Dang, Another Tech Glitch Hits Tax Offices Across Multiple States
Disruption at Financial Institutions: Systematic Malfunction Causes Service Interruptions - Significant technical disruption at the financial institution's headquarters
TL;DR: Tax offices across Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Saxony-Anhalt are facing some major issues due to a network communication meltdown with their service provider. No specific timeline for when things will be back to normal has been provided yet.
- Rascal
Lemme tell ya, it's been a bad day for folks trying to sort out their taxes in parts of Germany. Seems like some tech trainwreck has hit tax offices in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Saxony-Anhalt. According to the ministries in Kiel and Bremen, crucial applications for electronic data processing are down, leaving these offices high and dry.
A representative from the Lower Saxony State Tax Office stated that around 120 tax havens have been affected. It ain't a cyberattack that's behind this mess, fortunately. Instead, it's a networking issue causing the ruckus.
The unfortunate consequence of this disaster? Access to tax processing procedures is currently a no-go, and the processing of tax returns and objections has been put on ice for the time being.
No clue how long this shambles will last, mate. While you can still get some general tax info from the ministries, don't even bother asking 'em tough questions about your specific tax matters. Electronic submission of tax returns via Elster is still possible, but forum-worthy updates have been scarce.
However, a tinkle of light at the end of the tunnel arrived with the news that server restarts have partially resolved the issue. Progress might not happen in a flash, but keep a weather eye out for more updates, ya hear?
- Goo-goo for Geeks
- Technical snag
- Networking kerfuffle
- Tax offices in Bremen, Lower Saxony, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Saxony-Anhalt
- Peep the ministries in Kiel and Bremen for the latest updates
Here's the skinny on what we know so far:
- On May 9, 2025, a networking snafu occurred at a Germany data center operated by Dataport, knocking down operations for regional tax offices, which includes those mentioned states[1].
- The duration of the outage is a mystery, but typical data center outage recovery practices suggest that it could last from a few hours to a few days[1].
- Unfortunately, no clear resolution time or restoration schedule has been announced[1].
In a nutshell, we're in the dark about when this mess will get sorted, so keep your fingers crossed and anxiously refresh those browser tabs. Eventually, this nightmare will end, but until then, it's hard-knocks tax time for those in the states mentioned.[2]
- Despite the ongoing tech glitch affecting tax offices in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Saxony-Anhalt, research and development for more efficient tax processing systems continue with the help of community aid and finance from relevant authorities.
- To mitigate the impact of this network communication meltdown on research and development, officials are exploring technology options that can provide temporary solutions to ensure uninterrupted research and development progress in the affected tax offices.
