Voluntary disclosure: process and checklist
A voluntary disclosure (Selbstanzeige) is prepared in five steps: checking for exclusion grounds (Sperrgründe), obtaining the documents for the entire correction period, determining the corrected tax bases (Besteuerungsgrundlagen) for each year and each type of tax, filing the amended declaration (Nacherklärung) and paying the assessed amounts, including interest, on time. Almost all of the work lies in steps two and three — not in the writing.
Legal position as of: 9 September 2026
Step 1: Initial review
The starting point is not the writing, but the question of whether the route via Section 371 of the German Fiscal Code (AO) is still open at all. We check whether an audit order (Prüfungsanordnung) has been issued, whether criminal or administrative fine proceedings have been initiated and whether there are indications that the offence has already been discovered.
At the same time, the scope is defined: which types of tax are affected, which years, which sources of income. Section 371 AO refers to the individual type of tax — income tax and VAT are considered separately, but within one type of tax everything must be complete.
The individual exclusion grounds (Sperrgründe) listed in Section 371(2) AO are set out on our page on voluntary disclosure to the tax office. How far back the period extends depends on the limitation period for tax evasion.
Step 2: Gathering the documents
This step determines success. Whatever is missing here will be missing later in the amended declaration — and an incomplete voluntary disclosure costs the exemption from punishment in full, not just proportionately for the missing part.
The following list is a checklist of the documents gathered for the entire correction period. It is expressly not a template for the text of a voluntary disclosure: what the disclosure must contain follows from the facts, and no template knows them. A list of required records is something different from a pre-worded letter — and only one of the two helps.
Checklist: documents required
- Bank statements for all accounts for the period concerned
- Annual income statements from the banks
- Custody account statements
- For crypto assets: complete transaction history of all wallets and exchanges
- For crypto assets: deposit and withdrawal records (fiat inflows and outflows)
- Tenancy agreements and service charge statements for rental income
- Evidence relating to foreign accounts and custody accounts
- Previous tax assessments for the entire period
Crypto assets add a particular difficulty: exports often do not go back far enough, platforms are shut down, access is lost. Starting early gives you the greatest advantage here — more on this under crypto voluntary disclosure.
Step 3: Calculating the amended declaration
The corrected tax bases for each year are determined from the documents. For investment income this is manageable; for crypto assets it is the most laborious part: every disposal — including the exchange of one currency for another — is a separate transaction for which the acquisition date, acquisition costs and sale proceeds must be established.
Where data is missing, an estimate is made. This estimate must be reasoned and comprehensible; it must not be too low, because that can jeopardise completeness. The end result is a figure for each year with which the tax office can assess the tax.
Step 4: Filing with the tax office
What is filed are the corrected tax bases for each type of tax and period — not a declaration of intent, but figures. An announcement that you will file an amended declaration does not meet the requirements of Section 371 AO.
The time of filing is the point at which the matter is decided: once it is filed, the offence is generally regarded as discovered, and it cannot readily be corrected afterwards. That is why nothing is filed until the facts are established.
Step 5: Additional payment and interest
The tax office issues amended assessments for the years concerned. These are checked — an amended declaration can also be implemented incorrectly.
The back taxes, the interest on evaded taxes (Hinterziehungszinsen) under Section 235 AO and the interest under Section 233a AO must be paid, and within the deadline set. This payment is part of the requirements for exemption from punishment, not a mere formality: if you miss the deadline, the disclosure loses its effect, even if the disclosure itself was flawless.
Why a template does not work
Searching for a template is understandable: it promises certainty about the form. But it is not the form that determines whether a voluntary disclosure takes effect, it is the content — and the content consists of figures that have to be determined afresh for every case.
We therefore do not provide a template. What an effective voluntary disclosure must contain can, however, be stated clearly: the type of tax, the period — all tax offences relating to that type of tax that are not yet time-barred, at least the last ten calendar years — and the corrected tax bases as specific figures for each year.
A template cannot supply any of these three points. It knows neither the years concerned nor the accounts nor the transactions, and it cannot recognise which type of income belongs to the same type of tax for tax purposes, even if in the mind of the person concerned it belongs to an entirely different area of life.
This is not an argument for expensive advice, but a feature of the law: Section 371 AO requires completeness, and completeness is a statement about the facts, not about the letter.
How long it takes
The processing time falls into two phases, only one of which can be influenced. The preparation — steps one to three — depends on the state of the documents. If they are available and in order, a few weeks is realistic. If transaction histories have to be reconstructed across years and several platforms, this part alone takes considerably longer.
The subsequent processing by the tax office is outside your control. For the effect of the voluntary disclosure this is irrelevant: what counts is the time of filing, not the date of the assessments. Only the payment deadline set with the assessments must then be met.
Frequently asked questions about the process
The questions we are asked most often about how a voluntary disclosure works in practice.
How do I prepare a voluntary disclosure?
In five steps: check for exclusion grounds, gather the documents for the entire correction period, determine the corrected tax bases for each year and each type of tax, file the amended declaration with the competent tax office (Finanzamt) and pay the assessed amounts, including interest, on time. Almost all of the work lies in the second and third steps — not in the writing.
Which documents do I need for a voluntary disclosure?
For each year concerned, everything from which the tax bases can be derived: bank statements, annual income statements and custody account statements; for crypto assets, the complete transaction history of all wallets and exchanges, including deposit and withdrawal records; for rental income, tenancy agreements and service charge statements; evidence relating to foreign accounts; and the previous tax assessments for the period.
How long does a voluntary disclosure take?
That depends almost entirely on how complete the documents are. If they are available and in order, the amended declaration can be prepared within a few weeks. If transaction histories have to be reconstructed across several years and platforms, this part alone takes considerably longer. The subsequent processing by the tax office is outside your control.
Can I write a voluntary disclosure myself?
Legally, yes — Section 371 AO does not require representation. In practice, however, it is not the writing that determines whether it takes effect, but the completeness of the tax bases. And completeness fails in practice at recurring points: individual years at the edge of the period, secondary income within the same type of tax, transactions that were not recognised as taxable at all, and accounts with providers that no longer exist. Each of these points costs the exemption from punishment in full.
What happens if documents are missing?
Missing documents do not rule out a voluntary disclosure, but they require a reasoned estimate of the tax bases. This estimate must be comprehensible and must not be too low — an estimate that is too low can jeopardise completeness. That is why obtaining the data is the first step, not the last.
About the author
Maximilian Klein — Tax Advisor (Steuerberater) & Founder
Tax advisor (Steuerberater) specialising in amended declarations and voluntary disclosures.
Note: This page reflects the legal position as of 9 September 2026 and does not constitute advice on your individual case. Whether and in what form a voluntary disclosure makes sense depends on the individual case and requires the specific documents to be reviewed.
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Read more: What does a voluntary disclosure cost? · Tax criminal law