Logo Bayernportal
- no location -
Home > Procedures

CRS - Submit notification of a missing self-declaration

You have not received a self-certification from your new client for the Common Reporting Standard? After the deadline has expired, you are obliged as a financial institution subject to the reporting obligation to report the absence of the self-certification.

Online services

Online services

  • BZSt-Online-Portal (BOP)
    Das BZSt-Online-Portal bietet Formulare, Profile, Massendaten für Privatpersonen, Unternehmen und deren Stellvertretung, Steuerberatung, Banken und Versicherungen sowie Angehörige der Verwaltung.

Responsible for you

For contact details of the responsible authoritiy and local valid information select under "Select location" a location.
Stilisiertes Bild eines Hauses
Bundeszentralamt für Steuern
Mehr zur Behörde

Procedure details

The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is a procedure for the international exchange of tax information with the aim of preventing tax evasion. More than 100 countries participate in the procedure, including the Federal Republic of Germany. The Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) oversees the procedure in Germany.

The CRS obliges financial institutions in Germany, for example banks or insurance companies, to transmit information about their customers' reportable financial accounts to the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt). If accounts have a reportable link to a foreign country, the BZSt exchanges this data with the CRS partner countries and in return receives information from the partner countries on accounts abroad whose holders are resident in Germany.

The CRS also regulates due diligence obligations that financial institutions must comply with in order to identify reportable accounts. This includes obtaining self-disclosure from new customers (natural persons and legal entities) when opening an account. The self-certification contains information on the tax residency of the account holder.

The self-certification must be obtained from the responsible financial institution and sent to the BZSt no later than 90 days after the account is opened. If it is not available by then, the BZSt must be notified of the absence of the self-certification. The report can be submitted online or by post.

As a reporting German financial institution, you are obliged to obtain self-disclosure from your customers. Reporting German financial institutions include

  • Financial institutions based in Germany (but not their branches abroad)
  • branches located in Germany of a financial institution domiciled abroad

  • Required Documents
    • Form "Notification of missing self-disclosure"

Online via the BZSt-Online Portal (BOP):

  • You need a BOP or Elster certificate for transmission via BOP. If you do not have a certificate, proceed as follows:
    • Call up the "Registration of the data sender for the electronic transmission of data" online via the website of the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) and register for the CRS procedure. The CRS Communication Manual Part 1 explains the registration process
    • Complete the application online and send it to the BZSt.
  • Call up the BOP and log in with your user data.
  • Via the menu items "Forms" - "All forms" - "Other forms", you will reach the menu item "Submission of documents".
  • Select the sub-item "Submission of documents for an application".
  • On the following form pages, enter details of your financial institution and the account for which the self-certification is missing.
    • The CRS part 5 communication manual will guide you through the correct completion of the form. You will find a link to the manual in the "Further information" field.
  • In the Attachments section, upload the form you have completed "Notification of missing self-disclosure" as a PDF. Several forms can be attached.
  • Send the online form. You will receive an automatic confirmation of dispatch.

By post:

  • Go to the BZSt website and open the form "Meldung einer fehlenden Selbstauskunft" (Word document).
  • Complete the form in full.
  • Send it by post to the BZSt, Division St I A 2 / Common Reporting Standard.
  • Every six months you will receive a cumulative confirmation of receipt of all applications received up to that point.

There are no costs.

If no valid self-certification can be obtained within 90 days of opening the account or if it cannot be checked for plausibility, the notification must be submitted immediately. No objections will be raised if the notification is submitted within one month of the expiry of the 90-day period.

This is purely a reporting obligation. There is therefore no processing time.

There are no indications or special features.

This is purely a notification obligation. No administrative act is issued as a direct consequence, so that no legal remedy is required. If necessary, the submission of the notification may initiate an audit of the reporting financial institutions. It is possible to lodge an objection against the audit order.

Status: 18.11.2025
Editorially responsible for prodecure description: Bundesministerium der Finanzen
Source: Federal Portal