Download links for German tax forms

Hi - can someone please post the link to the German 2004 Income Tax Form?

Pick the one you want here.

Another website worth knowing for all your tax questions (if you live in Munich) is the Munich Finance Office: www.finanzamt-muenchen.de

Navigating your way through that site takes to every form you could possibly want. Here's the deep link to the standard income tax form for 2004 (PDF format).

An educated URL guess gave me the 2003 form...

http://www.steuer.bayern.de/vordrucke/01_e.../est03_1a_p.pdf

Elster electronic tax return

Now what exactly is that? And if it is what I think it is, can I do my 2003 Lohnsteuer card on it?

Yes, I believe you can. We did ours that way last year and worked great except for a security issue with Tiscali and the method of sending it. I just copied it to a disk and sent it at work. Supoosedly, that has been worked out, but if not, I will just do the same.

I think I will print it, and send it via mail, if thats possible.

Hi TTer

After searching on forum for tax filing, i could not find whether tax forms are available somewhere if i dont want to use a consultant? Is there anywhere which we can download them or we have to spend our cash at a consultant?

thanks

www.meunchen.de

get a program called quicksteuer or somthing similar! much easier! it helps you to get as much money back as possible!
I used a consultant and the statement he sent me was produced by this program...looks very similar!

So there is no office, website, ... that we can get the forms and fill them?

thanks

You can get everything at Elster
This enables you to do everything online,you don't need the forms, i.e. paper you can send it direct to the Finanzamt. Your probably going to need to be able to speak/read German though.

Three sources for forms:

Finanzamt
Elster
Software application

If you use a tax consultant he'll only use one of the above to get the forms in any case

so you just fill the form and via this ELSTER thing send it online?? Absolutely no paper work? I mean no receipts, no lohnsteuerkarte, no nothing?

You never needed to send receipts, but you do need to keep them in case there is a query in the future. If your employer participates in the electronic transfer system then you don't need to send the Lohsteuerkarte either as they will already have received its contents by electronic means (but you still need to keep it safe). You probably still need to send "nothing" however...

Hi, those who'd used Elster before, can you tell me how exactly that work? I chanced upon Elster on the Finanzamt site and the "download" ELSTER formula button seems to lead to a installation/execution software programme. My question is, when you run the programme, does it work out like a form and you get to click "Submit" (online)?? Or do you print it out & mail in? I have many programmes on my laptop, I don't really want another useless programme; and my German is just so limited..

At YL6: How do you know if your employer is participating in the electronic transfer system? Can you find that online (link)? I don't see anything on my payslip...

TA!

You can file your income tax with the Finanzamt in electronic form. However, afterwards you are still required to print out a condensed version, sign it, and send it via snail mail (together with supporting documents that may or may not be required, depending on the complexity of your personal income tax filing). Apparently, they need to have your signature on a piece of paper, otherwise your filing is not legally complete.

I suppose to ask them would be too obvious?

tom_a: Thanks a lot!

@YL6: Yeah. You are too obvious! Back home, the agency utilises online technology to the max, providing a link where you can click & check if your employer is participating. Now, I have been expecting too much from G-E-R-M-A-N-Y! TSK!