For the 4.2 million expats navigating Germany

That scary German letter? Here’s what it actually says.

Snap a photo, paste the text, or drop the PDF. You get a plain-language explanation, deadlines flagged, and clear next steps. Full send-ready draft replies are on paid plans. No C1 required.

— letters decoded so far 3 guest tries — no account needed Free account: 5 full + 15 basic letters / month
Works on letters in German · Explanations in ENTRARRU

Try it with your own letter.

Guest: 1 full-quality + 5 basic explains per rolling 7-day window (per network). Create a free account for 5 full-quality + 15 basic letters per month. Photo, PDF, Word, HEIC — up to 10 MB.

Drop your letter here
or click to upload · PDF · JPG · PNG · HEIC
Never stored or shared GDPR compliant Hosted in the EU
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Letters decoded
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Avg. time to clarity
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German agencies covered
As used by expats from
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A real example

From impenetrable German to action in 3 taps.

Here’s an anonymised Finanzamt letter our users actually uploaded, and exactly what Briefed gave them back.

The letter

Finanzamt München · 12. März 2026

Sehr geehrter Herr Smith, hiermit übersenden wir Ihnen den Einkommenssteuerbescheid für das Steuerjahr 2024. Nach Überprüfung Ihrer eingereichten Unterlagen ergibt sich eine Nachzahlung in Höhe von € 847,00.

Bitte überweisen Sie den genannten Betrag bis zum 15. April 2026 auf folgendes Konto. Die Festsetzung erfolgt gemäß §155 Abgabenordnung. Sollten Sie mit dem Bescheid nicht einverstanden sein, können Sie innerhalb eines Monats Einspruch einlegen.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Ihr Finanzamt München.

What Briefed says

Plain English · with actions

You owe €847 in 2024 income tax. Pay by 15 April 2026, or file an objection within one month if it looks wrong.
Actions
Draft reply
Your rights
  • 1Transfer €847 to the Finanzamt IBAN (listed in the letter) before 15 April 2026.
  • 2Use Steuernummer 143/234/12345 as the payment reference.
  • 3Save the deadline to your calendar — we generate a one-click .ics for you.
Finanzamt München Betreff: Einkommenssteuerbescheid 2024 — Steuernummer 143/234/12345 Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, ich bestätige den Erhalt Ihres Steuerbescheids vom 12. März 2026. Ich werde den Betrag von €847,00 bis zum 15. April 2026 auf das angegebene Konto überweisen. Mit freundlichen Grüßen, [Your name]
  • ✓You have one month from the letter date to file an Einspruch (objection) — free.
  • ✓You can request a payment plan (Stundung) if €847 is a hardship.
  • ✓Consult a Steuerberater if the amount is large — Briefed is not legal advice.
What we handle

Every letter the German state, your landlord, or your Kasse can throw at you.

Fa.
Finanzamt
Tax assessments, Nachzahlung notices, audit letters, refund notifications.
Decode this type →
Kk.
Krankenkasse
Contribution changes, coverage updates, reimbursement requests, Sonderkündigungsrecht.
Decode this type →
Ew.
Einwohnermeldeamt
Anmeldung, address updates, ID card obligations, residency deadlines.
Decode this type →
§
Court & legal
Mahnbescheid, debt collection, Abmahnung, court summons — the envelopes you dread most.
Decode this type →
Hs.
Landlord letters
Mieterhöhung, Nebenkostenabrechnung, termination notices, repair disputes.
Decode this type →
Jc.
Jobcenter & Arbeitsagentur
Benefit notices, appointment requests, sanctions, Bürgergeld letters.
Decode this type →
How it works

Three taps. No German required.

i.

Upload or paste the letter

Take a photo on your phone, drop a PDF, paste the text. HEIC, blurry, Deutsche-Post-window envelope — all fine.

ii.

Read it in plain English

We extract the point, the numbers, and the deadlines. You see what the letter means — not a dictionary-style translation.

iii.

Close the tab. You’re done.

Every deadline flagged and every next step listed. Upgrade when you want a full send-ready draft reply written for you.

Expats who sleep better now

Receipts from people who actually live here.

