German VAT and tax office letters for companies from Japan

Which tax office handles companies from Japan?

Your office is Finanzamt Berlin International. For VAT, Germany assigns, as a rule, one tax office per country; the list is in § 1 (1) UStZustV. It does not name Japan, so the catch-all rule applies (§ 1 (2) UStZustV): Finanzamt Berlin International.

Until 2023, it was Neukölln: Finanzamt Berlin International took over from Finanzamt Neukölln in December 2023.

Exceptions: some special VAT schemes and VAT refunds follow their own rules (§ 1 (2a), (2b), (3) UStZustV).

Other countries: see our [tax office finder](/en/tools/finanzamt-finder). As of 24 October 2026.

How do letters from Berlin reach you in Japan?

Mostly by post, in German: that is how German tax offices write (§ 87 AO). For a letter to your address in Japan, the law does not count the days in transit:

• Letter sent abroad: counts as notified one month after posting, unless it arrived later or not at all; in case of doubt, the tax office must prove when it arrived (§ 122 (2) AO).
• No authorised recipient after a request: also one month after posting (§ 123 sentence 2 AO). The exception then only applies if it is established that the letter arrived later or not at all (§ 123 sentence 3 AO).
• Weekend or public holiday: if the day is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the next working day counts (§ 108 (3) AO; Federal Fiscal Court, judgment of 14 October 2003, IX R 68/98).
• Objection: one month from notification (§ 355 (1) AO).

An example with real dates: Finanzamt Berlin International posts an assessment notice on Wednesday, 12 August 2026.

Only public holidays that apply in all of Germany are included; holidays at the recipient's place (for example abroad) are not. Assumes the letter arrived in time. General information, as of 24 October 2026, not tax advice.

Your own dates: our non-binding German tax deadline calculator. The rules in detail: German tax deadlines and deemed delivery.

What does an authorised recipient in Germany change?

On request of the tax office: if your company in Japan has no seat or management in Germany, the EU or the EEA, the tax office can ask you to name an authorised recipient (Empfangsbevollmächtigter) in Germany within a reasonable period (§ 123 AO).

• Domestic post: letters to the German address count as notified on the fourth day after posting (§ 122 (2) AO), not after one month.
• Deadlines start sooner: see the example above.
• The letter stays in Germany: it is not sent abroad; a scan shows it to you as a PDF.

More: Authorised recipient for the German tax office.

Which letters does Finanzamt Berlin International typically send?

• Reminder (Erinnerung): a VAT return is missing. File it before the date in the letter.
• Late filing surcharge (Verspätungszuschlag): a charge because a return came late (§ 152 AO).
• Estimated assessment (Schätzungsbescheid): returns are missing, so the office estimates your tax (§ 162 AO).
• Assessment notice (Bescheid): it sets your tax. The one-month objection period runs from notification (§ 355 (1) AO).

How to reach the office: Contacting Finanzamt Berlin International.

Is there a double tax treaty between Germany and Japan?

Yes, according to the BMF overview: Germany has a double tax treaty (Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen, DBA) with Japan: the agreement of 17 December 2015 (BGBl. 2016 II p. 956; BStBl 2016 I p. 1306), generally applicable from 1 January 2017.

The overview also lists it among the treaties to which the German act applying the multilateral BEPS convention (BEPS-MLI) applies, generally from 1 January 2026.

Your VAT office stays the same: it follows from § 1 UStZustV either way. The overview lists double tax treaties as agreements on taxes on income and on capital (Steuern vom Einkommen und vom Vermögen). For your taxes on income, ask a tax adviser.

Source: BMF overview as of 1 January 2026, letter of 7 January 2026.

How PortoDoc solves it

1. 01Address: You sign up and get 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.
2. 02Naming us: You sign the power of attorney that includes § 123 AO. Under “For the tax office”, your account shows exactly what to enter. You name PortoDoc to the tax office yourself, for example in the VAT registration form.
3. 03Scan: The tax office writes to us. We scan each letter and you get a notification. The letter appears in your account as a PDF.
4. 04AI summary: Every plan includes an English AI translation; depending on your plan, you also get an AI summary: non-binding aids, not tax advice; the original letter counts.
5. 05Your reply: You or your tax adviser reply to the tax office. We do not file returns, give tax advice or monitor deadlines.

PortoDoc is operated by Postuvio UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Am Tiergarten 10-12, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany. Letters arrive in Ahrensburg (Schleswig-Holstein); data is stored on servers in the EU (Hetzner, Finland).

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