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Submitting your income tax return

  • Steuern und Abgaben 



    	    

		    
Procedure

            			
Online via the ELSTER portal: 


  • If, among other things, income is generated from commercial or self-employed activities, the tax return must generally be submitted to the tax office online via ELSTER.
  • ELSTER is a barrier-free and platform-independent access to the electronic services of the tax administration. You can find the link under "Further information" - "Online service".
  • You need a certificate for the electronically authenticated transmission. You will receive this following your registration on ELSTER.
  • Please note that the registration process can take up to 2 weeks.
  • The tax office will check the information and send a notification by email when the tax assessment can be accessed electronically.
  • To protect tax confidentiality, the tax assessment will only be made available in encrypted form. To retrieve the data, the encrypted file must first be downloaded to your own PC and decrypted using the selected authentication method.
  • If your tax office requests receipts from you, you can also simply submit them electronically in the ELSTER portal.
  • You can find this function in the ELSTER portal under Forms & services > All forms > Applications, objections and notifications > Submission of supporting documents for tax returns.
  • Further information on submitting receipts can be found in the leaflet "Handling receipts" under "Further information" - "Where can I find out more?".

Submission in person and by post at the tax offices: 


  • In all other cases, the tax return can also be submitted in person or by post.
  • You can download all forms from the forms portal of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
    
 
    • You can find the link to the form portal under "Further information" - "Forms" - "Income tax return".
  • Fill in the form on your electronic device or print it out by hand and sign it.
  • Send the tax return with attachments by post to your local tax office or hand in the tax return in person at the central information and collection points of the Bremen tax offices.
  • The central information and collection point is available to answer any questions you may have. Detailed tax advice is generally reserved for the tax advisory professions and may not be provided by the tax offices.
  • If you make an appointment on site at the central information and collection points, please bring the documents relating to your completed tax return with you.
    
 
    • You can find the link to make an appointment at your tax office under "Further information" - "Make an appointment".
			
Legal bases
			
More information
Information on the processing status of tax returns can be found under "Further information" - "Where can I find out more?" - "Processing status of the tax return".