I got a Mahnbescheid on a Sunday and thought my life was over. Briefed told me it was a billing error from my old gym, gave me a German objection letter, and I sent it the same day.
AP
Aisha P.
Product designer · Berlin · 3 yrs in DE
My Krankenkasse raised my rate and I had no idea I could switch for free. Briefed flagged the Sonderkündigungsrecht — I saved €480 this year just from one letter.
MR
Marco R.
Freelance developer · Munich · 5 yrs in DE
Every Finanzamt envelope used to cost me €80 at the Steuerberater just to translate. Now I only call them when Briefed says the stakes are serious. That's my yearly plan paid back in a week.
LK
Lena K.
Small business owner · Hamburg · 7 yrs in DE
Pricing

Clear tiers. No surprises.

Start free with full-quality explanations every month. Upgrade for draft replies, higher limits, and unlimited saves.

Free
€0
Account required for monthly allowance.
  • 5 full-quality letters / month
  • 15 basic letters / month
  • Save up to 8 letters
  • 2 questions per letter (Ask)
  • 3 guest tries without signup
Lite
€4.99/ month
€49 / year billed annually.
  • 12 full-quality + 30 basic / month
  • Draft replies (24 options/month)
  • 2 draft options per letter included
  • Unlimited saved letters
  • 5 questions per letter
Pro · most popular
€12.99/ month
€129 / year · existing subscribers stay on Pro.
  • 50 full-quality letters / month
  • 200 basic letters / month (fair use)
  • Draft replies (80 options/month)
  • 4 draft options per letter
  • Unlimited saves · 15 Ask per letter
Family
€24.99/ month
€249 / year · 5 seats · 120 shared full-quality letters.
  • 120 shared full-quality letters / month
  • 80 shared draft options / month
  • All Pro features for household
  • Unlimited saves per member
  • 15 Ask per letter per member
  • Member invites coming soon

Add-ons: €2.99 draft unlock (1 letter, unlimited drafts + 5 Ask) · €3.99 +5 letters (3 drafts + 5 Ask each) · €9.99 +15 letters (4 drafts + 8 Ask each, 90 days)

Secure checkout via Lemon Squeezy · Visa · Mastercard · PayPal · Apple Pay · VAT included for EU

Your letters, your business

Private by design — because your mail is no one else’s business.

Never stored, never trained on

Your letter is processed in memory and deleted within 60 seconds. It never enters a training dataset. Ever.

GDPR + EU-hosted

All processing happens on servers in Frankfurt. No transfer to the US, no third-party trackers on the upload page.

No account needed to start

Guest: 1 full-quality + 5 basic explains per rolling 7-day window (per network). Create a free account for 5 full-quality + 15 basic letters per month.

Questions, politely

Things people ask before the first upload.

Is this legal advice? +

No. Briefed explains and summarises official letters so you know what you’re looking at. For anything with significant legal or financial stakes (court summons, large tax bills, eviction notices), consult a lawyer or Steuerberater. We’ll tell you in the output when we think that’s warranted.

What happens to my letter after I upload it? +

It’s processed in memory on EU-based servers and deleted within 60 seconds. It is never stored, never shown to another user, and never used for model training. We keep only anonymous usage stats (letter type, processing time) to improve the product.

Does it work with photos from my phone? +

Yes. JPG, PNG, HEIC, even slightly blurry or angled shots. Briefed OCRs the letter, straightens the text, and ignores the window-envelope frame. For best results, put the letter on a dark surface in even light.

Which languages do you explain letters in? +

Use the site language menu (English, Turkish, Arabic, or Russian) on the homepage or in the app — that sets the explanation language before you upload. Draft replies follow the letter’s language; paid plans can translate drafts between German and English.

What if the letter is NOT in German? +

Briefed is specifically trained on German administrative language (Behördendeutsch). It will handle other official letters in German cities (some Austrian, Swiss, or bilingual Brussels letters work too), but it’s not meant for English-language junk mail.

Can I cancel the subscription? +

Yes, in two clicks from your account page. No phone call, no retention email. German bureaucracy should be the only thing in your life that’s hard to cancel — and we’re trying to fix that too.

Open the next envelope without the dread.

Three letters per month, free, no account. If the relief doesn’t hit, you close the tab and owe us nothing.

Try Briefed now