The tax identification number (IdNr., colloquially Steuer-ID) is an eleven-digit number that the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, BZSt) assigns to every person registered in Germany — from the newborn to the pensioner. Under § 139b Abs. 1 AO, every person receives only a single IdNr., and every number is issued only once. You do not have to submit an application: the registration authority automatically transmits your data to the BZSt, which then informs you of the number by letter. Important for context: the Steuer-ID has not replaced the tax number (Steuernummer) of the Finanzamt (tax office) — both numbers still exist in parallel today.
Last updated25 August 2026
Legal basis§ 139b AO in conjunction with § 139a AO
Independent information website: we are not the Finanzamt, not an authority and not a paid advice service – we do not submit applications on your behalf. All information comes from official sources and is explained here in plain language; binding information always comes from the competent body. All information is provided without guarantee. We are neither lawyers nor tax consultants: we document official procedures and check the information against the official source – this is information, not legal or tax advice.
CostsNo feeThe repeat notification is also free of charge
Processing timeDepends on the competent authorityFirst allocation with no official deadline · repeat notification up to 4 weeks
MethodAutomatic, no application neededAllocation by the BZSt after registration, delivered by letter
Required documents
What you need — and where the number already is
For the first allocation, you do not need to submit anything at all: the process runs exclusively through the transmission of registration data between the registration authority and the BZSt. You only need documents in two situations — if you want the number notified to you again, or if no letter at all arrives after the Anmeldung (residence registration). Be sure to check the documents below first: in very many cases the IdNr. is already in your own file folder, and the detour via the BZSt costs four weeks of waiting time unnecessarily.
Notification letter from the BZSt
The original letter in which the Federal Central Tax Office notified you of the IdNr. is the most direct proof. It was sent to your registered address at the time after your first Anmeldung or after your birth, and remains valid indefinitely, because the number never changes. Anyone who moved to Germany in 2008 or later will usually find it among the documents for their first home.
Most recent income tax assessment notice
The IdNr. is printed on every income tax assessment notice from the Finanzamt, in the header area next to the Steuernummer. You will have the official notice (Bescheid) as soon as you have filed a tax return once — even if it dates back years, the number on it is still correct. Do not confuse it with the Steuernummer, which has a different format depending on the Finanzamt.
Employment tax statement from the employer
The annual employment tax statement (Lohnsteuerbescheinigung) you receive with one of your last payslips explicitly shows the IdNr., because the employer needs it to retrieve the electronic wages tax deduction information. It is often also shown on the monthly pay statement. For employees, this is in practice the quickest place to find it.
Identity card, passport or residence title
For the repeat notification, you must identify yourself clearly to the BZSt: family name, birth name, given names, date of birth, place of birth and current address must match the population register (Melderegister) exactly. Keep your identity document ready so that you can transfer the details correctly. If your details differ, queries will follow and processing will be delayed considerably.
A current registered address
The BZSt sends the IdNr. exclusively by letter to the address stored in the population register — no other form of delivery is provided for. If your address is outdated, first report the Ummeldung (change of address) or the Anmeldung at the Bürgeramt (citizens’ office), otherwise the letter will not reach you. A Meldebescheinigung (registration certificate) helps you check your own details in advance.
Power of attorney and copy of ID for a different address
If, exceptionally, the notification should not go to the registered address — for example during a longer stay abroad or under legal custodianship — the BZSt requires a written power of attorney and a copy of the identity document. The application must then be sent by post to the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, Referat St II 7, 11055 Berlin. Without these two pieces of evidence, delivery to a different address is refused.
Evidence if no allocation arrives (children and moving to Germany)
If no letter arrives within three months of the Anmeldung or of the birth, you should submit evidence to the BZSt — typically the confirmation of registration from the Bürgeramt, and for children also the birth certificate (Geburtsurkunde). These documents prove that a registration has taken place and that the data transmission must have occurred. You get the Geburtsurkunde from the Standesamt (registry office) of the place of birth.
Step by step
How to proceed
1
Register your address in Germany
Everything starts with the registration authority, not with the Finanzamt. As soon as you register at the Bürgeramt, the registration authority transmits the legally defined data — family name, previous names, given names, doctoral degree, date and place of birth, gender, current address and any restriction on disclosure — to the Federal Central Tax Office. This transmission is governed by § 139b Abs. 6 to 8 AO and takes place without any action on your part. There is no application for the Steuer-ID, and you do not need to fill in a form or attend the Finanzamt in person for it.
