The Fiscal Court (, abbreviated ) is a specialised German court with fiscal jurisdiction. Under German law, the Fiscal Court is the court of first instance for legal action in fiscal disputes. The Fiscal Court rules on legal disputes between citizens and tax authorities (tax offices, customs authorities, family funds [] and the in matters relating to pension benefits [Section 98 ]).
The punishment of tax offenders is not one of the responsibilities of the Fiscal Courts. The Fiscal Courts are not an extended arm of the tax administration, but are legally independent like any other German court.
The structure of the German courts with fiscal jurisdiction is two-tiered. The appeals against decisions by the Fiscal Courts is heard by the
Federal Fiscal Court.
List of the Fiscal Courts
Germany has 18 Fiscal Courts
and one
Federal Fiscal Court. Every
German state
The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...
() has one Fiscal Court except
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and
Brandenburg
Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
, which have a shared Fiscal Court,
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
, which has two Fiscal Courts (in Munich and Nuremberg) and
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
, which has three Fiscal Courts (Düsseldorf, Cologne and Münster).
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Official homepage of the Federal Fiscal CourtInformation in English about the Federal Fiscal Court
{{Authority control
Administrative courts
Courts in Germany
Tax courts
Taxation in Germany