How long does it take to process the tax assessment?

Current processing times for tax assessments

In the past year 2022, an average processing time for an income tax return had to be expected to be 54 days, which was already a few days longer than in the previous year 2021. This processing time will increase further this year. The reasons for the longer processing times are varied.

First of all, the tax offices have to fulfill a number of additional tasks. Due to the Corona years, on the one hand they are busy with the relief measures and on the other hand they also have to process the property tax returns. Especially when it comes to property tax returns, the numerous objections to the tax offices tie up capacity. In Berlin alone, well over 40,000 objections were raised out of just over 300,000 property tax notices that had already been issued, all of which now have to be processed. Furthermore, the tax offices are also struggling with a staff shortage, which also results in longer processing times.

Information about the processing status is available from the responsible tax office

The processing of a tax return is always carried out by the locally responsible person Tax office carried out. For this reason, only the responsible person in charge can provide information about the processing status. After submitting your tax return, you will first receive a confirmation of receipt. You can then view your own tax return data in your own customer account. Here you will also find the contact details of your own tax office, which you can use to inquire about the processing status. If you have any questions, you should provide your tax number.

Automated checking shortens processing times

In many cases, tax returns are already checked electronically. In these cases, the return is only verified by automated computer processing and is not reviewed by a tax officer. In 2021, approx. 10 to 20 percent of all tax returns are checked this way. With the automated check, tax assessments are processed after approx. Created in 14 days. This is possible with simple tax returns that do not have any major special features. However, in the event that new items are included in the tax return, such as: b. If special expenses are declared or income from rentals is declared for the first time, a tax return is always checked by a tax officer.

There are no deadlines for processing tax returns

Tax offices are generally not bound by deadlines when processing tax returns. It may therefore make sense to ask if you have not received a tax assessment after a few months. However, the tax office cannot take endless time to process it. In the event that six months have already passed since the declaration was submitted without processing has occurred, a taxpayer may submit a written objection to inaction make.

The processing of tax returns will also take longer this year than in previous years because the tax offices have additional tasks to deal with. As a rule, however, a tax assessment should be issued after a maximum of two months.