Get your tax identification number

Your tax identification number (Steuer-ID) has 11 digits and stays with you for life. If you register your address in Germany, you will ordinarily receive it by post at that address.

In short

• If you are required to register a home, do so. In the ordinary registered-resident case, the Meldebehörde sends the data for a first Steuer-ID without a separate application. Some employees outside the registration system can apply through a Finanzamt instead.
• The number has 11 digits, each number is issued only once, a person may have only one, and it does not change if you move, change your name, or change your family status.
• The BZSt sends its notification by letter, normally to your registered address. A letter to another address needs a written power of attorney and a copy of your identity document.
• The local Finanzamt is a different office. It can use the number. It does not issue a second one because you changed cities.
• The Steuer-ID is not a wage-tax class. Give the number to payroll when they ask. Do not send it to someone who contacts you unexpectedly.

What you need to know

The Steuer-ID is the Identifikationsnummer in section 139b of the Fiscal Code. A person may have only one, and each number is issued only once. The Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, BZSt) says the number has 11 digits, contains no information about you, stays valid permanently, and does not change if you move, change your name, or change your family status.

You do not pick the number and, in the ordinary registered-resident case, do not apply for a first one. Section 139b says the Meldebehörde transmits the registration data of people registered with a sole home or a main home so the BZSt can assign the number.

Some employees are not subject to German address registration. Section 39 (2) and (3) of the Income Tax Act provides for an application through the competent Finanzamt for the employees it covers. An employee can apply, or authorise the employer to do so. For an employee in section 39 (2), sentence 2, the competent office is the employer’s Betriebsstättenfinanzamt. In the specified cases that office or the employee’s Wohnsitzfinanzamt can also disclose an already assigned number on request.

Being late with registration does not mean you are exempt from a duty to register. The BZSt says you can still file an income-tax return without typing the number, because the Finanzamt already knows it or can look it up.

An employer who pays wages withholds wage tax under section 38 of the Income Tax Act. The number is one of the pieces that payroll uses. The BZSt says you will usually find it on an income-tax assessment or on your wage-tax certificate (Lohnsteuerbescheinigung).

What to do

1. If you must register your home, do so. The Meldebehörde normally sends the data for the first assignment. If you are an employee not subject to German address registration, ask the competent Finanzamt about the section 39 application; your employer can apply if you authorise it.
2. If the number is assigned through registration, wait for the BZSt letter at the registered address. The BZSt publishes a sample of the notification letter. It says that, for data-protection reasons, its notification is sent by letter. A letter to an address that is not your registered address needs a written power of attorney and a copy of your identity document.
3. Keep the letter with your Meldebescheinigung. If you start work, give the number to payroll when they ask. Do not send it to anyone who contacts you unexpectedly.
4. If the letter never comes, or you cannot find it, request it again. The BZSt offers an online form in its portal and also accepts a letter. The replacement is again sent by letter, not by email and not over the phone.
5. If you need to ask a question, the BZSt service line is +49 228 406-1240, Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 14:00. The same page says the number itself may not be told to you on the telephone, and waits can be long.

Request directly through the official service

Use the BZSt’s own service page to reach its current request form rather than a sponsored search result. You can request another notification directly; a private form-filling service is optional and does not issue the number or control the authority’s processing. Check the operator and price before sharing your birth data or identity documents.

Common mistakes

• Expecting a new tax ID when you move. The number is assigned nationally and stays the same; your local Finanzamt can use it.
• Confusing the national identification number with a payroll tax class. The class changes how much wage tax is withheld each month. The number identifies you. Both matter at work, and they are different. The salary page covers the classes.
• Assuming the number encodes your place of birth or your religion. The BZSt says the digits themselves contain no information about the person. Other records, such as religious affiliation for wage-tax features, are stored beside the number, not inside it.
• Putting a friend’s address on the request so the letter arrives faster. The BZSt says delivery to an address that is not your registered address requires a written power of attorney and a copy of your identity document.