{"id":3267,"date":"2022-06-01T16:01:03","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T14:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/?p=3267"},"modified":"2023-06-15T14:38:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T12:38:18","slug":"bzst-and-finanzamt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/","title":{"rendered":"Bundeszentralamt f\u00fcr Steuern (BZSt) and Finanzamt: What&#8217;s the difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Getting started as a freelancer in Germany can be quite complicated &#8211; and even more so if you don\u2019t know which authority to talk to, especially when it comes to taxes. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;ll explain the difference between the Federal Central Tax Office (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bundeszentralamt f\u00fcr Steuer<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n) and the Tax Office (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finanzamt<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), and which authority is responsible for which tasks.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><b>Content<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"#1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does the Federal Central Tax Office do?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does the Tax Office do?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How the two authorities differ<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1\"><b>What does the Federal Central Tax Office do?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The former Federal Tax Office was dissolved in 2006 and divided into three new authorities. One of them is the Federal Central Tax Office, or <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bundeszentralamt f\u00fcr Steuern<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is also often abbreviated as BZSt.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The BZSt is directly subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Finance and therefore also receives its tasks from the ministry. These tasks are also laid down in \u00a7 5 of the Financial Administration Act. The authority has its headquarters in Bonn and three additional offices in Berlin, Saarlouis and Schwedt an der Oder.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So far, so good. But if you take a closer look at the specific tasks of the BZSt, things get a bit more complicated.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to its website, the BZSt is responsible for central tax tasks with national and international relevance. This includes the administration of federal taxes such as insurance taxes or the execution of the tax withholding procedure, i.e. the transfer of the wage tax amount for employees by employers.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, not only the administration of taxes, but also the collection and administration of data is an essential task of the BZSt. For example, the authority collects all data that can be assigned to a taxpayer in connection with the tax identification number.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u27a1\ufe0f <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/freelancing-in-germany-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-tax-numbers\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freelancing in Germany: Here\u2019s what you need to know about tax numbers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2\"><b>What does the tax office do?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tax office, on the other hand, is primarily responsible for assessing and collecting taxes. This means that for every taxable person in Germany, it checks how much tax has to be paid, issues an individual tax assessment and, if the tax is not paid, also initiates a procedure for collecting it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This concerns quite different types of taxes, because in addition to the regular income tax, the tax office is also responsible, among other things, for the determination and collection of VAT.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83d\udca1<\/span><b>Tip from Accountable:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Need help with your tax return? Accountable can help! <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Download our free app now<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and streamline your accounting.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since there are over 81 million people living in Germany, there are also a lot of tax offices across the country that are tasked with managing people&#8217;s taxes depending on where they live. So if you live in Berlin, for example, you will also receive your tax notice from the local office and communicate with a local official if you have any questions.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\ud83d\udca1<\/span><b>Tip from Accountable:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Did you get a letter from the tax office that you don\u2019t understand? <a href=\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/speaking-finanzamt-explaining-the-most-common-letters-youll-get-from-the-german-tax-office\/\">We have listed the most common letters from the tax office here.<\/a><\/span> We also have a free AI tool that translates and explains the letters for you! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.finanzamt-brief.de\/en\">Test it now!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3\"><b>This is the difference between the two authorities<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Federal Central Tax Office is more of a background agency for taxpayers. This means that you will probably not have any direct contact with the BZSt. Instead, the tax office is your direct point of contact for any tax-related questions, because this is where your tax assessment is issued and your tax burden is calculated.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The only exception is the allocation of the tax identification number, because this is not actually allocated by the tax office, but by the Federal Central Tax Office. So if you receive a tax ID for the first time or want to have your number sent to you again, this is done via the BZSt.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u27a1\ufe0f Don\u2019t know your tax ID? <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bzst.de\/SiteGlobals\/Kontaktformulare\/DE\/Steuerliche_IDNr\/Mitteilung_IdNr\/mitteilung_IdNr_node.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can retrieve it here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting started as a freelancer in Germany can be quite complicated &#8211; and even more so if you don\u2019t know which authority to talk to, especially when it comes to taxes. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;ll explain the difference between the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt f\u00fcr Steuern) and the Tax Office (Finanzamt), and which authority is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,185],"tags":[123],"class_list":["post-3267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-things-to-know","category-manage-your-taxes","tag-finanzamt-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BZSt and Finanzamt: What&#039;s the difference? | Accountable<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find out the difference between the Federal Central Tax Office and the Tax Office in Germany, and which authority is responsible for which tasks.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BZSt and Finanzamt: What&#039;s the difference? | Accountable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Find out the difference between the Federal Central Tax Office and the Tax Office in Germany, and which authority is responsible for which tasks.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Accountable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-01T14:01:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-15T12:38:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Starter_3.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"343\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sophia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sophia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sophia\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6a27420c29bf8a37e911407f6f1b4ca5\"},\"headline\":\"Bundeszentralamt f\u00fcr Steuern (BZSt) and Finanzamt: What&#8217;s the difference?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-01T14:01:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-15T12:38:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/\"},\"wordCount\":672,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Starter_3.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Finanzamt\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Important things to know\",\"Manage your taxes\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/\",\"name\":\"BZSt and Finanzamt: What's the difference? | Accountable\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Starter_3.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-01T14:01:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-15T12:38:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"Find out the difference between the Federal Central Tax Office and the Tax Office in Germany, and which authority is responsible for which tasks.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Starter_3.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Starter_3.png\",\"width\":343,\"height\":200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bundeszentralamt f\u00fcr Steuern (BZSt) and Finanzamt: What&#8217;s the difference?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Accountable\",\"description\":\"Your accountant and tax advisor on your smartphone\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Accountable\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/App_dark_big.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/App_dark_big.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Accountable\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6a27420c29bf8a37e911407f6f1b4ca5\",\"name\":\"Sophia\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BZSt and Finanzamt: What's the difference? | Accountable","description":"Find out the difference between the Federal Central Tax Office and the Tax Office in Germany, and which authority is responsible for which tasks.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BZSt and Finanzamt: What's the difference? | Accountable","og_description":"Find out the difference between the Federal Central Tax Office and the Tax Office in Germany, and which authority is responsible for which tasks.","og_url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/","og_site_name":"Accountable","article_published_time":"2022-06-01T14:01:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-15T12:38:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":343,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Starter_3.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sophia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sophia","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/"},"author":{"name":"Sophia","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6a27420c29bf8a37e911407f6f1b4ca5"},"headline":"Bundeszentralamt f\u00fcr Steuern (BZSt) and Finanzamt: What&#8217;s the difference?","datePublished":"2022-06-01T14:01:03+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-15T12:38:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/"},"wordCount":672,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Starter_3.png","keywords":["Finanzamt"],"articleSection":["Important things to know","Manage your taxes"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/","url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/","name":"BZSt and Finanzamt: What's the difference? | Accountable","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Starter_3.png","datePublished":"2022-06-01T14:01:03+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-15T12:38:18+00:00","description":"Find out the difference between the Federal Central Tax Office and the Tax Office in Germany, and which authority is responsible for which tasks.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Starter_3.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Starter_3.png","width":343,"height":200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/bzst-and-finanzamt\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bundeszentralamt f\u00fcr Steuern (BZSt) and Finanzamt: What&#8217;s the difference?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/","name":"Accountable","description":"Your accountant and tax advisor on your smartphone","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization","name":"Accountable","url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/App_dark_big.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/App_dark_big.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Accountable"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6a27420c29bf8a37e911407f6f1b4ca5","name":"Sophia"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}