Electronic income tax deduction features

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With the introduction of the electronic wage tax deduction features ( ELStAM ), the wage tax card made of paper was replaced by an electronic procedure in Germany on January 1, 2013 . This procedure is also known as the "electronic income tax card".

Content of the electronic wage tax deduction features

Roughly sketched, the electronic wage tax deduction features are the information that was previously entered on the front of the wage tax card:

According to the definition in Section 39 (4 ) EStG , the church tax attribute is not one of the electronic wage tax deduction attributes. However, it is stored in addition to these in accordance with Section 39e (2) EStG. However, this data storage is legally controversial because, in the opinion of experts, it violates constitutional and data protection regulations (see section on data protection).

In the electronic procedure, the electronic wage tax deduction features and the church tax feature are stored in a database at the Federal Central Tax Office (ELStAM database) and can be accessed by anyone with an employer authorization. In principle, only the electronically stored data are binding for the employer. If this data changes (e.g. when changing the tax class), this is indicated by a change list. This is electronically made available to the employer for retrieval at the beginning of each month.

Procedure

At the start of a new job, employees should provide their employer with the following information:

The employer can use this information to register his employees in the ELStAM database. The employer then receives a so-called registration confirmation list electronically from the Federal Central Tax Office with the current ELStAM of the employees he has registered. With the retrieved ELStAM, he can then make the individual wage tax deduction for his employees. If the employer cannot access the ELStAM (e.g. due to a blocking requested by the employee), he is obliged to tax the wages according to tax class VI. When an employment relationship ends, the employer is obliged to deregister the employee in the ELStAM database.

Responsibilities

Since 2011, the tax offices have been solely responsible for changing the ELStAM. Changes to registration data (e.g. marriage, birth of a child, joining or leaving church) are still made by the registration authorities . These transmit the changed data to the Federal Central Tax Office. This ensures that the ELStAM is up to date.

privacy

The transmission and storage of wage tax data in the ELStAM database is based on Section 39e EStG and Section 139b AO . Only current employers are allowed to access the ELStAM. This authorization no longer applies when the employment relationship is terminated . In principle, employees do not have to provide any information about the employer's access rights. However, you can apply to the tax office so that only certain employers can access their ELStAM (positive list). In addition, you have the option of excluding specific or all employers from accessing your ELStAM (partial or full block). It should be noted, however, that in the event of an access block, the employer is obliged to tax the wages according to tax class VI. Information about which ELStAM is stored at the Federal Central Tax Office and which employers have accessed it in the last two years is available to employees at the start of the procedure in the ELSTER online portal. This requires an authentication using the identification number. necessary. Any existing authentication using the conventional tax number is not sufficient. This information can also be obtained from the responsible tax office.

In the meantime, constitutional and data protection issues are being discussed in the literature that were not reflected in the legislation. It is controversial whether the provisions of the Income Tax Act for storing church tax characteristics are lawful, since the Income Tax Act is a federal act and the competence to legislate in church tax matters belongs only to the Länder ( Art. 140 GG in conjunction with Art. 137 para. 6 WRV). Data storage on the basis of a non-constitutional law violates the regulations of the Federal Data Protection Act.

Individual evidence

  1. Electronic income tax card ( Memento of the original dated May 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at elster.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.elster.de
  2. ^ André Pospischil: Church tax in the 21st century. epubli, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-8442-6927-7 .
  3. Nomos in: Simitis, Federal Data Protection Act, 7th edition 2011, margin no. 14 to § 4 BDSG.

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