U.S. Citizen Services in Germany

U.S. Tax Information

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

For immediate assistance from a taxpayer specialist, you can call, fax or email the International Customer Service Site located in Philadelphia. The Service Site is open Monday through Friday, for 17 hours each day, from 6:00 AM to 11 PM, Eastern Time. The customer service representatives there can be contacted as follows:

Tel: 001 215 516 2000
Fax: 001 215 516 2555
E-mail inquiries: www.irs.gov/help/page/0,,id=133197,00.html.

Inquiries regarding taxpayer identification numbers should be made to
Tel: 001 215 516 4846
Fax: 001 215 516 3271

All inquiries must be in the English language.

The IRS office in Frankfurt will accept tax returns, tax payments, W-7 applications, and taxpayer correspondence. Our mailing address is:

U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt
Internal Revenue Service
Giessener Str. 30
60435 Frankfurt/Main
Tel: 49 69 7535-3834 or 3823
Fax: 49 69 7535-3803
Email: IRS.Frankfurt@irs.gov

All papers sent to IRS Frankfurt will be routed to the proper office in the United States via regular mail. For faster processing, please directly mail your documents to the proper office in the U.S. using the contact information provided at the bottom of the webpage.

Reporting Foreign Bank Accounts

The public may be unaware of their obligation to report their foreign bank accounts to the Department of the Treasury. Recent news events have highlighted foreign bank account reporting. While there are many legitimate reasons to own foreign financial accounts, there are also responsibilities that go along with owning such accounts. Foreign account owners must remember that they may have to report their accounts to the government, even if the accounts do not generate any taxable income. The link below provides information for filing a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Account, Form TD F 90-22.1, which is better known as the FBAR form.

For more information regarding reporting foreign bank accounts, please visit http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=148845,00.html  

Exchange Rates

The United States Internal Revenue Service has no official exchange rate and accepts any posted exchange rate that is used consistently. The following are average Dollar – Euro exchange rates for 2009:

To convert from Euros to Dollars, divide the Euro amount by the applicable above mentioned decimal figure.

To convert from Dollars to Euros, multiply the Dollar amount by the applicable above mentioned decimal figure.

Note that the exchange rates for previous tax years were as follows:

2008: $1 = Euro 0.683
2007: $1 = Euro 0.731
2006: $1 = Euro 0.797
2005: $1 = Euro 0.805
2004: $1 = Euro 0.804
2003: $1 = Euro 0.885

For additional exchange rates, check the U.S. Treasury website www.fms.treas.gov/intn.html or other commercial sites such as www.oanda.com. The IRS requires that all income be reported in U.S. dollar equivalents. Taxpayers generally use the yearly average exchange rate to report foreign income that was regularly received throughout the year. If you had only a few foreign transactions on particular days, you may prefer to use the exchange rates for such days.

Tax Forms

Please note that the IRS is no longer publishing the Overseas Filing Package. Tax forms can be downloaded from the Internet at http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html, ordered online, obtained through American Citizen Services at your local Embassy or Consulate, or by calling the IRS at 001 800 829 3676.

Questions?

• Tax FAQ - Frequently Asked Tax Questions
• Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Residents Abroad
  • Brochure (pdf)
  • Publication 54 (pdf)
• IRS Tax Tips
• IRS Fact Sheets
  

Other Resources

• IRS website
• Tax Forms and Publications
• Electronic Filing for Taxpayers
• Lists of tax advisors

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