Germany taxes a vehicle for what it is, not for what it cost. A motorcycle is taxed on engine size alone, a trailer on weight alone, a car on engine size plus its CO₂ figure, a motorhome on weight plus emission class, and a registered classic pays one flat amount every year. Collecting the money is the job of the Federal Customs Administration (Zoll) through the main customs office (Hauptzollamt) for your address. The tax office (Finanzamt) is not involved at any point.
Every calculator on this site asks for values that are printed on your registration certificate Part I (Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I), the document the registration office hands you with the plates. Keep it in front of you and the calculation takes under a minute.
Which calculator fits your vehicle
| Vehicle | What is counted | What it costs per year |
|---|---|---|
| Car | Engine size, plus either the CO₂ figure or the emission standard, depending on when it was first registered | €2.00 (petrol) or €9.50 (diesel) per 100 cc, plus €2.00 to €4.00 for every gram of CO₂ above 95 g/km; older cars €6.75 to €37.58 per 100 cc |
| Motorcycle | Engine size only | €1.84 per 25 cc or part thereof; nothing at all up to 125 cc combined with 11 kW |
| Motorhome | Weight and emission class | €16.00, €24.00 or €40.00 per 200 kg for the first two tonnes, €10.00 to €25.00 above that |
| Caravan | Weight only | €7.46 per 200 kg or part thereof, never above €373.24 |
| Trailer | Weight, less the nose weight or the load carried by the towing vehicle | €7.46 per 200 kg or part thereof, never above €373.24 |
| Truck and tractor units | Weight; above 3,500 kg also the emission and noise class | €11.25 to €12.78 per 200 kg up to 3,500 kg; above that €6.42 to €63.40, capped at €556 to €1,681 |
| Electric vehicle | Date of first registration, then weight | Ten years at zero, then half the weight-based rate |
| Classic car | Only the type of plate it carries | €191.73, or €46.02 if it is a motorcycle |
Where to read the figures off your papers
| What you are looking for | Field | Needed for |
|---|---|---|
| Date of first registration | B | Cars and electric vehicles |
| Permitted gross weight in kg | F.2 | Trucks, motorhomes, caravans, trailers, electric vehicles |
| Engine displacement in cc | P.1 | Cars and motorcycles |
| Rated power in kW | P.2 | Motorcycles, because of the 11 kW threshold |
| Fuel | P.3 | Cars, petrol or diesel |
| CO₂ in g/km | V.7 | Every car registered from July 2009 onwards |
| Emission key number | 14.1 | Emission standard and emission class; only the last two digits matter |
Some calculators elsewhere ask for a manufacturer key and a type key (HSN and TSN, fields 2.1 and 2.2). Those two numbers identify the make and the model, not your individual vehicle. All they do is look up the engine size and the CO₂ figure that are already printed in your own document.
How and when you pay
- The tax starts on the day the vehicle is registered and is charged twelve months ahead. The twelve months run from that day, not from January.
- No vehicle is registered without a SEPA direct debit mandate for the customs administration. You sign it at the registration office. In later years no new assessment usually arrives, the amount is simply collected again.
- Above €500 a year you may pay in two instalments for a 3 % surcharge, above €1,000 in four instalments for 6 %.
- The amount collected is rounded down to whole euros. An annual tax of €96.60 is charged as €96.
- Liability always lasts at least one month, even if the vehicle is taken off the road after three days.
- When you sell, your liability ends on the day the vehicle is re-registered to the buyer. From that day the new keeper owes the tax.
- A seasonal plate (Saisonkennzeichen) cuts the bill to one three-hundred-and-sixty-fifth of the annual tax per day in the operating period, which must be two to eleven whole months.
Who pays nothing, or half
- Battery-electric vehicles first registered from 18 May 2011: ten years at zero, at the latest until the end of 2035, then half the weight-based rate. Hybrids and range extenders are not included.
