Germany: Updated CRS communication manual requires electronic notification for missing self-disclosures
Written notifications are no longer accepted.
The Federal Central Tax Office of Germany (BZSt) in late January 2025 issued an updated version of the CRS Communication Manual Part 5 (v1.4) for the notification of missing self-disclosures.
The revisions specify that reporting financial institutions must notify the BZSt exclusively through an officially prescribed electronic form via a designated interface if it was impossible to obtain a “self-disclosure” within 90 calendar days of an account opening due to legal or factual reasons, or if confirming its plausibility was unreasonable. Written notifications are no longer accepted and are deemed formally invalid.
Read a March 2025 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in Germany