German Tax Offices Hit by Unexpected Tech Hiccup
Catastrophic system breakdown at financial institution - Significanttechnical disruption at the financial institutions' offices
Hey there! So, if you're dealing with tax-related matters in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, or Saxony-Anhalt, you might want to read this. Some technical hiccups are causing a stir up in the tax offices!
A service provider's network communication issues have resulted in a technical outage affecting about 120 tax offices in those states, according to the Lower Saxony State Tax Office. Fear not, though, it ain't a cyber attack, and your sensitive tax info stays safe!
During this mini tech meltdown, access to vital tax procedure software is on hold, making it impossible to process tax returns and objections at the moment. The duration of this outage, alas, remains uncertain.
In the meantime, citizens can still pick up general tax info from the ministries. But, if you've got specific queries, they'll have to wait until the tech issues are sorted out. Luckily, electronic submission of tax returns via Elster is still cool as a cucumber.
Things are looking a tad better, though! Restarts of servers have led to a partial restoration of functions. Keep fingers crossed, and maybe we'll see a swift resolution to this issue!
For the curious cats, this outage happened at a Dataport data center on May 7, 2025. While they're still sorting out the specifics, it appears the hardware responsible for the mess is under replacement. The goal? To commission and test the new gear, to ensure everything runs smoothly once more. Cross your fingers that it won't take too long!
- outage
- tax office
- Bremen
- Lower Saxony
- Hannover
- Schleswig-Holstein
- Hamburg
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- Saxony-Anhalt
- Kiel
- The technical outage affecting tax offices in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Saxony-Anhalt is preventing the processing of tax returns and objections due to issues with the network communication service provider.
- Despite the outage, citizens can still obtain general tax information from ministry offices but will have to wait to address specific queries until the technical issues are resolved.
- The electronic submission of tax returns via Elster is still operational, though other tax procedure software access remains limited.
- The root cause of the outage is a problem with the hardware at a Dataport data center, which is currently being replaced in an effort to commission and test new equipment to ensure optimal performance and avoid any future hiccups.
