Since 1999 the method ELSTER (ELektronische STeuerERklaerung = electronic tax return) offers to all taxpayers, companies and tax advisors in Germany the electronic transmission of various tax returns and declarations via internet. Nearly 90% of all German companies use ELSTER, while around 20% of the private individuals use it for their income tax returns. The popularity within the group of private individuals is rising steadily (doubles every year), reaching 20% in 2005.
Description of the way to implement the initiative
Due to the success story and the wide spread of ELSTER in Germany, the tax administration followed the wish of the citizens to abstain from the personal signature. Nevertheless the safety of eGovernment in taxation must be performed at the highest level of savety for the citizen and the state administration. Therefore ELSTER implemented a new function for online-registration and -authentication to identify the transmitter without using expensive and complicated digital signatures. The new authentication is user-friendly, simple and does not cause any costs for the user - the ElsterOnline-Portal.
Technology solution
With the ElsterOnline-Portal, the Bavarian Head Office for Taxes - leading the developement of ELSTER - realised an online-tax-office. There the tax administration offers an easy online-registration, free online hand-out of electronic certificates (certified by the own ELSTER-trustcenter), online tax forms (e.g. VAT, wages tax return), inbox for messages, user-profiles for master data and a task-management. Besides this the browser-solution can be used free of barriers, independant of installed software, platform and location.
Main results, benefits and impacts
Taxpayers, companies and tax advisors in Germany are able to dispatch their provisional VAT return, wages tax return and the electronic request of the internal tax accounts for themselves or their clients online without installation of special software.
Return on investment
Return on investment: Not applicable / Not availableLessons learnt
Lesson 1 - Although the majority of the public associates ELSTER with electronic tax returns only, the project's technical developments are for the most part neutral in terms of application and allow for all kinds of information to be transmitted. The ELSTER base provides a process landscape that is expandable in modular increments and which facilitates communication between the revenue administrations of the Länder and between the tax authorities and taxpayers, tax advisors or payroll offices in the private sector. The first users of the new infrastructure are the local tax offices, which can now access the certificates of wages tax deductions transmitted by employers instead of the wages tax cards. Lesson 2 - Without the ElsterOnline-Portal development initiated within the context of the ELSTER project, it would not be possible to modernize administrations to the desired extent, i.e. having start-to-finish electronic processes in place which can be used without having to change media to communicate directly with the customer and which transcend all administrative borders. Therefore, the project ELSTER also has a strategic importance in helping the tax administration to position itself in an eGovernment setting. Today, ELSTER is already one of the most important and successful eGovernment projects in Germany.
Scope: National