- Keepers with a severe disability pass marked H, Bl or aG: full exemption. With an orange-coloured band on the pass: half the tax, but then without free local public transport. Both on application only, and for one vehicle.
- Farming and forestry: tractors other than tractor units, recognised special-purpose vehicles and their trailers, as long as they are used only for that purpose.
- Small and light motorcycles up to 125 cc combined with 11 kW, works machines, forklifts and powered invalid carriages: no registration required, and therefore no tax.
- Emergency vehicles of the fire service, ambulance service and civil protection, plus vehicles for street cleaning and road building, if they are recognisable as such from outside.
- Special trailers for sports equipment, for animals carried for sporting purposes or for rescue boats, used for nothing else.
- Showmen’s vehicles: tractors, caravans and motorhomes above 3,500 kg and luggage vans above 2,500 kg.
Most of these have to be applied for at the main customs office or through the customs portal. Exempt vehicles normally carry a green plate, with exceptions such as the vehicles of keepers with a severe disability.
Arriving in Germany, or leaving
A car you bring with you is taxed under German rules from the day it is registered here, and the date of first registration abroad decides which of the three methods applies to it. Before that day, a passenger car registered in another country may stay in Germany for up to a year without German vehicle tax, as long as it is not used to carry goods or passengers for payment. When you leave, hand in the plates and the papers at the registration office. Deregistration ends the liability from that day, subject to the minimum period of one month, and the customs office reassesses the tax for the shortened period.
Frequently asked questions
The Kfz-Steuer is a federal tax, administered since 2014 by the Federal Customs Administration. Locally it is your main customs office (Hauptzollamt) that issues the assessment and takes the money by direct debit. Which office is yours follows from where you live, or where a business has its seat. The tax office (Finanzamt) has no part in it, and nothing is paid at the vehicle registration office either.
It falls due on the day the vehicle is registered, for twelve months in advance, and the twelve months run from that day rather than from January. Monthly payment does not exist. Above €500 a year you may split the tax in two for a surcharge of 3 per cent, and above €1,000 a year into four for 6 per cent. The amount collected is always rounded down to whole euros.
Yes. No vehicle is registered in Germany without a SEPA direct debit mandate for the customs administration, and you sign it at the registration office along with the rest of the paperwork. In the following years no fresh assessment usually arrives; the same amount is simply collected again on the anniversary of the registration.
Late payment surcharges come first. If the tax stays unpaid, the customs office asks the registration authority to take the vehicle off the road: the registration certificate Part I is withdrawn and the plate is unstamped. On top of that, the registration authority will not register a new vehicle to anyone with vehicle tax arrears, unless the arrears are below €5.
The Eighth Act amending the Motor Vehicle Tax Act came into force on 1 January 2026. It extends the exemption for battery-electric vehicles: it now covers first registrations up to the end of 2030 and runs at the latest until the end of 2035. Owners whose exemption had been cut short by the earlier deadline receive an amended assessment without applying for one. Rates for combustion vehicles, motorhomes, trailers and commercial vehicles are unchanged.
Your liability ends on the day the vehicle is re-registered to the buyer, and from that day the new keeper owes the tax. This makes it worth agreeing in the sale contract that the buyer re-registers promptly, because until that happens the vehicle is still registered to you and so is the tax. Liability always lasts at least one month in any case.
A passenger car registered in another country may stay in Germany free of German vehicle tax for up to a year, as long as it is not used to carry goods or people for payment. Once you register it here, German rules apply from that day. For a car it is still the original date of first registration that decides which calculation method is used, even though that registration happened abroad.
Updated 11 September 2026. The rules come from the German Motor Vehicle Tax Act, the Kraftfahrzeugsteuergesetz, as amended by the Eighth Act amending it, in force since 1 January 2026, from the vehicle registration regulation FZV, and from the customs administration leaflets on Steuerhoehe and Faelligkeit und Zahlung, both in German. Amounts shown here are our own calculations from those rates. The assessment from your main customs office is what binds you.