If you are asked for your tax ID number, there are various ways to find it. After all, you don’t usually know this unique number, which is valid for life, by heart.
Find your tax ID: Here’s where to find this important number
Shortly after birth, every person in Germany is assigned a tax identification number, or tax ID for short. This eleven-digit number is not only long, but also essential as soon as you start earning money. The ID serves to identify you uniquely and permanently to the tax authorities, regardless of where you live or how often your name changes. Your tax ID accompanies you throughout your life, so you should know where to find the number.
- You will receive your tax ID by letter from the Federal Central Tax Office. However, it can also be found in official documents that you may already have. For example, your tax ID is on your income tax assessment, your employer’s income tax statement, and notifications from the tax office.
- The tax ID may also be noted on child benefit notices or registration certificates. So if you have such documents to hand, you can usually look up your tax ID quickly yourself.
- If you no longer have these documents or cannot find your tax ID, you can contact the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt). An online form is available on the official BZSt website, which you can use to request that your tax ID be sent to you again. For data protection reasons, the authorities will then send the number to your current registered address by post only.
- However, it is not possible to request your tax ID number by telephone. For data protection reasons, the Federal Central Tax Office is not permitted to disclose tax ID numbers by telephone or email. You can only ask general questions about the application or the procedure by telephone.
What you need your tax ID for
You will probably come across the question of your tax ID quite often in everyday life, especially when it comes to financial matters.
- You will need it particularly often for tax purposes, for example when filing your tax return electronically via the ELSTER portal or for electronic income tax statements from your employer.
- You also need to provide your tax ID when applying for child benefit, parental allowance, or benefits such as the basic pension.
- Banks and insurance companies also need your tax ID when you submit exemption orders or have to pay tax on investment income. In such cases, the number is used to forward the information correctly to the tax office.
- The tax ID is increasingly being used beyond the tax sector to uniquely identify you in official procedures. For example, the number is used when you apply for an identity card or submit applications to health insurance companies or for pension and social security benefits.
- The tax ID number is subject to tax secrecy and is protected by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This means that it may not be passed on or used without your express consent.
- Therefore, always keep your tax ID in a safe place. It is best to store it together with other important documents in a lockable folder or save it in an encrypted format in a secure digital document system.
- Be particularly careful with requests by email or telephone: Reputable authorities will never ask for your tax ID in this way. If someone tries to obtain your tax ID by telephone or email, it is most likely a phishing scam.
Do not confuse your tax ID and tax number
Your tax ID and tax number are two completely different numbers that serve different purposes: Nevertheless, many people confuse them.
- The tax ID is an 11-digit number that serves to uniquely identify every person registered in Germany. It is assigned centrally and remains the same for life.
- The tax number, on the other hand, is a number assigned by the relevant tax office that refers to specific tax procedures, such as income tax or sales tax.
- This tax number may change, for example if you move and become responsible for a different tax office, or if you take up several taxable activities.
- The tax number is therefore linked to the specific case and the respective authority, while the tax ID is permanently linked to the individual.
- You should therefore know exactly which number you need to provide where. The tax ID is now usually required for general correspondence with the tax office and many digital procedures such as ELSTER.