2
Wait for the notification letter from the BZSt
From the data transmitted, the BZSt forms the eleven-digit IdNr., stores it and reports it back to the population register for storage. You then receive a letter with your number by post to your registered address. The BZSt deliberately does not state an official processing deadline — the allocation takes place as soon as the registration authority has transmitted the required data, so the duration depends on the competent authority. Do not rely on rules of thumb circulating on the internet, therefore, but plan appointments with your employer or bank without relying on a fixed delivery date.
3
Follow up with the BZSt after three months without post
The BZSt names a clear threshold for taking action: if no letter has arrived three months after the Anmeldung, or after the birth of a child, you should take action and submit the relevant evidence to the BZSt. The confirmation of registration from the Bürgeramt is useful, and for children the Geburtsurkunde. Check beforehand whether the letter went to a previous address or a mail redirection order has expired — this is the most common cause. Only after that is it worth making a formal enquiry.
4
Search your own documents before requesting a new one
Before you apply for a repeat notification, you will usually save weeks by briefly checking your papers. The IdNr. is on your most recent income tax assessment notice, on your employer’s Lohnsteuerbescheinigung, and on the BZSt’s original notification letter. Your ELSTER user account (Benutzerkonto) also shows the stored basic tax data. Anyone who finds the number there does not need to go through the authority at all.
5
Request a repeat notification in writing from the BZSt
If the search does not help, request the number via the input form on bzst.de or via the BZStOnline-Portal (BOP); alternatively, an informal letter to the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, Referat St II 7, 11055 Berlin, is sufficient. Give your details exactly as they appear in the population register. Important: for legal reasons, the BZSt may not disclose the identification number by telephone or email. The service hotline 0228 406-1240 (Mon–Fri, 9 to 14:00) answers procedural questions but does not give you the number itself.
6
Wait for the letter to your registered address
The notification is made exclusively in writing by letter to the address stored in the population register. The BZSt points out that, owing to the high number of enquiries, processing time can currently take four weeks; if queries arise over differing details, it takes longer. Delivery to a different address is only possible with a written power of attorney and a copy of your ID. Do not submit a second application during this time — duplicate applications extend processing instead of speeding it up.
7
Pass on the number and keep it permanently
As soon as you have the IdNr., pass it on to every body that needs it: your employer for the wages tax deduction, your bank when opening an account and for an exemption order (Freistellungsauftrag), the Familienkasse (Family Benefits Office) for Kindergeld (child benefit), and your health and pension insurance. Afterwards, file the letter with the documents you keep permanently — Geburtsurkunde, social insurance card, certificates. The number is issued only once in a lifetime, so a replacement is always only a repeat notification of the same number.
Fee information
Costs and payment
Fees
First allocationNo fee
Repeat notification if lostNo fee
Competent bodyFederal Central Tax Office (BZSt)
Means of paymentNot applicable — no fee is charged
The allocation of the tax identification number is completely free of charge. Neither the Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung, AO) nor any fee regulation provides for a fee for the allocation or for a repeat notification. There is also no administrative flat fee, no postage costs for you, and no express fee that could speed up processing — a paid acceleration simply does not exist.
This is exactly what dubious providers exploit. The BZSt expressly warns against official-looking letters and websites that offer an alleged registration or application for the Steuer-ID for a fee. Such offers are worthless: they can neither speed up the allocation of the number nor obtain it at all, because only the BZSt is allowed to allocate it. Anyone who pays there loses their money and additionally passes on sensitive registration data to third parties.
Costs can only arise indirectly, for example if you engage a tax consultant who also looks up the number as part of a mandate, or if you need a fee-based Meldebescheinigung for the Anmeldung at the Bürgeramt. For the IdNr. itself, you pay nothing in any federal state or at any authority.
Good to know
Important notes
Unchanged for life. The IdNr. remains permanently valid, even in the event of corrections or changes to the registration data such as marriage, address or a change of name. Under § 139b Abs. 1 AO, every person receives only one identification number, and every number is issued only once — so there is no ‘new’ Steuer-ID, only a repeat notification of the same number.
