Extended form for preliminary VAT returns 2026

Changes from 2026

Among other things, the new form takes into account the expiry of the VAT warehouse regulation, makes adjustments for farmers and foresters, and extends VAT-exempt supplies with input VAT deduction to include transactions in accordance with EU regulations. According to the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF), all other changes are merely temporal adjustments or are of an editorial or typographical nature. Accordingly, the BMF apparently also wants the new categories of supplementary information in line 55, code number 500, to be understood as purely editorial adjustments – this is also supported by the fact that neither the BMF's accompanying letter nor the instructions for completing the form contain any comments on this.

• No. 1: Circumstances relevant for VAT could not be declared.
• No. 2: A legal opinion deviating from the viewpoint of the fiscal administration is deliberately taken.
• No. 3: Circumstances should be checked by the personnel of the tax office in depth.
• No. 4: There are several of the abovementioned reasons.

Practical implications

Previous years' forms also offered the option of providing supplementary information, but not in such a differentiated manner. The text read (translation): “In addition to the information provided in the tax return, further or deviating information or facts must be taken into account. Please provide this on a separate sheet of paper marked “Supplementary information to the tax return”.” Even within the tax periods covered by these forms, businesses had to provide additional information in the situations now distinguished under numbers 1, 2 and 3, so that the new form does not result in any additional requirements, but merely a more precise differentiation.

Code 1 covers situations in which decisive parameters had not yet been determined or could not yet be determined at the time of submitting the preliminary VAT return, e.g., the applicable input VAT code, tax assessment bases, the extent of the supply provided, the existence of the conditions for a VAT exemption, or the reduced VAT rate. It should be noted that in such situations, the taxpayer must always make an appropriate estimate. Not explaining these circumstances at all is not an option. If code number 1 is entered, the additional information to be submitted must enable the tax office to assess the VAT at its own discretion, i.e., it must contain the relevant figures.

If the taxpayer deliberately deviates from a published administrative opinion in his legal assessment of a VAT-relevant issue, e.g., from a BMF letter or the UStAE (administrative to the German VAT Act), this may have criminal law consequences – not only since the introduction of the new form. A 2 must be entered on the new form, and the taxpayer's own legal opinion must be explained in detail in an accompanying letter, ideally substantiated with sources (e.g., finance court rulings or deviating EU law). In doing so, it should be emphasised where the deviation from the administrative opinion lies. The information provided must make it possible to deduce which tax amount would alternatively be assessed according to the fiscal administration's legal opinion.

Code number 3 opens up the possibility of initiating a legal discussion with the tax office about issues whose VAT assessment appears unclear to the taxpayer. Ideally, this will allow controversial issues to be clarified before an external audit or special VAT audit, although this will certainly also depend on the personnel capacities at the tax office. Here, too, it should be borne in mind that the supplementary information must allow the tax office to assess the tax in accordance with its legal opinion.

Code number 4 is not very meaningful on its own; this makes it all the more important for the background to be clear from the accompanying letter.

In summary, it can be said that in the situations addressed by the new codes, supplementary information had to be provided in the past, and an accompanying letter (disclosure letter) was required also. The use of the free text field contained in the old form was not sufficient in this respect. The new codes should not tempt taxpayers to simply enter the number and leave it at that. The key factor is always the accompanying letter, the information in which allows the tax office to assess the VAT amount according to its own legal opinion. Otherwise, there is a risk of criminal tax law consequences.

Author: Nadia Schulte