VAT back payment in Germany: how many years back can the tax office go?

The rule: the tax office may assess or change a tax for four years (section 169(2) sentence 1 no. 2 AO). The period does not start on the day of the sale. It starts at the end of the calendar year in which the tax arose, and if you had to file a return or declaration, at the end of the year in which you file it, at the latest after three years (section 170 AO). Whoever files nothing can therefore still face a demand up to seven years after the year the tax arose. For underpayment through gross negligence the period is five years, for tax evasion ten, each from the same start, and several events suspend the expiry.

Last updated: 27 October 2026

In brief

Standard period: four years (section 169(2) sentence 1 no. 2 AO).
Start: at the end of the calendar year in which the tax arose (section 170(1) AO). If you have to file a return or declaration, at the end of the year in which you file it, at the latest at the end of the third year after the year the tax arose (section 170(2) no. 1 AO).
Five or ten years: five where the tax was underpaid through gross negligence (leichtfertig), ten where it was evaded (section 169(2) sentence 2 AO).
After that: an assessment and its cancellation or change are no longer permitted (section 169(1) sentence 1 AO).
Expiry suspended: for example by a tax audit, an objection or tax investigation (section 171 AO).

The basic rule: four years

For taxes that are not excise duties, including VAT, the assessment period is four years (section 169(2) sentence 1 no. 2 AO). Once it has expired, a tax assessment and its cancellation or change are no longer permitted (section 169(1) sentence 1 AO). The tax office can then neither demand more nor, the other way round, change in your favour.

The period is met if the tax notice has left the competent tax office before it expires (section 169(1) sentence 3 AO). So it does not matter when the notice reaches you.

When does the period start?

This is where four years quickly become more.

Basic case: the period starts at the end of the calendar year in which the tax arose (section 170(1) AO). VAT that arose in 2022 would end at the end of 2026.
With a return or declaration: if you have to file a tax return or tax declaration, the period instead starts at the end of the calendar year in which you file it, at the latest at the end of the third calendar year after the year the tax arose. This does not apply if the period starts later under the basic case (section 170(2) no. 1 AO).

Two examples for VAT that arose in 2022:

You file the annual VAT return for 2022 in 2023. The period starts at the end of 2023 and ends after four years, at the end of 2027.
You never file anything. The period starts at the latest at the end of 2025, the third year after 2022, and ends after four years, at the end of 2029. That is seven years after the year the tax arose.

That is why leaving a missing return alone does not pay: the tax office can ask for it and estimate for longer than for a return filed on time. What applies to an estimate is in Tax estimate notice in Germany.

For a year's VAT, the annual VAT return is what counts: the tax period is the calendar year (section 16(1) sentence 2 UStG), and the annual return is the tax return you calculate yourself for that year (section 18(3) UStG).

When is it five or ten years?

The assessment period is ten years where a tax was evaded and five years where it was underpaid through gross negligence (section 169(2) sentence 2 AO). The periods also apply if someone you use for your tax duties committed the act. If a third party committed it, neither you nor such a person, they apply as well, unless you prove that you gained no financial advantage and that the act did not result from you failing to take the precautions normally required to prevent tax shortfalls (section 169(2) sentence 3 AO).

Tax evasion is committed by whoever gives the tax authorities incorrect or incomplete information on facts relevant to tax, or leaves them unaware of such facts in breach of duty, and thereby reduces tax (section 370(1) AO). Whoever commits such an act through gross negligence commits an administrative offence (section 378(1) AO). Whether either case exists is a matter of the single case that neither this text nor you alone decide. If you suspect something wrong was reported in earlier periods, talk to a tax adviser or specialist lawyer before you comment.

What extends the period?

The assessment period does not expire while certain circumstances exist (section 171 AO). For online sellers these matter most:

