It is best to submit your income tax return electronically to your local tax office. The tax office in whose district you live is responsible for you.
You have the option of submitting your tax return electronically with authentication. You authenticate yourself using the ELSTER certificate. It has the function of an electronic signature and ensures
- Confidentiality,
- Identity of the sender and
- Immutability of the content
of the data sent.
To obtain a certificate, you must register in the ELSTER online portal. This requires several steps (e.g. sending the registration data, sending a confirmation e-mail via the ELSTEROnline portal, sending the activation code by post). You should therefore register in good time so that you can prepare and submit your tax return on time.
Once you have registered on the ELSTEROnline portal, you can also take advantage of the pre-filled tax return. The tax authorities will provide you with the following personal data and supporting documents:
- Income tax certificates sent by your employer,
- Notifications of receipt of pension benefits,
- Contributions to health and long-term care insurance,
- Pension expenses (e.g. Riester or Rürup contracts) and
- Transmission of wage replacement benefits (e.g. unemployment benefit, parental allowance).
If you have registered for document retrieval, you can automatically transfer this data when preparing your income tax return.
You must submit your income tax return electronically if you earn or have an interest in the following income:
- Income from business operations,
- Income from self-employment or
- Income from agriculture and forestry
This applies regardless of the type of profit determination for the EÜR (income statement) annex, the balance sheet and the entire income tax return.
If you are not obliged to submit your income tax return electronically, you can also submit your written income tax return using the official form to the tax office responsible for your place of residence. In this case, please sign your income tax return by hand and send it by post to the relevant tax office or hand it in in person. You can obtain paper forms from your tax office or on the Internet.
Note
Information about ELSTER