Pre-filled tax return

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The pre- filled tax return ( VaSt ) is a free service of the German tax administration with the aim of making it easier for citizens to prepare their income tax return . The pre-filled tax return, also known as the retrieval of certificates (previously: document retrieval ), has been available since January 2014.

background

The starting point for the introduction of the pre-filled tax return is the efforts of the tax administration to modernize the taxation procedure. The focus is on improving the quality of tax enforcement and reducing bureaucracy for citizens, companies, tax advisory professions and tax administration.

In order to be able to achieve these goals, all citizens can, on request, be provided with the document data already electronically available from the tax administration with a new service - the pre-filled tax return.

Data provided and their use

The following data and certificates stored by the tax administration are provided by the pre-filled tax return:

  1. income tax certificates sent by the employer ,
  2. Wage replacement benefits,
  3. Notifications of receipt of pension benefits,
  4. Contributions to health and long-term care insurance,
  5. Pension expenses (e.g. Riester or Rürup contracts),
  6. Contributions for capital formation benefits (VWL / VL).

For the provision of further documents and data for retrieval, the legal basis was expanded in July 2016 with the law to modernize the taxation procedure . With the receipt, the data mentioned can be displayed and automatically transferred to the corresponding fields of the income tax return. Even if the receipts have been called up and the fields in the income tax (abbreviation: ESt) declaration have been filled in, the data can still be changed or deleted. If the displayed documents are incorrect or incomplete, they must be corrected independently by contacting the respective data transmitter, such as B. the employer or health insurance applies. A correction by the tax office is not possible.

The income tax declaration can be created in the ElsterOnline portal , with ElsterFormular or with other tax software programs. After the income tax declaration, the tax office cannot determine whether and to what extent the retrieved data has been used or changed.

There is no obligation to submit the income tax declaration electronically when using the document retrieval function.

Availability of data / documents

The pre-filled tax return has been available since January 2014. The documents that have been made available to the financial administration by the data transmitter (employer, insurance company, etc.) can be called up at any time. The legal deadline for submission by the data transmitter is February 28 of the respective year.

The data for the years from 2012 can be called up. The receipts will then be offered for data retrieval for four years and will be deleted after a period of time.

The data can be called up around the clock, seven days a week and even after submitting the respective income tax return.

Requirement for use

The data from the above documents are not automatically collected for all taxpayers. In order to be able to use the service, it is necessary to register for receipt retrieval. A prerequisite for retrieval is a valid registration with the tax identification number (tax ID number) in "Mein Elster" (previously referred to as ElsterOnline -Portal) and then the (separate) registration for the receipt of documents. The data will then be available one day after registration at the earliest.

Document retrieval for / from third party (s)

There is the option of calling up data for / from other persons or persons such as B. to authorize the spouse or tax advisor to retrieve documents. This requires that the private sectors ElsterOnline made -Portals in ElsterFormular or with the control software a request, which may be subsequently approved by the data owner.

Retrieval code

When using the ElsterOnline registration with software certificate, a so-called access code is required to participate in the pre-filled tax return. In addition to the PIN, this serves as an additional security feature. As soon as you register to take part in the receipt of documents, the tax authorities will automatically send you a retrieval code by post (exception: a valid retrieval code already exists).

Activation code

The activation code is a 12-digit, one-time key to activate an authorization application. You need the activation code in order to authorize another person (e.g. your spouse or income tax relief association ) to access other documents. For this z. B. the spouse submit an application for the IdNr of his / her partner. The tax authorities then send them a letter with an activation code, which they can then pass on to the applicant.

Look at the receipts

Receipts can be called up and viewed in the ElsterOnline portal without having to be used in the tax return.

safety

Maintaining tax secrecy has top priority in the pre-filled tax return. In order to protect this, the tax data is encrypted and transmitted to the tax administration.

criticism

It is criticized that the name is misleading, since only a small part of the tax return is filled out and the deductible expenses still have to be entered yourself. The transmitted data must be checked for correctness, as the submission of a correct tax return remains the responsibility of the user. The low benefit is offset by a high effort when registering for the first use.

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Pre-filled tax return (private individuals). Retrieved March 3, 2020 .
  2. ↑ DIP 21 extract. Law to modernize the taxation process. In: Documentation and information system for parliamentary processes . German Bundestag, accessed on July 28, 2016 . ; announced on July 18, 2016.
  3. ↑ So much easier! sueddeutsche.de, April 29, 2014. Retrieved December 27, 2014.

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