Coalition drops digital tax-notice changes; 2027 rollout stands

Electronic notification of tax assessments as the rule from 2027 standsDstv, while none of the Jahressteuergesetz 2026 (JStG 2026) amendments on that notification will comeDstv. After the Finance Committee of the Bundestag concluded its deliberations, the coalition removed not only the disputed effectiveness fictionDstv but all innovations around notification of the digital tax assessmentDstv. The changes are to undergo renewed examination, and the bill including the adjustments passed the committee stageDstv (BT-Drs. 21/9139). Digital notification of assessments is now the subject of parallel legislative procedures.

The government draft (BT-Drs. 21/8283) would have expanded digital notification further. The Deutscher Steuerberaterverband (DStV) welcomed the expansion in principle but strongly opposed the effectiveness fiction planned in favour of the tax administration. The fiction would have considerably widened the administration's latitude over the notification route and shifted the risk unilaterally onto taxpayers, a one-sided allocation of risk the DStV criticised in its statements S 06/26 and S 08/26.

The substantive law behind the dispute is § 122a Abgabenordnung (AO). Administrative acts, notably assessments based on electronically filed returns, may be notified by provision for data retrieval under § 87a(8) AO, above all where the return was transmitted by the taxpayer through a tax-administration user account or by a representative under § 80(2) AO to whom the assessment is to be notified under § 122(1) sentence 4 AO. The person entitled to retrieval is notified electronically on the day of provision of the retrieval possibility and its legal effects. Paragraph 1 does not apply where the taxpayer has requested one-off or permanent postal notification under § 122(2) AO, with request and revocation effective only prospectively on receipt by the authority. Retrieval requires authentication under § 87a(8) AO, and an act provided for retrieval is deemed notified on the fourth day after provision, with the authority bearing proof of the provision time in case of doubt.

The road there has been bumpy. In 2024 the Bundestag adopted new assessment-notification requirements to advance digitalisation of the assessment procedure, but the changeover time proved insufficient for the tax administration. The legislature therefore postponed application by one year, from 2026 to 2027DstvDstv, creating uncertainty. The DStV clarified the most pressing questions with the Bundesministerium der Finanzen (BMF), and the BMF responded with its letter of 13 August 2026 on the application of the recast § 122a AO. The latest parliamentary turn leaves questions open again, which the DStV says it will keep following closely.

For practice the stakes are the dates notification starts. An objection under § 347(1) sentence 1 AO must be lodged within one month after notification of the administrative act under § 355 AO, so the deemed-notification day governs deadline diaries as much as payment periods do. Advisers should therefore check established communication channels for receiving assessments, set up user accounts, verify and update powers of attorney including the email address stored in the Vollmachtsdatenbank, decide on requesting paper notification, and run regular data retrieval covering holidays, absences and staff training, while monitoring the parallel procedures in which the removed amendments are to be re-examined rather than treating the committee outcome as final.

Legal basis is §§ 122 and 122a AO with BT-Drs. 21/8283 and 21/9139 and the BMF letter of 13 August 2026 on § 122a AO; the DStV criticised the fiction in statements S 06/26 and S 08/26, and § 355 AO sets the one-month objection period running from notification.