Basic Information

Germany’s Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) is the nation’s competent authority for administering insurance and fire protection taxes.

The insurance tax is a transactions tax. Transactions taxes are defined as those that are imposed on legal and business dealings. With insurance tax, it is neither the insurance policy nor the insurance coverage that is taxed, but exclusively payment of the insurance premiums for an insurance relationship.

It does not matter whether the insurance relationship was created through a policy or by other means (e.g. by law, membership in an association).

An insurance policy, or simply “insurance”, is also created through an agreement between multiple individuals or groups of individuals to bear the cost of such losses or damage that may be covered by insurance.

The person liable for payment of insurance tax is the policyholder. As a rule, however, the insurer is the one required to execute payment of the tax for the account of the policyholder.

In contrast to the insurance tax, the fire protection tax is not a true transactions tax. In this case, it is not the act of paying insurance premiums from insurance that is taxed but the receipt of such payments.

The entity liable for payment of the tax is the insurance company, which is also required to execute payment.

Insurance and fire protection taxes are self-assessed taxes.

The tax incurred when the insurance premium is paid or received or due must be paid to the Federal Central Tax Office within 15 days after each self-assessment period. Persons or entities liable for executing payment are required to calculate the tax amount, report the amount, and pay the amount owed themselves.

The basis of charge for insurance and fire protection tax is always the insurance premium (Section 5 of the Insurance Tax Act, Section 3 of the Fire Protection Tax Act). The respective rates of tax are determined in accordance with Section 6 of the Insurance Tax Act and Section 4 of the Fire Protection Tax Act.

An insurance premium means any type of payment that must be made to the insurer in order to establish and continue the insurance relationship. Examples include premiums, contributions, advance contributions, advances, admission fees, additional payments, charges, policy drafting fees, and other ancillary costs.

Electronic Data Submission

The German Insurance Tax Act (VersStG) in the version of April 27, 2021, stipulates that insurance tax returns filed as of January 1, 2022 are required to be sent in electronic format (Section 8, para. 1, sentence 1, no. 1, in conjunction with Section 12, para. 4, sentence 1, VersStG).

Self-assessed fire protection tax returns can also be submitted electronically.

All necessary information can be found on the page about electronic data communication.

Regulations

Leaflets

The leaflets below offer you comprehensive information about insurance and fire protection tax.

Forms

Upon request, the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) may waive the requirement to submit forms electronically to prevent undue hardship. If the BZSt agrees to such a request, the self-assessed tax return can be submitted using the officially prescribed form (Section 8, para. 1, sentence 2, VersStG).

Insurance Tax

Fire Protection Tax

FAQ

Bank Details for Payment of Tax

Beneficiary: Bundeskasse Trier
Bank: Bundesbank Filiale Saarbrücken
IBAN: DE89 5900 0000 0059 0010 70
BIC: MARKDEF1590
Creditor ID number: DE09ZZZ00000000001

When making the payment, please indicate your tax number, the type of tax, and the period covered.

Contact via De-Mail

If you have the option of communicating via De-Mail, you may contact us using that service.

versicherungsteuer@bzst.de-mail.de