The „Pre-filled tax return“ (VAST) function is a service provided by the tax office. By using the document retrieval function in SteuerGo, you can access personal data which the tax office has stored about you and import it directly into your tax return. This data may, for example, be information sent by employers, insurance companies or other third parties to the tax authorities.
This function makes it even easier to complete your next tax return and save the time usually spent manually inputting or updating personal data. A simple read through to check for correctness is enough. It also enables you to see how much the tax office knows about you. Dedicate your valuable time to the topics which really save you taxes (expenses for work done by tradesmen, income-related and special expenses, etc.).
“The electronic document retrieval has the advantage that you no longer need to enter data in your tax return that is already available to the tax office: a simple check suffices.” Felix Bodeewes, Managing Director of SteuerGo, explains.
After logging in to SteuerGo, click on „My account“ in the upper right corner and select „Retrieve documents“ from the drop down list. Enter your first name, last name, date of birth and tax reference number in the fields provided and click on „Setting Authorization and Request Activation“. You can find your tax reference number on your last tax assessment notice (Steuerbescheid) or on your employment tax statement (Lohnsteuerbescheinigung).
It only takes about a week for the tax office to send a letter with your activation code (Freischaltcode) which you need to enter at „My account > Retrieve documents“.
After you have activated the pre-filled tax return with the code, you can import the data from the tax office into your tax return in SteuerGo. As soon as additional data or an updated version of existing documents is available, you will receive an automatic email message from SteuerGo.
The pre-filled tax return is now available to all our customers (also in the free trial version of SteuerGo).
The following personal data stored by the tax authorities is available for import via the document retrieval function („Pre-filled tax return“):
- Master data about the tax account holder, e. g. name, address, date of birth, tax reference number and bank details
- Information about the religion you belong to
- Employment tax statements submitted by your employer
- Notification about any pension benefits received from statutory pension insurance, private pension insurance or other old-age provisions
- Certificates for insurance contributions, in particular for paid and reimbursed health and nursing care insurance contributions
- Pension contributions
- Contributions to basic pension (Rürup pension)
- Contributions to Riester pension
- Certificates for income replacement benefits such as unemployment, parental or sickness benefits
The amount of data will be gradually expanded over the next few years. From 2017 onwards there are plans to collect more data (‚receipts‘) and make this available to the taxpayer for retrieval. This includes:
- Employees‘ savings schemes (Vermögenswirksame Leistungen)
Sections of form V (Income from renting and leasing) - Donation receipts
- Degree of disability
SteuerGo provides electronic document retrieval for tax returns from 2014 onwards.