BFH ruling: Tax office must provide GDPR information!
BFH ruling: Tax office may not refuse to provide information under GDPR due to expense
The Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) has ruled: The tax office may not refuse to provide information in accordance with Art. 15 GDPR on the grounds that this would involve disproportionate effort. The BFH published the ruling on March 6, 2025. File number IX R 25/22.
What was it about?
A plaintiff demanded complete information about his stored personal data from the tax office. The tax office refused and instead offered access to the files – which was not enough for the plaintiff. He went to court, but the tax court dismissed his claim. In the appeal before the BFH, he was now upheld.
The most important points of the judgment:
- Disproportionate effort is not an argument: The tax office cannot claim that providing the data is too costly.
- No restriction of the right to information: Even if a request is very extensive, it must not be rejected as “excessive”.
- The tax office must release data in full: A simple inspection of files is not sufficient – the person concerned has a right to copies of the relevant documents.
What does this mean for taxpayers?
Anyone can request complete information about their stored data from the tax office. If you want to make sure that your request is formulated in a legally secure manner, you can use the appropriate PepperPapers legal document.
