A Dauerfristverlängerung — literally “standing deadline extension,” a mechanism under the German VAT implementing regulation (Umsatzsteuer-Durchführungsverordnung, UStDV) — pushes a business’s VAT return and payment deadline back by one month, permanently, on application. For businesses that file monthly, it comes bundled with a condition: a special advance instalment, due once a year.
This guide covers what the extension actually changes, how to apply for it and how the advance instalment is calculated — and, most importantly, what it does and does not change in your own 13-week cash flow forecast.
What a Dauerfristverlängerung does
A German VAT advance payment is normally due on the tenth day after the end of its filing period. That filing period is the calendar quarter by default; it becomes the calendar month once the prior year’s VAT exceeded €9,000. Below €2,000 of prior-year VAT, the tax office can waive the filing and payment obligation altogether.
The Dauerfristverlängerung hooks into exactly that ten-day deadline: on application, the tax office must extend the deadlines for both the VAT return and the payment by one month. That “must” matters — once the conditions are met, granting it is not discretionary. And once granted, the extension simply continues; there is no need to re-apply every year.
What it does not do is change the amount of VAT owed, or whether it falls due at all — it only shifts the payment date by one month. What that extra month is actually useful for, in terms of cash flow forecasting, is covered further down.
Applying and timing
The extension is requested from the competent tax office, typically using the standard form provided for it. § 46 UStDV sets no statutory calendar date for the application itself; in practice, a business applies before the first return for which the extension should apply becomes due — applying late simply means paying that one period on the regular schedule.
Once granted, the extension stays in force without further action. The tax office can revoke it if the underlying conditions no longer hold — covered in the refusal section below.
A weekly grid with receipts and payments and an automatic low-point warning — with room for tax deadlines and the special advance instalment.
The special advance instalment: condition and calculation
For a business required to file VAT returns monthly, the extension is granted only on the condition of a special advance instalment. This is not an extra tax — it is a once-a-year advance payment toward the current year’s VAT, later credited against the payment for the year’s final filing period.
The calculation follows a fixed formula: the instalment equals one-eleventh of the sum of VAT advance payments made in the previous calendar year. Two edge cases are covered explicitly:
- If the business only traded for part of the previous calendar year, that period’s sum is annualised first, treating any partial month as a full one.
- If the business only started trading in the current calendar year, the instalment is based on the advance payments it expects to make this year instead.
| Figure | Example value |
|---|---|
| Sum of VAT advance payments, prior year | €132,000 |
| One-eleventh of that | ÷ 11 |
| Special advance instalment | €12,000 |
The figures above are generic example values, not benchmark or market data. What matters for planning is the shape of this item: it falls due once a year, in full, on the same date as the advance payment for the first filing period the extension newly applies to — and belongs in the forecast as its own line, never merged with the regular VAT payment.
What changes in a 13-week forecast — and what doesn’t
For a direct-method 13-week cash flow forecast, the Dauerfristverlängerung is not good news to bank on — it’s a date change. The VAT advance payment moves back one week — or, rather, one month — in the plan; it does not disappear, and it does not shrink. A business that books the extension as freed-up cash and spends that month’s headroom still owes exactly the same amount on the new due date.
Two items belong in the fixed-cost base precisely because neither shows up on any open items list — both arise without an incoming invoice to trigger them:
- the regular VAT advance payment, now dated one month later than it would be without the extension;
- the special advance instalment, once a year, at the calculated amount, on top of the regular payment.
The real benefit sits elsewhere: an extra month between delivering the work and the payment date widens the margin for absorbing a slow quarter or a late-paying major customer — provided that margin isn’t eaten up by the special instalment itself. How large a buffer makes sense for absorbing swings like that is covered in the cash reserve guide. A first look at which week the shifted payment and the instalment land in is available with the free 13-week forecast generator.
LiquidityLens builds the 13-week outlook with AI from your real bank transactions and open items — enter the fixed-cost base, tax deadlines included, as recurring items instead of tracking them down every week.
See the Liquidity Control SprintWhen the tax office can refuse or revoke it
A Dauerfristverlängerung is not an unconditional entitlement. The tax office must refuse the application, or revoke a permission already granted, if the tax claim appears to be at risk. Under the statutory wording, that is not a discretionary judgment call — it is a duty that applies as soon as that condition is met.
In practice, that means an existing extension is not a permanently secured advantage, but a facility tied to the business’s ongoing tax compliance. What counts as putting the tax claim at risk in a specific case is a legal and tax assessment — this is not tax advice for an individual situation; confirm the details with your tax advisor if the question becomes concrete.
Frequently asked questions
The most important questions on the German VAT deadline extension are gathered at the end of this page.