What the German Tax Office Really Knows About Your Bank Account (and What Changes in 2027)

Not legal or tax advice. As of 21.10.2026. I re-checked every figure and every law at the source on that day. This article is about German law and German bank accounts. For your own case, talk to a tax adviser.

'The tax office now knows your account balance.' Since late September 2026 that line has been all over German headlines and videos. For your current account in Germany it is not true. For an account in Spain, Austria or Switzerland it is, but it has been true since 2017.

I went through every claim one by one, with the statute, the parliamentary papers and the authorities' own pages. The result is a fairly clean split: what the office already knows, what it does not, and which three things actually change in 2027. A fourth change, which hardly anyone mentions, sits in the EU regulation on cash.

Who reports what to the German tax office? The overview

Five routes by which data about your money ends up with an authority. Only one of them regularly delivers figures for a German account, and that is the exemption order (Freistellungsauftrag). Nobody transmits the balance of a domestic account automatically, except when the account holder dies.

Does the German tax office see your account balance?

No, not for an account in Germany. Your bank sends the tax office no balance, neither monthly nor once a year. None of the statutes I read for this (the Fiscal Code AO, the Income Tax Act EStG, the Money Laundering Act GwG and the Financial Account Information Exchange Act FKAustG) contains an ongoing balance report for domestic accounts. What exists is the account query, the Kontenabruf. And it is far narrower than most people think.

What does an account query return?

It shows at which banks someone holds which accounts, securities accounts and safe deposit boxes, and whether that person is the holder, an authorised signatory or the beneficial owner. Name and date of birth are included, and since 1 January 2020 also address and tax identification number. The Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) says on its account query page (in German) that account movements and balances cannot be determined. The legal basis is § 93b AO. One detail few people know: banks keep this master data in a separate database, and the BZSt retrieves it without the bank's knowledge. Your bank never learns that someone asked about you.

Who runs the most queries, and how often?

In 2023 there were 1,403,581 account queries under § 93b AO. Bailiffs (Gerichtsvollzieher) accounted for 844,427 of them, around 60 percent. Mostly it is about unpaid debts, not tax investigations. The figures come from the federal government's answer to a parliamentary question, Bundestag paper 20/10841 of March 2024. The curve rises, but more slowly than some headlines suggest: 302,150 queries in 2015, 1,014,704 in 2020. From 2020 to 2023 that is just over 38 percent more, not a doubling.

Are there figures newer than 2023?

I could not find any. On 21 October 2026 I ran seven searches for total figures for 2024 and 2025. Every result led back to the same parliamentary paper with 2023 as the latest value. For 2025 there is only a partial figure on queries by the domestic intelligence service, and it comes from a press enquiry, not an official publication. That is why it is not quoted here. It does not mean newer figures do not exist. It means I found none I could verify.

When may the tax office start an account query?

Not just like that. Under § 93(7) AO a query for tax purposes is in most cases only allowed if asking you directly has not worked or promises no success. You must be informed beforehand that a query is possible (§ 93(9) AO). That notice may sit in the small print, though: the law explicitly allows it in official forms and leaflets. After the query, the requesting authority notifies you. The law provides exceptions for some cases.

How does the tax office get your transactions?

Only through a targeted request to your bank. The basis is § 93(1) AO: people other than you must also give the tax office information, but they should only be asked when clarifying things with you fails. On 25 June 2017 the so-called tax banking secrecy (§ 30a AO) was abolished. Since then, findings from tax audits at banks may also be passed on to the customers' tax offices. According to the law firm Noerr, the old banking secrecy never gave banks a right to refuse information anyway. A tax office that wants to see your statements has to act. It does not get them automatically.

When does a German bank report a balance after all?

When the account holder dies. Banks must notify the tax office responsible for inheritance tax of a deceased customer's assets (§ 33(1) ErbStG). The notice may only be omitted if the value does not exceed 5,000 euros (§ 1(4) ErbStDV). As far as my research goes, this is the only point at which a German bank reports a balance to the tax office on its own.

What does your bank report to the tax office anyway?

