Annual VAT return in Germany: deadline, ELSTER, software

In short

• 2025 deadline: 31 July 2026; with a tax adviser Monday, 1 March 2027 (§ 149 (2) and (3) AO).
• Payment: The difference from your advance payments is due one month after the return is received (§ 18 (4) UStG).
• Late filing: Penalty possible (§ 152 AO); generally mandatory if the return is missing 14 months after year end.

Who has to file an annual VAT return?

Businesses submit a return for the calendar year in which they calculate the tax or the surplus themselves (§ 18 (3) UStG). This comes in addition to the advance returns. For how advance returns work, see German advance VAT return (UStVA) – filing online, deadlines and permanent extension. Marketplace sellers can read the annual VAT return for Amazon and eBay sellers.

Small business owners are generally exempt: the filing duties under § 18 (1) to (4) UStG do not apply to them under § 19 (1) UStG. Two things stay in place:

• § 18 (4a) UStG (for example VAT you owe as the recipient of a service)
• A request from the tax office under § 149 (1) sentence 2 AO. If the office asks you to file, you must.

All cases are in VAT return for a small business in Germany: do I have to file?.

Two notes for 2025 from ELSTER's guide to the 2025 return:

• If you switched from the small business scheme to standard taxation in 2025, you enter the date of the sale that exceeded the limit in line 16: €25,000 in the founding year, €100,000 otherwise. If you waive the scheme from the start of the year, you enter 1 January 2025.
• If you were under standard taxation before and apply the small business scheme in 2025, line 115 has room for tax and input VAT that arose only after the switch, for example because you accounted on a cash basis.

What this means for you: you file an annual return unless you are a small business owner, and a request from the tax office always overrides that exemption.

The deadline: when is the annual return due?

Unless a tax law says otherwise, returns for a calendar year are due no later than seven months after the end of the year (§ 149 (2) sentence 1 AO). If the deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, it ends on the next working day (§ 108 (3) AO). If a tax adviser prepares the return, it is due by the last day of February of the second year after the tax year (§ 149 (3) AO; the annual VAT return under § 18 (3) UStG is named there). A longer deadline is possible through the permanent VAT extension for 2027.

The special pandemic deadlines (Art. 97 § 36 EGAO) only cover tax years up to 2024. For 2025 and later, the regular deadline applies.

Extension: Deadlines for filing returns can be extended, including retroactively, if it would be unfair to let the consequences of missing the deadline stand (§ 109 (1) AO). Ask the tax office before the deadline passes. To go beyond the February deadline, you must have been prevented through no fault of your own (§ 109 (2) AO).

Earlier filing: In certain cases the tax office can order an earlier filing, for example if you filed late the year before or started or closed a business. It must give four months after notification, and never less than the regular seven months (§ 149 (4) AO).

What this means for you: mark seven months after year end in your calendar (2 August 2027 for 2026), or the end of February two years on if a tax adviser files.

What happens if you file late? Penalties

• Late-filing penalty: The tax office may impose one if you file late. It is waived if you show credibly that the delay is excusable (§ 152 (1) AO).
• When it is mandatory: If the return is missing 14 months after the end of the calendar year, the penalty must be imposed (§ 152 (2) AO). Exceptions include an extended deadline, tax set at zero or negative, and tax that does not exceed the advance payments (§ 152 (3) AO).
• Amount: 0.25 percent of the tax set, minus the advance payments, for each started month of delay, at least €25 per started month (§ 152 (5) sentence 2 AO). The maximum is €25,000 (§ 152 (10) AO).
• Late-payment surcharge: If you do not pay by the due date, 1 percent of the rounded-down unpaid amount is added for each started month (§ 240 (1) AO). It is not charged for a delay of up to three days (§ 240 (3) AO).
• Estimates: The duty to file remains even if the tax office has estimated the tax base (§ 149 (1) sentence 4 AO).

If you missed the 2025 deadline, file now. The mandatory penalty only applies after the end of February 2027, and only if the tax exceeds your advance payments.

What this means for you: file late rather than not at all: the penalty is optional at first and mandatory 14 months after year end.

Filing the annual VAT return online in ELSTER

For all VAT returns, electronic and authenticated filing is mandatory (Finanzamt Baden-Württemberg). Only in cases of hardship can the tax office waive electronic filing on request (§ 18 (3) sentence 3 UStG). An overview of software options is in ELSTER alternative.

