Elster: Advance sales tax registration - how it works
With the portal "Elster" of the financial administration, you can create your advance sales tax declaration in a few minutes and send it to the tax office. We'll show you how it works.
Create your electronic signature using an Elster software certificate
If you want to communicate electronically with the tax office, you should get a software certificate. With this software certificate you log into your private area at ElsterOnline. Once you have created the tax return, you can electronically sign the declaration with the certificate.
- You can obtain this software certificate on the Elster website by going to the "Registration" subpage. There you will either receive a free certificate with a simple security level, which you save on your computer and save with a combination of numbers.
- In the future, you will use this certificate to sign your tax returns. You should back up the certificate file very carefully. If you delete this file, you have to register again with Elster.
Check whether your PC is suitable for magpie
You can only use Elster on your PC if a certain version of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is installed on your PC.
- The requirements are described in detail on the sub-page "Requirements". On this subpage you can also use a configuration wizard to check whether your PC is suitable for ElsterOnline. To do this, simply click on the "Configuration Assistant" link.
- If the JRE is not installed, you can download it from the website.
Create your tax return
After you have received your software certificate, use it to log into your personal area at Elster.
- Then select the menu item "Create sales tax". The wizard guides you step by step through the various input options with your software certificate
- When you have completed the entry, sign your declaration with your software certificate and send it off.
If you prefer to create your tax return offline, you can also create the sales tax return using the "ElsterFormular" program. In this program you can also take your data, such as address or tax number, from the previous declaration. Then send the declaration created offline with authentication to the tax office. "Elster form" can be downloaded here at CHIP free of charge.