It is not report-free. Two things do go out, and neither has anything to do with your balance: the exemption order data and, on suspicion, a money laundering report. On top of that comes a duty that hits you at the counter, the proof of origin for cash. Keep these three apart and the 10,000 euro stories online stop being confusing.

What does the bank report for an exemption order?

If you have given an exemption order, your bank reports once a year to the BZSt how much interest and dividends it left untaxed (§ 45d(1) EStG). This is done with your tax ID. Without it the order is not valid at all, as § 44a(2a) EStG sets out. So what is reported is an annual total of income, not a balance and not a single booking.

Who else receives this data?

Social benefit agencies. Under § 45d(2) EStG the BZSt may pass the data to social benefit providers where they need to check income or assets for a benefit. If you receive a benefit that depends on income or assets, assume the agency can know about your exempted interest and dividends.

Does the bank report automatically from 10,000 euros?

No, not under current law. A money laundering report depends on suspicion, not on an amount. § 43(1) GwG requires the report regardless of the value of the asset or the size of the transaction. It does not go to the tax office either, but to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) at German customs. According to the FIU annual report 2025 there were 374,693 suspicious activity reports, around 41 percent more than the year before. From July 2027 an amount-based report for cash deposits is added, more on that below.

What applies to cash deposits above 10,000 euros?

You have to show where the money comes from. Depositing more than 10,000 euros in cash at your own bank requires proof of origin, at another bank from 2,500 euros. That is how Sparkasse.de summarises the requirement of the financial regulator BaFin. Suitable documents include statements showing the cash withdrawal, sales receipts for example from selling a car, a will or certificate of inheritance, and gift contracts. According to a Postbank notice this has applied since 8 August 2021. Splitting deposits does not help: once the parts add up to more than 10,000 euros, you still need the proof. I have not read the BaFin guidance itself in the original.

What does the German tax office learn about your foreign account?

This is where the balance really is transmitted, every year. If you hold an account in Austria, Spain, Switzerland or Turkey, the bank there reports your year-end balance to its tax authority, which passes it on to Germany. The BZSt receives the data and forwards it to your tax office (§ 5 FKAustG).

Which data does the foreign bank report?

Under § 8 FKAustG: name, address, date of birth and tax ID, the account number, the account balance at the end of the calendar year, plus interest, dividends and sale proceeds. That is more than a German tax office ever learns automatically about your German current account. For tax purposes, an account abroad is more transparent than one at the savings bank round the corner.

Since when has the exchange been running, is it new?

No, it has been running since 2017. § 27(1) FKAustG sets the date: 30 September of each year, starting on 30 September 2017 for the year 2016. The exchange at the end of September 2026 was the tenth, not the first.

With how many states does Germany exchange data?

With 118 states in 2026. That is in the final list of exchange states published by the Federal Ministry of Finance on 8 June 2026, status 1 June 2026. Austria is number 81, Switzerland 94, Spain 101 and Turkey 109. Germany receives data from all 118.

What happens to your German account if you live abroad?

Then the report runs the other way: the BZSt sends the data of your German account to the state where you live (§ 5(2) FKAustG). But not to all 118. I counted the footnotes in the ministry's list: Germany sends no data to 24 states, but receives data from them. They include the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. If you live in Dubai, your German account is not reported there. The other 94 states do receive the data.

What really changes in 2027?

Three things are law and affect private individuals directly: crypto exchanges report for the first time, banks report every dividend from German shares individually, and an EU-wide cap applies to cash payments involving traders. A fourth change hides in the small print of the cash regulation and concerns deposits at the bank counter. None of them sends a balance to the tax office.

What will crypto exchanges report from 2027?

The Crypto Asset Tax Transparency Act (KStTG) has applied since 24 December 2025; the BZSt runs the procedure under the labels CARF and DAC 8. Providers such as crypto exchanges must report their users' transactions to the BZSt every year by 31 July for the previous year (§ 9(1) KStTG), for the first time for calendar year 2026 (§ 21 KStTG). The first report is therefore due on 31 July 2027. According to a BZSt press release of 13 May 2026, the data then goes to the responsible tax offices or to foreign authorities. I re-checked the date in the statute and the press release on 21.10.2026, it stands.

