing their annual financial statements anyway; what should be clear for that in December is described in our article on preparing the annual financial statements.
- List tax numbers: for every company, every sole proprietorship and joint assessment, with type of tax and responsible tax office.
- For each tax number, decide whether the company receives assessments itself or the adviser with power to receive, and confirm this in writing with the adviser.
- For each tax number, decide between digital and paper. An application for paper applies uniformly to all assessments under that tax number.
- Check the email address in the ELSTER account and switch it to an address that several people in the company can see.
- Name the responsible person and a deputy, with managed access and a rule for absences.
- Set up a deadline list with provision, deemed notification, end of the objection period and payment date for each assessment.
- Decide where assessment PDFs are filed and describe the intake route in the procedural documentation.
Anyone who wants to keep paper should apply so that the application is on file before the next assessment is made available. The ministry recommends doing this via ELSTER (Federal Ministry of Finance). If an assessment arrives electronically despite an application, the rules on electronic notification apply; if it was downloaded late for that reason, the ministry considers reinstatement possible. The application for reinstatement must be made within one month of the obstacle ceasing to exist (German Fiscal Code, Section 110 para. 2). Well-organised intake is the simpler route.
Whether digital or paper is the better choice depends less on technology than on the company. The inbox is faster and can be built into an orderly process. Paper arrives without anyone logging in, but it needs a deadline list just the same and has to be scanned before filing. Where processes around deadlines and incoming documents depend on individuals today, it pays to look at the whole route; how we go about that is described under process analysis. Questions about your own situation are welcome via the contact form.
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