For the electronic transmission of tax returns, the service portal of the tax administration has been set up under www.elster.de. It primarily offers citizens as well as companies, associations and organisations the possibility of electronic transmission of the tax return but also information on many tax forms. The electronic and partly already paperless version of the tax return is provided to you free of charge by the tax administration. With "ELSTER: Your Online Tax Office" you can handle many tax matters directly and easily on your PC, smartphone or tablet. In addition to the instructions for filling out the forms, these include functions for the paperless transmission of the tax return to the tax office, for the calculation of the tax attributable to the declared income and for the reconciliation of notices.

Under www.elster.de you will also find information e.B. on the income tax return, the trade tax and corporation tax return and also on the advance VAT return, the recapitulative statement, the wage tax declaration, the wage tax certificate and the capital gains tax declaration. The tax forms can be found on the website of the Form Management System (FMS) of the Federal Finance Administration: www.formulare-bfinv.de. However, paper forms are also available in every tax office.

However, no forms are stored in the form management system for tax returns that are legally ordered to be submitted only electronically – such as .B trade tax return.