No information by telephone — not even on the hotline. For legal reasons, the BZSt may not disclose the identification number either by telephone or by email. Notification is made exclusively by letter to your registered address. The service number 0228 406-1240 (Mon–Fri, 9 to 14:00) helps with procedural questions but does not give out the number itself. Anyone who asks for your IdNr. on the phone is not acting on behalf of the BZSt.
Employer and tax class VI. Every employer needs your IdNr. to retrieve the electronic wages tax deduction information. If it is missing, wages tax must in principle be calculated under tax class VI with the highest deduction, as provided by § 39c Abs. 1 of the Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz, EStG). The restriction in Satz 2 is decisive: if you are not responsible for the missing notification, the employer may apply the anticipated wages tax deduction information for at most three months; tax class VI only applies after that, and if the number is supplied later, the calculation must be corrected retroactively.
Opening an account under § 154 Abs. 2a AO. Credit institutions must collect and record the IdNr. of every account holder, every person authorised to operate the account, and every beneficial owner. For account holders who are not private individuals, the business identification number (Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer) under § 139c AO or the Steuernummer is also required. Certain accounts for consumer loans below €12,000 are exempt. Without an IdNr., opening an account is in practice refused or suspended.
Children receive the IdNr. automatically. After the notification of birth, the same transmission of registration data takes place as for adults, so newborns receive their own, lifelong valid number without any action by the parents. You need the child’s IdNr., among other things, for the Kindergeld application at the Familienkasse and for the tax allowance for children (Kinderfreibetrag). If the letter has not arrived three months after the birth, submit the Geburtsurkunde and the registration data to the BZSt.
Where else the IdNr. is required. Besides the employer and the bank, it is needed by the Familienkasse for Kindergeld, the Deutsche Rentenversicherung, the health insurance fund (Krankenkasse), investment companies for the Freistellungsauftrag, and the automated church tax deduction via the church tax deduction indicator (Kirchensteuerabzugsmerkmal, KiStAM). Keep the number ready, therefore, when you open a securities account, take out a savings contract, or apply for social benefits.
Distinction from the business identification number (Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer, W-IdNr.). Since November 2024, the BZSt has also issued the business identification number under § 139c AO for persons engaged in business activity. It consists of the prefix DE, nine digits and a five-digit distinguishing feature for individual activities, and is intended to eventually replace the Steuernummer in business transactions. Your personal IdNr. is unaffected by this; also to be distinguished from it is the VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.) for the movement of goods within the EU.
What data is stored. Under § 139b Abs. 3 AO, the BZSt stores a clearly limited data set for your IdNr.: family name, previous names, given names, doctoral degree, day and place of birth, gender, current or last known address, the competent tax authorities, any restriction on disclosure, and, where applicable, the date of death. Because, in the course of register modernisation, the IdNr. serves as an overarching identifying feature, you should treat it as carefully as your ID number and never give it out on request over the phone or by email.
Moving to Germany from abroad and moving away. Anyone newly moving to Germany only receives the IdNr. after the Anmeldung at the Bürgeramt — plan this step early, therefore, because your employer, your bank and your Krankenkasse regularly require the number. If you later move abroad, the number remains in place and is reused if you return; a second number is not issued.
Avoid these mistakes
Common mistakes
Confusing the Steuer-ID with the Steuernummer. The IdNr. is eleven digits long and uniform nationwide, while the Steuernummer is issued by the local Finanzamt and can change if you move or your competent authority changes. Anyone who enters the wrong number on a form risks rejection of the application, a failed retrieval of the wages tax deduction information, and consequently weeks of delay.
Throwing away the notification letter. Anyone who throws away the letter and has not noted the number anywhere must apply for a repeat notification and wait up to four weeks for post. If starting a job or opening an account falls within this period, the whole process is delayed — and in the meantime, excessive wages tax deductions are a risk.
Trying to ask for the number by phone. For legal reasons, the BZSt may not state the IdNr. over the phone. Anyone who relies on this loses days during which the written application could already have been under way — and anyone who gives their date of birth, address and bank details on the phone to a supposed authority hands fraudsters the perfect basis for identity misuse.
