State Secretary Gisela Splett presented the tax office as the "Tax Office of the Future", or FiZ for short, at Öhringen on the Tuesday after Easter. "We are testing innovations for digital communication and improving citizen service in five of the 65 tax offices. I am pleased that the tax office Öhringen was able to convince with its application. Here we are jointly developing and testing the future of modern tax administration," said Gisela Splett. The State Secretary, together with Chief Financial Officer Andrea Heck and Katja Konnerth, Head of the Tax Office, presented the focal points.
"Citizens will benefit from significantly more service in the coming years," said Splett. This will be made possible, for example, by appointment scheduling, call-back and video conferencing systems, as well as the expansion of digital case processing, she said. "If cases are increasingly processed digitally, there will be more time for examining complicated issues. This benefits the tax administration and is faster for citizens," emphasized Chief Finance President Andrea Heck.
Therefore the existing ELSTER service offer of the tax office Öhringen is clearly extended. On Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., as well as by appointment, citizens will be able to ask their questions about the software (such as authentication via ELSTER) at ELSTER-Point in the Central Information Office. "We want to make citizens aware of the advantages of ELSTER and reduce thresholds," said Splett.
This offer is particularly interesting for citizens with entrepreneurial or freelance secondary income. Since 01.01.2018, the electronic submission of so-called corporate tax returns, for example for value added tax, trade tax and for income surplus statements, is only possible authenticated via ELSTER - your online tax office. The previously existing option of submitting such tax returns in compressed form to the tax office no longer applies.
The change also affects, for example, operators of photovoltaic systems and associations.
Citizens who previously filed their business tax returns in compressed form must therefore register at www.elster.de in order to authentically file the returns from 01.01.2018 onwards.
Öhringen is one of five tax offices in the country that are testing additional possibilities of digitalization. "The creativity and dedication of the employees here at Öhringen have made it possible for us to be one of five tax offices of the future. Now we are looking forward to showing how tax administration can become more modern," said Vorsteherin Katja Konnerth.
If you have any questions about registering and filing tax returns electronically, the help pages at: www.elster.de and the ELSTER hotline at 0800/5235055 are always available.
In addition, the tax office at Öhringen has a contact person at ELSTER who will be happy to help you with any questions or problems you may have. Further information on contact details
Register with "ELSTER - Your online tax office" and benefit from the advantages of the digital tax return!
Background "digital@bw"
Digitalisation is a central focus of the state government's work. To this end, it has launched an investment offensive: around one billion euros will be invested in digitisation during this legislative period. With "digital@bw", the first state-wide and cross-departmental digitization strategy was presented in summer 2017, which was created in teamwork by all ministries. Over the next two years, more than 70 very specific projects with a volume of more than 300 million euros will be implemented to anchor Baden-Württemberg as a leading region for digital transformation in Europe. One of the focal points of "digital@bw" is Administration 4.0. With www.digital-bw.de, the state government has also launched a central online portal as a new showcase for digitalisation.