Why will the bank report every dividend individually from 2027?

Because the law wants to uncover tax schemes around withholding tax on capital income. From 1 January 2027 your bank reports every distribution from German shares in your securities account individually to the BZSt: with name, date of birth, address, tax ID, securities account number, gross and net amount and the tax withheld (§ 45b EStG). It applies to income received after 31 December 2026 (§ 52(44b) EStG). § 45b(10) EStG names the purpose: the BZSt analyses the data for abusive arrangements of considerable significance. Whether distributions from funds and ETFs are also covered, I have not checked.

What applies to cash payments from July 2027?

From 10 July 2027, persons trading in goods or providing services may only accept or make cash payments up to 10,000 euros. Linked payments are added up. That is Art. 80(1) of EU Regulation 2024/1624, applicable from 10 July 2027 (Art. 90). As an EU regulation it applies directly, without a German implementing law. Art. 80(4) names two exceptions: payments between private individuals not acting in a professional capacity, and payments or deposits made on the premises of a bank. Buying your neighbour's car, you can still pay as much cash as you both like. Unless your neighbour is a car dealer. German public broadcaster Tagesschau uses the same example.

What changes in 2027 for cash deposits into your account?

This is the detail I did not see in any search result. Bank deposits are exempt from the cap, but the next sentence of Art. 80(4) says that payments or deposits at banks above the threshold shall be reported to the financial intelligence unit within the time limits it sets. In Germany that unit is the FIU at customs, not the tax office. Recital 162 of the regulation makes clear that such deposits should not be treated as a sign of suspicion and that this is a threshold-based disclosure, which may also be reported in aggregated form. So from 10 July 2027 there is a report above 10,000 euros after all, just not to the tax office and not as a suspicion. How the FIU will set deadlines and format, I had not found as of 21.10.2026.

Is Germany planning its own, lower cash limit?

I found nothing, as of 21.10.2026. Art. 80(2) allows member states to set lower limits. So far Germany has no general cap on cash payments, as both Tagesschau and the Sparkasse guide state. A specialist page from 29 July 2026 (fiala.de) names no national limit either. In three searches I came across no German draft law for a lower cap. I will check again before 10 July 2027.

Which claims about bank accounts and the tax office are wrong?

Four lines keep coming up. Each has a true core, none is right as it stands.

What should you check now?

No need to panic. Five points are still worth it, most take ten minutes.

1. Split your exemption orders. In total you can exempt up to 1,000 euros, as a jointly assessed couple up to 2,000 euros (§ 20(9) EStG). Spread it across the banks where interest actually accrues.
2. Foreign income goes in your tax return. Capital income without German withholding tax must be declared by you (§ 32d(3) EStG). The tax office gets the foreign data anyway.
3. Keep records for cash. If you hold larger sums at home, keep proof of where they came from: withdrawal slip, sales contract, certificate of inheritance. You will need it when depositing.
4. Document crypto properly. If you trade via an exchange, assume your tax office will learn about it from mid-2027, for the year 2026.
5. Plan large cash purchases from traders differently from July 2027. More than 10,000 euros in cash at a trader will no longer work. Plan for a transfer or card.

For individual cases, such as inheritances, assets abroad or crypto over several years, ask a tax adviser. Self-employed people face more changes in 2027, which I covered in a separate article (in German): Self-employed 2027: what is already law and what is only a draft.

Why I am so careful about this

This topic raises lots of questions, and the answers online are often driven by headlines rather than by the statute.

That is why every figure here has a source and every law a link. I handle other legal topics the same way, for example the EU AI Act for businesses. Where I could not verify something, it says so. Better to name a gap openly than to invent a number. More articles are on the blog.

FAQ: German tax office and your bank account

Sources

All pages opened and read on 21.10.2026. Most sources are in German. Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 was blocked for the standard retrieval tool and was read via a second browser (German version).