Tax audit. If an audit starts before the period expires, the period for the audited taxes does not expire before the notices issued as a result of the audit have become final, or three months have passed after notification of the communication under section 202(1) sentence 3 AO. This suspension ends at the latest five years after the end of the calendar year in which the audit order was notified, while longer suspensions under other rules stay unaffected (section 171(4) AO). If you have the start of the audit postponed on your request, that limit extends by the length of the postponement.
Objection or lawsuit. If a tax notice is contested, the period does not expire before the remedy is finally decided (section 171(3a) AO).
Request for a change. If you request an assessment or a change of an assessment before the period expires, outside an objection procedure, the period does not expire for that matter before the request is finally decided (section 171(3) AO).
Tax investigation and criminal proceedings. If the tax investigation unit starts inquiries before the period expires, the suspension applies until the resulting notices are final. The same holds if you were told that criminal or administrative-offence proceedings have been opened (section 171(5) AO).
Evasion and gross negligence. In the five and ten year cases the period does not end before prosecution of the offence has become time-barred (section 171(7) AO).
Correcting a declaration. If you notify a correction under sections 153, 371 or 378(3) AO before the period expires, it does not end before one year after the notification arrived (section 171(9) AO).
Provisional assessment. If the tax is assessed provisionally or suspended under section 165 AO, the period does not end before one year after the uncertainty is removed and the tax office knows (section 171(8) AO).
Force majeure. The period does not expire while the assessment cannot be made within the last six months because of force majeure (section 171(1) AO).

What if you find an old mistake yourself?

If you realise afterwards, before the assessment period has expired, that a declaration filed by you or for you is incorrect or incomplete and that tax may be or has been reduced as a result, you must notify this without delay and make the necessary correction (section 153(1) AO). So the duty lasts as long as the tax office may still assess or change. How an advance return is corrected is in Correct a VAT return in Germany; for refunds and returns see Correct Amazon VAT. The OSS return has its own rule: you correct it in a later return, up to three years after the filing deadline of the original return (section 18j(4) sentence 5 UStG); more in Correct an OSS return.

What does a late demand cost on top?

Further amounts can come on top of the back payment:

Interest. For VAT, interest on back payments starts 15 months after the end of the calendar year in which the tax arose and ends at the end of the day the assessment takes effect (section 233a(2) AO). The rate is 0.15 percent for each month (section 238(1a) AO). The later the notice comes, the longer interest runs.
Late-payment surcharges. If the assessed tax is not paid by the due date, 1 percent of the rounded-down unpaid amount is added for each started month (section 240(1) AO).
Late-filing surcharge. Against someone who does not file a return or files it late, a late-filing surcharge may be set (section 152(1) AO).

When the back payment is due depends on the case: if the tax office assesses differently from your return, or because no return was filed, the difference in its favour is due one month after the notice is delivered (section 18(4) sentence 2 UStG). Overdue advance payments keep their own due date (section 18(4) sentence 3 UStG).

Common mistakes

Counting four years from the sale. The period starts at the end of the calendar year, not on the day of the sale, and is shifted by filing or not filing.
Treating a missing return as time-barred because four years have passed. If nothing was filed, the period starts after three years at the latest (section 170(2) no. 1 AO), and the duty to file remains.
Calculating as if the period were fixed after an audit. The suspension under section 171(4) AO moves the end.
Leaving a mistake you found alone because it is old. While the period runs, the duty to notify under section 153 AO applies.
Relying only on forums. The periods depend on the single case; ask your tax office or tax adviser if in doubt.

How VAT GPT helps

VAT GPT is the tax software for Amazon and eBay sellers in Germany: your OSS return first, then VAT, EÜR, trade tax and income tax, calculated and filed in one place.

VAT GPT imports your Amazon and eBay CSV reports and breaks the VAT down for Germany and the EU (OSS).
VAT GPT sorts your uploads by year and quarter.
VAT GPT creates the VAT advance return (monthly or quarterly) and the annual VAT return and sends them to the tax office through ELSTER with VAT GPT Pro.

VAT GPT does not replace tax advice.

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Frequently asked questions

How many years back can the tax office demand VAT? As a rule four years from the end of the year in which the tax arose (section 169(2), section 170(1) AO). If a return or declaration was not filed, the period starts at the latest three years later, so up to seven years after the year the tax arose. Through gross negligence the period is five years and for evasion ten, each from the same start; where tax was evaded and nothing was filed, that can mean up to 13 years after the year the tax arose (section 169(2) sentence 2, section 170(2) no. 1 AO).

When does the period start? At the end of the calendar year in which the tax arose or, if you had to file a return or declaration, at the end of the year of filing, at the latest after three years (section 170 AO).

What happens when the period has expired? An assessment and its cancellation or change are no longer permitted (section 169(1) AO).

Does a tax audit extend the period? Yes. If an audit started before the period expired, the period for the audited taxes does not generally expire before the audit notices are final, with the limits in section 171(4) AO.

Do I still have to report an old mistake? If you realise before the assessment period has expired that a declaration was incorrect or incomplete and that this may or did reduce tax, you must notify it without delay (section 153(1) AO).