Who needs to deregister?
If you leave Germany permanently, you must deregister your German address of residence. To deregister, you can fill in the deregistration form on this page and send the German deregistration letter to your local registration office.
If you’re leaving Germany for a limited amount of time, it is not necessary to deregister. If you’re changing address within Germany, you need to register your new address by filling in the registration form (Anmeldung).
If you fail to deregister you may be liable to pay tax in Germany. Moreover, a deregistration confirmation letter allows you to cancel your contracts you have signed in Germany.
When to deregister?
According to the German registration law you have to deregister between 7 days before and 14 days after your departure at the latest. You have to hand in the completed form at your local Bürgeramt.
Our recommendation: It is best to register with us four weeks before your planned departure from Germany, so that we can get everything started on time. This gives you enough time to receive the deregistration confirmation (Abmeldebescheinigung/ Abmeldebestätigung) and to cancel existing contracts.
If you have already left Germany, you should deregister as soon as possible.
I have left Germany already and have forgotten to de-register / do my Abmeldung. What should I do?
Just fill in the deregistration form indicating the correct move-out date, even if it is in the past. It is extremely important to deregister (abmelden) because if you are still registered in Germany, a) you may have to continue paying for tax and certain contracts etc. b) you may have problems if you want to travel in or move back to Germany in the future.
How can I make sure my deregistration was successful?
If you have not received a deregistration confirmation but you want to make sure that you are deregistered, you should contact your local registration office. It is best to call the registration office to which you have sent the deregistration letter. They can confirm over the phone whether your deregistration was successful.
How to do I get the deregistration confirmation (Abmeldebescheinigung)
You must explicitly ask for a deregistration confirmation (Abmeldebescheinigung) in order to receive one. This is why we have created a custom-made deregistration letter: If you just fill in the deregistration form provided by the Burgeramter, you will not receive a deregistration confirmation letter. You must ask for the confirmation letter to be sent to you. If you use our deregistration letter on this website you do exactly that. Remember, however, that not all registration offices send the confirmation letter to an international address.
Do I need the ‘landlord confirmation’ (Wohnungsgeberbestätigung) to deregister?
No. Since 1st November 2016 you no longer need the landlord confirmation form to deregister.
In German, people refer to the landlord confirmation as Wohnungsgeberbestätigung, Vermieterbescheinigung or Auszugsbestätigung. Between November 2015 and 2016 there was a law that required your landlord to sign this document when you left Germany. However, this is no longer the case. Now you only need the landlord confirmation when you register in Germany.