Germany’s Annual Accounts Deadline Is Closer Than Most Foreign-Owned Subsidiaries Think.

The disclosure deadline is generally 12 months after the end of the financial year, which means that entities with a 31 December 2025 year-end must file by 31 December 2026.

That sounds like enough time. In practice, for international companies managing German subsidiaries from abroad, it may not be.

The annual financial statements must be prepared under the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch, HGB), which differs in important respects from IFRS and other group accounting frameworks. The managing directors are responsible for preparing the annual financial statements, which must then be formally adopted by the shareholders. Where the managing director is an external appointee and the shareholder is a foreign holding company, coordinating that process across jurisdictions can take longer than expected.

Late or missing filings can trigger enforcement proceedings by the Federal Office of Justice (Bundesamt für Justiz), including the threat and imposition of administrative fines if the filing is not made within the additional period granted. For dormant or low-activity entities that a parent company has deprioritised, an enforcement letter may be the first signal that the filing obligation was missed.

At Greenfields, accounting and tax compliance for German entities is one of our core service areas. We prepare annual financial statements under HGB, coordinate the shareholder adoption process and manage the filing with the relevant register, so that international parent companies do not have to manage the German process alone.