Registration for the ElsterOnline-Portal. - Steuern

Registration for the
ElsterOnline-Portal.
ELSTER. The electronic tax return.
 www.elster.de
 ELSTER – Your paperless tax return
The ElsterOnline-Portal offers taxpayers barrier-free and
platform-independent (also suited to MacOS and Linux
operating systems) access to the electronic services of the
tax administration.
For a paperless tax submission you need only register
for the ElsterOnline-Portal one-off and can then make use
of the following forms and services among others:
Income tax return including data retrieval (prefilled tax
return)
Cash basis accounting
Assessment declaration
Trade tax return
Corporate income tax return
VAT advance return
VAT return
Permanent extension of the filing deadline
Wage tax return (PAYE in UK)
Capital gains tax return
self-assessment return according to Section 50a of the
Income Tax Act (EStG)
Information on your electronic criteria for wage tax
withholding (ELStAM)
There are a number of registration options available to
you. As a rule registering with ELSTER-Basic (ELSTERBasis) is all that is required for a paperless tax return
submission: Here you will receive a Certificate File in the
form of a pfx file for free.
Registration with the types ELSTER-Special (ELSTERSpezial) and ELSTER-Plus takes place in a similar manner.
For more information go to www.elsteronline.de under the
“Registrierung“ (Registration) section.
 Three-step registration
For security reasons registration takes place in three steps
and takes about ten working days. The registration process
must be completed within a 100 days.
Step 1: Personal information
Registration takes place encrypted in the ElsterOnlinePortal at  www.elsteronline.de. When registering you have
the option of a Personal Certificate and a Non-Personal
Certificate (Organisation Certificate).
To submit your tax return, as a rule you will need
Personal Certificate (persönliches Zertifikat) and for this
reason you will register yourself using your Identification
Number (Identifikationsnummer). You will find this on the
top left of the first page of your Income Tax Notice of
Assessment, alternatively you can request it at
 www.identifikationsmerkmal.de.
The Security Question (Sicherheitsabfrage) will serve
to identify you later in case you want to delete your user
account. Only you must know the answer to the Security
Question and you should keep it in a safe place.
After you have sent the information you will receive a
first e-mail, which you must confirm. You will subsequently
receive a second e-mail with an “Activation ID”
(Aktivierungs-ID), as well as an “Activation Code”
(Aktivierungs-Code) sent to you in the post. The tax
administration of your state will send this to the address
the registry authority has for you. In order for the
Activation Code to be sent to your current address please
advise the registry authority of any address changes in due
course.
The postal consignment will ensue within several days, in
isolated cases it can take up to two weeks.
As soon as you have received both of the activation
data, you can proceed with the second step of registration.
Step 2: Entering the Activation Code and saving of the
Certificate File.
To continue with the registration click on the link in the
second e-mail and enter the Activation ID from the e-mail
and the Activation Code from the letter sent to you in the
ElsterOnline-Portal.
After entering the Certificate-PIN (Zertifikats-PIN) you
allocated to yourself, your Certificate File (Zertifikatsdatei)
with the ending .pfx is generated. Please select “Datei
Speichern” (Save File) in order for the Certificate File to be
downloaded on to your computer.
You will need the file for the third step. The file is saved in
the “Download” index of your browser as standard
procedure.
This process can take several minutes depending on
your internet connection. Please be patient and do not
interrupt the process prematurely!
Step 3: A
ctivation of Certificate File and first-time Login
Now, your first-time Login to the ElsterOnline-Portal will
take place. Here you will complete your user information.
It is only with this step that registration is finalised.
Advice on how to deal with the Certificate
Please compile a backup copy of the Certificate File and
save this in a folder you are familiar with and on an external
storage device. If lost, damaged etc. the file cannot be
restored.
Also, you should make a note of the Certificate-PIN that
you awarded yourself and place it in safekeeping. In the
event that you forget the Certificate-PIN, it cannot be reset.
 Always have your Certificate at your
fingertips ElsterSmart
Alternatively you can register with the “ElsterSmart” app
on your smartphone and safely store the Certificate File in
 ElsterSmart. This means you always have your
Certificate File with you and you can access the
ElsterOnline-Portal anywhere  www.elster.de.
 Paperless with immediate effect!
Irrespective of whether you use ElsterForm
(ElsterFormular), ElsterOnline-Portal or another tax
return program, your Certificate File and your CertificatePIN enables you to submit a paperless tax return to the
Inland Revenue Service (so-called authenticated
submission).
Registration checklist
C all up the website  www.elsteronline.de then select
> “Registrierung“ (Register) in the Menu “Öffentlicher
Bereich“ (Public Domain) > ELSTER Basis “Infos und
Registrierung“ (Infos and Register) > “zur Regis­
trierung“ (to register).
Before getting started: Check the system requirements
Step 1: Personal or organisation information
–“Persönliches Zertifikat“ (Personal Certificate)
> „Registrierung mit Identifikationsnummer“
(Registration with Identification Number)
–C omplete personal information, answer Security
Question and send information
Receipt of first e-mail from the tax administration in
your inbox (confirm e-mail)
Click on the link found in the first e-mail to confirm your
e-mail address
Receipt of the second e-mail from the tax administration
containing “Activation ID” (Aktivierungs-ID)
Receipt in the post of a letter from the tax administration
containing “Activation Code” (Aktivierungs-Code)
(Letter sent in the post could take as many as two
weeks!)
Only once the second e-mail and the letter have arrived,
can you proceed:
Click on the link contained in the second e-mail
Step 2: Entering of activation information and saving the
Certificate File:
–Enter the Activation ID and the Activation Code in the
appropriate fields
–A llocation of a Certificate-PIN of at least six digits and
confirmation of this
–Save file – Do not open!
 Step 3: Activation of Certificate File and first-time Login:
–Entry of the self-allocated Certificate-PIN
–C omplete user information such as address and
telephone
After the data has been captured, preparation of the
Certificate File is complete and registration finished.
From now on you can log on directly via “Login”.
Need help with ELSTER?
For further information go to  www.elster.de.
Our hotline 0800 52 35 055 (+ 49 180 5 23 50 55 for
callers outside of Germany) is at your personal disposal or
e-mail us at [email protected].
Get updated information on technical requirements at
 www.elsteronline.de under “Anforderungen”
(Requirements).
Notes
 Notes on security
Safekeeping of your Certificate-PIN or your answer to the
Security Question should not occur together with the
Certificate File. Do not pass on your Certificate File or
Certificate-PIN to a third party. These measures can assist
in preventing the abuse of your Certificate by unauthorised
persons.
In the event that the Certificate File is lost, the user
account on the ElsterOnline-Portal should be deleted. For
further information on this go to  www.elsteronline.de
under “Konto löschen“ (Delete Account).
 Technical notes
Get updated information on technical requirements at
 www.elsteronline.de under “Anforderungen“
(Requirements).
 Need help with ELSTER?
For further information go to  www.elster.de.
Our hotline 0800 52 35 055 (+ 49 180 5 23 50 55 for
callers outside of Germany) is at your personal disposal or
e-mail us at [email protected].
Herausgeber:
Sächsisches Staatsministerium der Finanzen
Carolaplatz 1
01097 Dresden
www.smf.sachsen.de
Bilder: www.fotolia.de: Yuri Arcurs
Gestaltung: bluehouse GmbH, Hannover
Stand: Oktober 2015