Digitization of the tax procedure (Germany)

The paper-based tax return

Under the digitizing of the control method , the gradual transformation of the transmission is data between the taxpayer and the tax authorities to understand to an electronic procedure. The greatest advantage of digitization is the reduction in paper-based processes and the associated increase in efficiency through the automation of processing.

overview

The digitalization of the tax procedure includes in particular the electronic automation of the following processes:

Electronic tax return (including tax registration )
Electronic balance sheet (e-balance sheet)
Tax assessment
Results from tax audits (in particular the report of the field audit )
Issuing other electronic administrative files

Legal framework

The tax laws contain numerous individual regulations from which the taxpayer is obliged to transmit his data electronically. In principle, there is an obligation to electronically transmit the following declarations in particular:

Income taxes

Income tax return for taxpayers with income from agriculture and forestry , income from commercial operations or income from self-employed work (Section 25 (4) EStG)
Corporate income tax return (Section 31 (1a) KStG)
Trade tax declaration and decomposition declaration (§ 14a GewStG)
E-balance sheet (§ 5b EStG)
Income surplus calculation (§ 60 Abs. 4 EStDV)
Income tax registration (Section 41a Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 EStG) and the income tax certificate (Section 41b Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 EStG)
Capital gains tax registration (Section 45a Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 EStG)

value added tax

Sales tax pre-registration (§ 18 Abs. 1 S. 1 UStG)
Sales tax return (§ 18 Abs. 3 UStG)
Summary report (§ 18a Paragraph 1 UStG)
Permanent extension of the term (Section 48 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 UStDV)

In the case of the declarations presented above, a taxpayer may only submit the declaration in paper form to the tax authorities if the electronic transmission represents undue hardship for the taxpayer . For declarations for which there is no individual legal regulation, electronic transmission is permitted if the tax authorities have given appropriate technical access (Section 87a (1) sentence 1 AO).

Electronic signature

An electronic signature (also called authentication) is mandatory for electronic transmission to the tax authorities. With the electronic signature, the tax authorities can subsequently check whether the data has been transmitted by the correct sender.

literature

Stephan Greulich, Johannes Riepolt: Digitization of business processes. DATEV eG, Nuremberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-944505-38-1 .
Wolfgang Schön , Karin Beck: The future of German tax law. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-642-00258-8 .

Web links

eSteuer.de Electronic interface between the taxpayer and the financial administration
Haufe.de Digitization in tax administration is making headway
Lexware.de Tax e-government