Your current ELStAM are shown in every payslip. However, you can retrieve your current ELStAM in Mein ELSTER at any time. In the case of spouses/life partners, each spouse/life partner must generate a separate certificate in Mein ELSTER to retrieve the ELStAM.

Prerequisites

• for the information under www.elster.de: Signature certificate (available after registration in the User groups / Private individuals / Information / Electronic income tax card / ELStAM section)

• for registration: e-mail address and your tax identification number

Procedure

• Log in to "Mein ELSTER" (online tax office www.elster.de) with your signature certificate.
• Apply for information on the electronic income tax card (ELStAM) in the "Forms & services" section.

Current forms for the forms listed below can be found in the Forms Management System (FMS) of the Federal Finance Administration

• Simplified application for income tax reduction
• Application for income tax reduction
• Application for a certificate for income tax deduction
• Application for tax class change for spouses/partners
• Applications for electronic wage tax deduction features
• Declaration of permanent separation
• Declaration on the resumption of the marital union / civil partnership in accordance with the Civil Partnership Act
• Application for a certificate (for wage tax deduction) for employees with limited income tax liability
• Application for extended unlimited income tax liability
• Application for employees with unlimited income tax liability for a certificate of exemption from withholding tax on wages on the basis of a treaty for the avoidance of double taxation
• Application for a certificate in accordance with the Foreign Employment Decree

Communication between citizens, companies and the tax office can take place individually, paperlessly and securely by electronic means; this speeds it up considerably.
The clear responsibility of the tax office for changing all income tax deduction details avoids unnecessary channels.

First date of employment / change of employer

In the ELStAM procedure, your employer only needs your date of birth and your tax identification number, as well as information on whether it is your main or secondary employment relationship. This authorizes your employer to retrieve your ELStAM. It is generally not necessary to submit a certificate for wage tax deduction.

Change to the wage tax deduction features

Who makes the changes?

The tax offices are responsible for changing the wage tax deduction features (e.g. tax class change, entry of child allowances and other allowances).

The following tasks are carried out by the tax office:

• Entry of application-related allowances, for example for travel between home and place of work
• Tax class changes, for example
  • Entry of tax class 2 (for example, after the birth of a child for single persons)
  • Entry of a less favorable tax class, for example tax class 1 instead of 3 or 4
  • Tax class change between 3/5, 4/4 or 4/4 with factor
• Changes following separation of spouses/partners or changes following termination of separation
• Entry of child allowances
• Correction of incorrect wage tax deduction details

The following changes are made by the registration office:

Changes of address and registry office changes such as

• Joining or leaving the church
• Marriage and establishment of a civil partnership
• Birth, adoption or death

are still administered by the citizens' offices of the cities and municipalities.

The city or municipal administrations forward the data directly to the tax authorities to change the personal income tax deduction details. You only need to go to the tax office if you want to change your tax class (e.g. from 4/4 to 3/5) or transfer a child allowance.

What changes to my ELStAM do I have to notify the tax office of?

You are obliged to have the tax office change the tax class and the number of child allowances immediately if the stored data deviates from the living conditions in your favor.
Example: Assignment of tax class 1 from 2021 because you separated from your spouse/life partner in 2020 and thus the requirement for tax class 3 no longer applies.
This obligation also applies if tax class 2 is assigned, but the requirement for the consideration of the relief amount for single parents no longer applies in the course of the calendar year.

If you have applied for an allowance (e.g. for travel between home and your first place of work) and the circumstances change to your disadvantage, you must notify the tax office immediately. You can also submit the changes to your local tax office in paperless form via Mein ELSTER.

Certificates for wage tax deduction in exceptional cases

The tax office will only issue you with a certificate for wage tax deduction if

• incorrect ELStAM are stored and these cannot currently be corrected for technical reasons (Section 39 (1) sentence 2 EStG).
• you are subject to unlimited tax liability, but no identification number is to be issued (Section 39e (8) EStG) - see 8.2
• you are subject to limited tax liability, for example as a cross-border commuter or seasonal employee, or are subject to unlimited tax liability in accordance with Section 1 (2) or (3) EStG and apply for an allowance/exemption from wages on the basis of a double taxation agreement - see 8.1

In these cases, the employer must use the certificate issued by the tax office as the basis for the wage tax deduction.

In the case of blocking for technical reasons, when the above-mentioned certificate is issued to the employer, the retrieval of your ELStAM is blocked until the data is corrected. If the income tax deduction characteristics change in the meantime, your tax office will enter the changes on the original certificate for income tax deduction (e.g. entry of an allowance applied for the first time). Proof of the changes by means of an ELStAM printout from the tax authorities is no longer permitted. Once the technical reasons no longer apply, the block will be lifted by the tax office.
Example: You are married, but the municipality has not transmitted the identification number for both spouses. Your tax office cannot save the requested tax class combination 3/5 in the ELStAM database as you are still considered single for tax purposes. It will issue the certificate for income tax deduction for submission to your employer and block the retrieval of the data. The employer must carry out the wage tax deduction on the basis of this newly issued certificate. It takes precedence over the retrieved ELStAM. The tax office clarifies the reason for the missing identification number together with the municipality. After clarification, the tax class combination 3/5 is saved and the block is lifted.

