How long does it take to reclaim VAT from Germany?
There is no fixed timeline that applies equally to every business. Directive 2008/9 does set a framework: the Dutch tax authority forwards a complete request to the German tax authority within fifteen days, and the German authority then has four months in principle to decide. If the German authority requests additional information, that deadline extends to six months; if a second request follows, it can take up to eight months.
These deadlines run from the moment the request arrives complete at the country granting the refund, not from the moment you upload a receipt. This is precisely where most businesses find the difference between theory and what they see in their bank statements: the clock starts only when everything is in order, and that moment often comes later than expected.
Why the process often takes longer than the directive suggests
The first delay usually occurs before submission. A request is considered complete only when receipts are legible, show the correct VAT amount and correct expense category, and the total exceeds the threshold for that period. Those submitting quarterly may therefore wait a few weeks longer until enough receipts are gathered to make the application worthwhile.
The second delay lies with the German tax authority itself. It regularly requests further clarification: a legible copy of a specific invoice, an explanation of an expense category that does not obviously look business-related, or confirmation that an amount has not been claimed twice. Each additional request resets the decision deadline, and the time you need to respond does not count toward the authority's deadline.
A third source of delay is less visible: requests marked as incomplete are sometimes not assessed on the merits but returned for correction. This incurs no penalty, but it does cost time, and for an application submitted close to the annual cutoff date of 1 October, that time is not always available.
What you can influence yourself
The German authority's deadline is set in the directive, but the time before submission is not. Receipts recorded immediately upon receipt, with a clear link to the expense category and trip or stay, raise fewer questions than a pile sorted retrospectively. Businesses that submit quarterly rather than waiting until year-end also give the country granting the refund more room to decide within the standard deadline, instead of in the final months before the deadline.
On in a few questions to see an indication of your amount it becomes clear whether your situation makes it worthwhile to pursue this process structurally. For those who want to understand how a request is built and assessed before it goes to Germany, that is explained on the page on reclaiming VAT by situation.
When a longer processing time requires more than patience
Sometimes an additional question from the German tax authority is not about a missing document but about a substantive issue: whether a cost item is fully deductible, or whether an expense falls under an exception that Germany specifically applies. These are questions where a VAT specialist can add more value than a service provider, and it makes sense to treat them as such.
How the application itself is compiled and which sources are used is explained on the page on how processing works. A found amount remains an indication until the country granting the refund actually awards it; the processing time is not a promise but a guideline from the directive itself.
Would you like to know where your own application roughly comes in terms of time and amount? Take the free quick scan or first read the other topics in the knowledge base — no account needed, and at no cost.