[ad_1]
The ending was planned for a long time, now it is coming true: The “ElsterFormular” is history. What this means for your tax return and what software you can use instead.
Until now, taxpayers still had the option: “ElsterFormular” or “Mein Elster”? Both programs helped you file your taxes electronically, but they worked fundamentally differently.
While he could do everything online with “Mein Elster”, he remained largely offline with “ElsterFormular”. This intermediate step between the paper form and the fully electronic tax office no longer exists. “ElsterFormular” has been abolished.
What does the ending of “ElsterFormular” mean?
Since “ElsterFormular” is no longer available to you, this initially means, quite banal, that you have to do your tax return for 2020 using a different program (see below). If you must file a tax return, you must file it before July 31, 2021.
Why was “ElsterFormular” abolished?
The end of the software was decided a few years ago to reduce administrative effort. The more taxpayers submit and submit their information directly online, the less work the tax offices will have with it. In the future, they even want to get to the point where tax returns can be verified fully automatically, without an employee having to look at them.
“ElsterFormular” was, so to speak, just the one-to-one translation of the old paper forms to the PC. You can download and complete them offline. You can then submit it online to the tax office so the tax return is considered to have actually been submitted, but you still had to print a compressed version of your tax return, sign it, and send it to your tax office at same way by post.
What alternatives are there to “ElsterFormular”?
Instead of “ElsterFormular”, as before, you can use the electronic tax office “Mein Elster”, which is also free. This is how you present your tax return authenticated with an electronic certificate that serves as proof of identity to the tax office. You will receive the certificate when you register with “Mein Elster”.
It is no longer necessary to print forms and sign them, and it is not possible either. As an alternative to logging in with a certificate, you can also log in with your ID card and a six-digit PIN, provided you have an online identification feature enabled.
With “Mein Elster” you can not only file your tax return, but also extend deadlines, adjust advance payments, or object to the tax assessment. Filing the tax return through “Mein Elster” is particularly suitable for taxpayers if their case is not particularly complicated.
If you want more support, you should use a fee-based tax assistance program. There you will be guided step by step through your tax return using questions, for example. There are also tips on where there is still potential for savings.
Stiftung Warentest last tested 14 tax programs of this type in 2019. Buhl Data’s offers were the best calculated. The “Wiso Steuerweb” browser application and the “Wiso Steuerparbuch” downloader shared the win, followed by the significantly cheaper “Tax”.
Wolters Kluwer, maker of the tax savings statement, offers this program for the 2020 tax return free of charge to everyone who changes “ElsterFormular”. The prerequisite for this is that you have created and filed a return using the “ElsterFormular” for tax year 2019. The change should be possible from February 2021.
Can I take my data in other software?
It’s okay. You can export your tax data to “Mein Elster”. The function is found in the “Export” menu item. If you transfer your data in this way, you save work because you don’t have to re-enter the information you already entered.
Export also works if you use other tax software. You can find detailed instructions in the Information assistants at elster.de – also like Video.