Paying for the Steuer-ID. Official-looking letters or websites that offer a fee-based registration of the Steuer-ID are not an authority. The result of paying: lost money, no acceleration whatsoever, and sensitive registration data in someone else’s hands. Only the Federal Central Tax Office is competent — and there the process is free of charge.
Not telling the employer the IdNr. Without the number, they cannot retrieve the wages tax deduction information; after three months at the latest, the calculation must be made under tax class VI with the highest deduction (§ 39c Abs. 1 EStG). You do get back any overpaid wages tax through your tax return, but the money may be missing from your household budget for a whole year.
Giving details that differ from the population register. Anyone who omits their birth name on the application, enters an old address or states the place of birth imprecisely triggers a query. The matter is then put on hold, and four weeks of processing time quickly become several months. Copy the details word for word from your ID and your Meldebescheinigung, therefore.
Putting off the Ummeldung after a move. The BZSt sends letters exclusively to the address stored in the population register. If this is out of date, the letter with your IdNr. goes to your old home and the waiting time starts again from scratch. Report your change of address first, therefore, and only apply for the repeat notification afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
Questions and answers
How do I get my Steuer-ID?
You do not need to apply for anything: after you register your address in Germany, the registration authority transmits your data to the Federal Central Tax Office, which allocates the eleven-digit IdNr. and notifies you by letter (§ 139b Abs. 6 to 8 AO). The letter goes to the address stored in the population register.
What does the allocation of the Steuer-ID cost?
The allocation and every repeat notification are free of charge; neither the Fiscal Code nor any fee regulation provides for a fee. The BZSt expressly warns against official-looking letters and websites that demand money for an alleged registration of the Steuer-ID.
How long does the first allocation of the Steuer-ID take?
The BZSt does not state an official deadline, but allocates the IdNr. as soon as the registration authority has transmitted the required data; the duration therefore depends on the competent authority. Only the threshold for taking action is officially binding: if no letter has arrived after three months, you should submit evidence to the BZSt.
What should I do if I have lost my Steuer-ID?
First check your most recent income tax assessment notice, your Lohnsteuerbescheinigung and the BZSt’s original notification letter, because the number is already noted there. If you do not find it there, request the repeat notification via the input form on bzst.de or in writing from the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, Referat St II 7, 11055 Berlin.
Can I ask for the Steuer-ID by telephone or email?
No. For legal and data protection reasons, the BZSt may not disclose the identification number either by telephone or by email; notification is made exclusively by letter to your registered address. The service hotline 0228 406-1240 answers questions about the procedure but does not give out the number itself.
How long does a repeat notification take if the number is lost?
The BZSt states that, owing to the high number of enquiries, processing time can currently take four weeks. If queries are necessary, for example because your details do not match the population register, it takes correspondingly longer.
Does the Steuer-ID change when you move, marry or change your name?
No, the IdNr. remains permanently valid, even in the event of corrections or changes to the registration data such as marriage, address or a change of name. Under § 139b Abs. 1 AO, every person receives only one identification number, and every number is issued only once.
What is the difference between the Steuer-ID, the Steuernummer and the business identification number?
The Steuer-ID is eleven digits long, uniform nationwide and tied to the individual person; the Steuernummer is issued by the local Finanzamt and can change if you move or your competent authority changes. Both still exist in parallel today — the Steuer-ID has not replaced the Steuernummer. For persons engaged in business activity, the business identification number under § 139c AO is also added, which is intended to eventually replace the Steuernummer in business transactions.
What happens if I do not tell my employer my Steuer-ID?
Without the IdNr., the employer cannot retrieve the electronic wages tax deduction information and must in principle calculate wages tax under tax class VI with the highest deduction (§ 39c Abs. 1 EStG). If you are not responsible for the missing notification, the employer may apply the anticipated wages tax deduction information for at most three months; if the number is supplied later, the calculation must be corrected retroactively.
Does my child get their own Steuer-ID?
Yes, every child registered in Germany receives their own, lifelong valid IdNr. immediately after the notification of birth, via the transmission of registration data. You need this number, among other things, for the Kindergeld application at the Familienkasse; if no letter arrives within three months, contact the BZSt with the relevant evidence.
