Objection and appeal deadlines

Say which authority sent the decision and how it reached you. The page shows the presumed day of notice and the last day to lodge the objection.

The calculation runs in your browser. Nothing is stored.

Your decision

Which authority?

Tax office (Finanzamt) Other federal authority Social authority (job centre, health insurer, pension insurer)

Federal or state?

Federal authority State or municipal authority

For a state or municipal authority this page shows no date. Their procedure statutes were not checked one by one. Bavaria's Art. 41 was read and is not used here as the rule for every state.

How did it reach you? Date of that step For post, this is the day it was handed to the post, not the date printed on the letter. For an electronic message, it is the day of sending. In the tax portal, it is the day it was provided. For retrieval under the federal administrative code, it is the day you retrieved it. Date printed on the letter (optional) Not used in the sum. It only flags a difference from the step date. Instructions on the decision

Was notice given abroad?

No Yes

State of the authority The count uses the statewide public holidays of the state you choose. Local holidays are not included, for example the Augsburg Peace Festival (Augsburger Friedensfest).

Result

Choose the authority and enter the date.

The count uses the statewide public holidays of the state you choose. Local holidays are not included, for example the Augsburg Peace Festival (Augsburger Friedensfest).

This is a calculation aid, not legal advice. What your decision says, and what you can prove, controls in a dispute.

How this page counts

Post and electronic transmission: the fourth day. The presumption falls only if the act did not arrive, or arrived later. An earlier arrival does not move the day forward.
Post abroad is calculated only for the tax office: one month after posting, with the same proviso for non-arrival or a later arrival.
Tax portal: the fourth day after the document was provided for download. Section 122a (4) AO states no exception for opening it earlier or later.
Retrieval from a federal authority under section 41 (2a) VwVfG: the day after retrieval. If you do not retrieve it within ten days of the availability notice, that provision ends and notice is not effected.
Social portal: the fourth day after the availability notice was sent. If the authority cannot prove that notice, the statute uses the retrieval day. This page does not guess that day.
The objection period is one month. Social notice abroad is three months. Missing or wrong instructions give one year. If the letter says that no appeal exists, this page shows no date.
For the tax office, a presumed Saturday, Sunday or public holiday moves to the next working day. That follows section 108 (3) AO as the Federal Fiscal Court applied it to the old three-day text (14 October 2003, IX R 68/98). No Federal Fiscal Court decision after 1 January 2025 on the four-day text was found.
For a federal authority and a social authority, the presumed day stays on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday. That is the line of the Higher Administrative Court of Lower Saxony on 26 October 2006 (7 PA 184/06) and of the Federal Social Court on 6 May 2010 (B 14 AS 12/09 R), both on the old three-day text. The end of the objection period moves to the next working day in all three modes.

Sources, read on 8 November 2026: sections 108, 122, 122a, 355 and 356 AO, Art. 97 section 1 (15) EGAO, section 41 VwVfG, sections 57, 58 and 70 VwGO, section 222 (2) ZPO, section 37 SGB X, sections 64, 66 and 84 SGG. Bavaria Art. 41 was read only as a single-state comparison.

What this page does not calculate

Formal service.
State and municipal authorities. No nationwide state rule is taken from the Bavarian text.
Decisions posted, sent or provided before 1 January 2025. The older three-day text is not calculated.
A tax return filing and an appeal against inactivity.
Court deadlines and fines.
Reinstatement after a missed deadline.

Common questions

Does an earlier arrival move the presumption?

No. For post and electronic transmission the fourth day stays, even when the decision arrived earlier. The presumption falls only if it did not arrive, or arrived later.

Source : Section 122 AO , Section 41 VwVfG , Section 37 SGB X

What about the tax portal?

The decision is presumed notified on the fourth day after it was provided for download. The statute puts the doubt on the time of provision, not on the day you opened the file.

Source : Section 122a AO

Does this page cover state authorities?

No. General administrative deadlines are calculated only for a federal authority. For a state or municipal authority the page shows no date.

Source : Section 41 VwVfG , Bavaria Art. 41

How long is the objection period?

One month from notice. Three months for social notice abroad. One year if the instructions are missing or wrong. A Saturday, Sunday or public holiday at the end moves to the next working day.

Source : Section 355 AO , Section 356 AO , Section 70 VwGO , Section 58 VwGO , Section 57 VwGO , Section 222 ZPO , Section 84 SGG , Section 66 SGG , Section 64 SGG , Section 108 AO

What about a decision from 2024?

This page does not calculate it. The four-day text applies to acts after 31 December 2024. The older three-day text is not a result here.

Source : Art. 97 section 1 EGAO

So the deadline does not pass unnoticed.

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