Deemed delivery of official letters: the underestimated risk for Germans abroad

What is deemed delivery?

Deemed delivery (Zugangsfiktion) is a concept of German administrative law. For tax matters, it is set out in § 122 (2) of the German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung, AO). It says: a written administrative decision sent by post within Germany is deemed to be notified on the fourth day after it was posted.

Since 2025, four days: this applies to letters posted after 31 December 2024; before that, it was the third day. If the letter is sent abroad, the period is one month (§ 122 (2) no. 2 AO).

What counts is the deemed date, not the day you read the letter. Once a letter is in your letterbox, it counts as received, even if you do not open it. The real risk: deadlines keep running while a letter waits unread.

There is an exception: the deemed date does not apply if the letter did not arrive at all or arrived later. In case of doubt, the tax office must prove that the letter arrived and when (§ 122 (2) AO).

Why is this especially risky for Germans abroad?

In Germany, you usually notice if a letter arrives late or not at all, and you can react in time. For Germans abroad, the situation is quite different.

Is the one-month rule for letters abroad generous?

A letter sent abroad is deemed notified not after four days, but only one month after posting (§ 122 (2) no. 2 AO). That sounds generous, but often it is not, because:

• many tax offices still write to an old German address. Then the four-day rule for post within Germany applies, and the letter may sit in a German letterbox that nobody empties
• a forwarded letter can take a long time or get lost
• and even when the letter arrives: the objection period runs from the deemed date, not from the day you actually read the letter. If it arrives later, the later date counts; in case of doubt the tax office has to prove it

Who has to prove that a letter arrived?

After a request under § 123 AO, the burden of proof effectively shifts to you. If the tax office has asked you to name an authorised recipient (Empfangsbevollmächtigter) and you have not done so, a letter is deemed received one month after posting, and a document sent electronically on the fourth day after it was sent. The tax office does not have to prove that you received the letter.

This rule only fails if it is established that the letter did not reach you or reached you later, and in practice, you are the one who has to show that. That is difficult.

Without such a request, the normal rule applies: in case of doubt, the tax office must prove receipt and its timing (§ 122 (2) AO).

What can happen in practice?

The following cases are illustrative.

Example 1: the forgotten tax assessment

Mr M. has lived in Spain for two years. His tax office sends an income tax assessment notice (Einkommensteuerbescheid) to his old German address, where he still has a letterbox. The letter sits there for six weeks, until a neighbour notices it and sends it on to Spain; by then, the objection period has already expired: the notice is final.

Example 2: the estimate

Ms K. lives in Turkey and has rental income from a flat in Berlin. The tax office asks her to file a tax return, but the letter never reaches her. The tax office estimates her income and sets the tax at €8,000, although the actual tax would have been only €2,500.

Example 3: the chain of reminders

Mr T. in Thailand receives neither the tax assessment notice, nor the payment reminder, nor the notice of enforcement. He first hears about it when his German bank account is seized.

How can you protect yourself?

Good protection against the risks of deemed delivery is to name an authorised recipient under § 123 AO. They receive post on your behalf and keep you informed.

What should a good authorised recipient provide?

1. Digitisation: every letter should be scanned and made available digitally
2. Help with deadlines: possible deadlines can be marked as an aid, but checking them stays with you or your tax adviser
3. Classification: urgent post must be told apart from unimportant advertising
4. A traceable record: it should be clear when each letter arrived

The periods in detail: our guide to German tax deadlines and deemed delivery.

How does PortoDoc act as your authorised recipient?

PortoDoc was built for exactly this problem. As your authorised recipient, we receive your official post at your postal address in Ahrensburg near Hamburg with your personal PD number. It is a delivery address for letters, not a business, registered-office or imprint address.

We scan each letter and make it available in your online account.

Our AI helps you get an overview, always as non-binding aids:

• Possible deadlines: from the Business plan, an AI deadline hint marks possible deadlines in tax assessment notices, reminders and official letters. The letter itself is what counts, and you (or your tax adviser) check every deadline yourself.
• Urgency: an AI-based, non-binding traffic-light classification (red = urgent, yellow = action needed, green = for information)
• What a letter is about: every plan includes an English AI translation; depending on your plan, you also get an AI summary: an aid, not tax advice; the original letter counts

You get an e-mail when a new letter arrives, wherever in the world you are.

Conclusion

Deemed delivery is not a theoretical risk: it affects Germans abroad in very concrete ways. Without an authorised recipient, you risk final notices, estimates and, in the worst case, seizure of your account. With PortoDoc, you reduce the risk that official letters go unnoticed: your post is digital, stored on servers in the EU (Hetzner, Finland), and after scanning, nobody at PortoDoc has access to your post.