ElsterFormular

ElsterFormular is a desktop software tool issued by the German tax authorities as part of the ELSTER electronic tax filing system (Elektronische Steuererklärung). It enables taxpayers to compose, validate, and transmit tax declarations and related forms to the German tax offices over the internet. The program supports a broad set of forms for individuals and businesses, including the Einkommensteuererklärung (income tax return), Gewerbesteuererklärung, Körperschaftsteuererklärung, and Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung, among others. It also provides data validation, help text, and the ability to save and reuse form data for different tax years. Completed submissions are transmitted securely using ELSTER certificates for authentication.

ElsterFormular was distributed as a downloadable desktop application and integrated with the ELSTER online infrastructure. Users typically obtained an ELSTER certificate or used other approved authentication methods to sign and submit their declarations. Data is transmitted via secure channels to the tax authorities; responses and confirmations are delivered electronically.

Status and lineage: ElsterFormular was the offline component of Germany’s ELSTER project and was progressively superseded by the Mein ELSTER online portal. While the desktop software and its offline filing capability were historically widely used, official emphasis has shifted to the online portal, with support for ElsterFormular being reduced or ended in favor of web-based filing and digital certificates managed through Mein ELSTER.