The transmission and storage of wage tax data in the database for wage tax deduction features is carried out on the basis of Section 39e of the Income Tax Act and Section 139b of the Fiscal Code. Only your current employers are authorized to request and retrieve the ELStAM. This authorization ceases upon termination of the employment relationship.

Employees can view which ELStAM are stored for transmission and which employers have retrieved them in the last two years at any time. This requires registration with an IdNr. in Mein ELSTER.

You can apply to your local tax office to name or exclude specific employers for the retrieval of your wage tax deduction details (positive list/partial blocking/full blocking). The application required for this (applications for the electronic wage tax deduction features - ELStAM - ) can now be submitted paperless via Mein ELSTER. In addition, the tax office is the point of contact for information on your stored ELStAM.

If your employer does not receive any information on your ELStAM due to a block initiated by you, they are obliged to tax your wages according to tax class 6.

What makes data transmission secure?

The transmission of data is encrypted by authenticating the sender.

How is access protection to the income tax deduction database guaranteed?

The income tax deduction details of employees are provided to the employer by the database if the necessary identification data is available and recorded accordingly. The necessary identification data includes:

• The tax number of the employer's permanent establishment for income tax purposes
• The employee's identification number
• The employee's date of birth

How will I be informed about my ELStAM?

Your current ELStAM are shown in every payslip. You can also obtain information on the ELStAM from your local tax office or by consulting Mein ELSTER.

How long is employer access data stored by the tax authorities?

The retention period for log data is generally 2 years.

Employees without domicile or regular place of residence in Germany

If you are an employee with limited income tax liability in accordance with Section 1 (4) EStG, ithas been possible to electronically retrieve your wage tax deduction details using the ELStAM proceduresince January 1, 2020. The prerequisite for your participation in the ELStAM procedure as an employee is the allocation of an identification number. If you are subject to limited income tax liability in accordance with Section 1 (4) of the Income Tax Act and have not yet been assigned a tax identification number, you can apply toyour local tax office for an identification number in accordance with Section 39 (3) EStG and then pass this on to your employer. The form for applying for the identification number can be downloaded from the federal forms server (www.formulare-bfinv.de) can be called up.

Participation in the ELStAM procedure does not yet apply to cases in which you have limited tax liability and you apply for an allowance within the meaning of Section 39a EStG.
In these cases and also in cases in which you are not subject to unlimited income tax liability in accordance with Section 1 (1) of the Income Tax Act, you have not been assigned a tax identification number and/or you wish to apply for an allowance/exemption from wages on the basis of a double taxation agreement, your employer's tax office will issue you with a (paper)certificate for wage tax deduction upon request .

This also applies, for example, if you are aforeign employee or a cross-border commuter - Section 1 (2) and (3) of the Income Tax Act.

The tax office enters the relevant tax bracket, the number of child allowances and, if applicable, an exemption or additional amount (Section 39 (3) of the Income Tax Act).

Employees without an identification number

If you are resident or ordinarily resident in Germany and have not been provided with a tax identification number, your employer will use your expected income tax deduction details for a maximum period of three months. This gives you the opportunity to apply for a new identification number within these three months (www.identifikationsmerkmal.de). If no tax identification number is submitted to the employer after three months, the employer must apply tax class 6 for the calculation of income tax. In cases in which you are not responsible for not submitting the tax identification number, you have the option of having a certificate for wage tax deduction issued by your local tax office.

In addition, the tax office responsible for you will issue a certificate for income tax deduction if you have a habitual residence in Germany.

Child allowances for children under the age of 18

In principle, changes to the registration data of children in the event of birth, adoption, death, moving in from abroad or moving out of the country are still carried out by the citizens' offices of the towns and municipalities.

The data on these changes under registration law is automatically forwarded to the tax authorities to change the ELStAM. The additional trip to the tax office for an application to change the ELStAM is then generally no longer necessary.

Exception: children whose main residence is not registered in the same municipality as the parent.

In these cases, you must apply (once) to the tax office of your place of residence, presenting the birth certificate, for the child allowance to be taken into account until the child reaches the age of majority. You can also submit the necessary application for income tax reduction in paperless form via Mein ELSTER.

Children under the age of 18 who are resident or ordinarily resident abroad must also always apply to the tax office for the child allowance to be taken into account.

You can also submit the necessary application for income tax reduction in paperless form via Mein ELSTER.

Suppression / reactivation of a child allowance

By retrieving the ELStAM, your employer also receives information about the number of your child allowances. However, this can be suppressed if you wish. You can obtain more information on this from your tax office.

Lump sums for the disabled

Entries and changes to lump sums such as

• Entry of a lump sum for the disabled
• Transfer of a disability lump sum for the spouse/partner
• Transfer of a lump sum for the disabled to the parents
• Allocation of disability lump sums to different employment relationships

are always carried out by the tax office.

• BMF application letter dated November 8, 2018 (BStBl I 2018,1137)
• BMF application letter dated November 7, 2019 (BStBl I 2019,1087)