1. Register with Mein ELSTER: Registration is free and one-off. You receive a certificate that lets you file without a signature (ELSTER). The activation code arrives by post and the activation ID by e-mail, so register early.
2. Add up your advance payments: You need the total of the advance VAT payments you declared for the year, including any special advance payment under a permanent extension.
3. Open the form: In Mein ELSTER choose the VAT return for 2025 and enter your tax number. You then see the overview of attachments. The return consists of the main form USt 2 A and, only for businesses based abroad, the attachment UN. The former attachment UR is now part of the main form.
4. Enter your turnover: The tax base is always the net amount, in whole euros. Convert foreign currency into euros and mark negative amounts with a minus sign. Turnover at the standard rate goes in line 22, at the reduced rate in line 25. Intra-community distance sales that are contained in the German taxable turnover (below the €10,000 threshold of § 3c (4) UStG, without a waiver) are also entered in line 71. Distance sales taxed in the destination country (threshold exceeded, or OSS) do not go into line 22, 25 or 71, but into line 75 (line 72 after a waiver). The threshold applies only if your business is established only in Germany (§ 3c (4) UStG).
5. Choose the accounting basis: In line 19 you state whether you account for tax on agreed consideration (Sollversteuerung) or on consideration received (Istversteuerung, § 20 UStG).
6. Advance payments and final payment: In line 119 you enter the advance payments due, meaning the declared or assessed advance payments, whether or not you have paid them yet. Line 120 then shows a final payment or a refund.
7. Check and send. If the tax office follows your figures, you get no separate notice and no payment request. A tax assessment is only issued if the office deviates (Finanzamt Baden-Württemberg).
8. Pay or wait for the refund: The final payment is due one month after the return is received. A refund is paid out after approval (§ 168 AO) without a separate application, unless it is offset against tax debts.

Forms change every year, so check ELSTER's guide for the year you are filing.

What this means for you: register with Mein ELSTER early, then enter net turnover, advance payments and the accounting basis in the right lines.

Mein ELSTER or software for the annual VAT return?

You have several ways to send tax data electronically. Most tax forms are free in Mein ELSTER and you only need a browser. You can also use any other tax software that supports ELSTER; ELSTER publishes a list of software products. For authenticated filing, the one-off registration in Mein ELSTER is required in every case.

If you sell on Amazon or eBay, you work out your VAT from the platform reports. A program saves you the adding up. What to look for is in Tax software for the self-employed in Germany: what matters and ELSTER or software: fill it in yourself or use a program?.

What this means for you: Mein ELSTER is enough for the form itself; software mainly saves you the adding up from platform reports.

Which mistakes come up most often?

• Mixing up the deadlines. An advance return is due on the 10th day after the period ends. The annual return is due seven months after the year ends.
• Counting advance payments wrongly. The advance payments due are the declared or assessed amounts, including a special advance payment, not only what you have actually paid.
• Entering gross instead of net. The tax base is always net, in whole euros.
• Missing the switch lines as a small business owner. If you passed the limit or waived the scheme, the date goes in line 16.
• Relying on an estimate. If the tax office has estimated, you still have to file (§ 149 (1) sentence 4 AO).
• Forgetting the final payment. It is due one month after the return is received; after that a late-payment surcharge looms.

What this means for you: check deadlines, advance payments and net amounts before you send the return.

How VAT GPT helps

VAT GPT prepares the annual VAT return from your data. In three steps:

1. Upload: You upload your Amazon or eBay CSV reports and your invoices. The AI reads amounts, countries and tax rates.
2. Check: VAT GPT breaks down the VAT for Germany and the EU (OSS) and prepares the annual VAT return. You check and confirm.
3. Send: With VAT GPT Pro, the annual return goes via ELSTER directly to the tax office.

Everything is in one place:

• advance VAT return
• annual VAT return
• OSS return
• EÜR
• trade tax return
• income tax return

There is Free (basic features, free of charge), Go (30 days free with all Pro features) and Pro. Try for Free Now

Frequently asked questions

When is the 2025 annual VAT return due? Without a tax adviser by 31 July 2026 (§ 149 (2) AO). With a tax adviser by the end of February 2027, which is a Sunday, so by Monday, 1 March 2027 (§ 149 (3), § 108 (3) AO).

When is the 2026 annual VAT return due? By Monday, 2 August 2027, because 31 July 2027 is a Saturday. With a tax adviser by 29 February 2028.

Can I still file after the deadline? Yes, and you should do it right away. The tax office may impose a late-filing penalty (§ 152 (1) AO). Whether it does depends, among other things, on whether the delay is excusable.

Do small business owners file an annual VAT return? Usually not (§ 19 (1) sentence 2 UStG). Exceptions include VAT owed as the recipient of a service or a request from the tax office.

Can I file the annual VAT return on paper? Only on application in cases of hardship and if the tax office agrees (§ 18 (3) sentence 3 UStG; Finanzamt Baden-Württemberg).

When do I pay the final payment? One month after the tax office receives the return (§ 18 (4) sentence 1 UStG; ELSTER guide).

Is Mein ELSTER free? Registration is free and one-off, and most tax forms are free in Mein ELSTER.

Further reading

• German advance VAT return (UStVA): filing online, deadlines and permanent extension
• VAT return for a small business in Germany: do I have to file?
• ELSTER VAT return: a step-by-step guide
• Tax number in Germany: applying with the tax registration questionnaire online
• File the annual VAT return with VAT GPT
• Business registration online in Germany (Gewerbeamt)
• Vouchers and discounts in online selling: VAT
• Amazon seller taxes in Germany: VAT, OSS, income tax

Not tax advice: the content does not replace individual advice.

Sources

• § 18 UStG (in German)
• § 19 UStG (in German)
• § 108 AO (in German)
• § 109 AO (in German)
• § 149 AO (in German)
• § 152 AO (in German)
• § 240 AO (in German)
• Art. 97 § 36 EGAO (in German)
• Finanzamt Baden-Württemberg: filing deadlines for advance and annual VAT returns (in German)
• ELSTER: guide to the 2025 VAT return (in German)
• ELSTER: entrepreneurs

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