One-time registration in Mein ELSTER

The prerequisite for retrieving income tax deduction details is registration in Mein ELSTER: to the registration.

In the "Personalization" step, we recommend selecting"For my organization". The certificate ensures clear identification of the employer (authentication).

The certificate makes it possible to trace which employer retrieved which wage tax deduction data at which time.

Many employers have their payroll accounting done by a representative of the tax advisory professions or a service provider and have the data transmitted directly by them. In these cases, employers do not need to register in Mein ELSTER.

Registration of the employee

How does the employer register the employee?

1. Employees are registered in the ELStAM procedure using the payroll accounting software used by the employer or via the "Employer functions for ELStAM" in Mein ELSTER.
2. The employer provides the following information when registering:
   • the date of birth of the employee
   • the employee's tax identification number
   • whether it is the main employment relationship (tax class 1 to 5) or a secondary employment relationship (tax class 6).

The employer receives this information from the employee.

In cases where the electronic employer call-off is blocked, the employer cannot register the employee. In these cases, contact should be made with the employee to determine the reason for the block. If the employee provides the employer with a certificate issued by the tax office for the payroll tax deduction, the employer must use this as the basis for the payroll tax deduction. The employee must inform the employer that the block has been lifted. The employee can then register using the ELStAM procedure.

Duration of the provision of ELStAM after registration by the employer

The ELStAM will be provided no later than 5 working days after registration. Saturday also counts as a working day. If, after this deadline, the ELStAM has not yet been provided or the procedural information has not yet been reported back, employers or their data transmitters have the option of contacting the ELStAM office via a Contact form to inquire about the processing status of the application.

Retrieval of the employee's ELStAM

Employers are provided with the ELStAM of their registered employees for retrieval. There are 4 different types of cases here:

1. Provision after new registration of employees for the start of the procedure for new business start-ups.
2. Provision after registration of an individual employee.
3. Provision of changed wage tax deduction characteristics of individual employees (e.g. following changes initiated by the employee, such as a change of tax class or application for allowances).
   The employer/data transmitter is obliged to retrieve the change list to carry out the corresponding payroll accounting. To support this, the tax authorities offer a notification service in Mein ELSTER that informs you by email when new or amended ELStAM are available.
4. Provision of the wage tax deduction details of all employees in the current procedure (e.g. in the event of data loss at the employer) in the form of an electronic gross list. This requires an application to the local tax office.
   
   

The employer is obliged to inform the employee of the ELStAM in the payslip (Section 39e (5) sentence 2 EStG). ZÜ information on the wage tax deduction features is also provided to the employee by the responsible tax office or can be viewedby the employee inMein ELSTER.

In cases where electronic employer retrieval is blocked, the employer receives a notification but no ELStAM for the employee in question. If the employee provides the employer with a certificate issued by the tax office for wage tax deduction, the employer must use this for wage tax deduction.

Duration of provision of the change lists at the end of the month

The change lists are generally made available for retrieval by the 5th working day of the following month. Saturday is also a working day. The current status of server availability is shown under News on the overview page on the availability of the ELSTER servers. In this case, please refrain from enquiring about the processing status. The tax authorities recommend retrieving the monthly lists even if no changes have been communicated by e-mail. This allows any technical faults to be identified at an early stage. In the event of faults, the Contact form a corresponding request can be made.

Technical problems

If it is not possible to access the ELStAM procedure or to register an employee due to technical faults, the expected wage tax deduction characteristics can be used as a basis for a transitional period of three months (Section 39c EStG).

Deregistration of the employee

After termination of the employment relationship, the employer is legally obliged to deregister the employee. Deregistration must also be carried out in the event of an existing employer call-off block if the employee has already been registered.

Hardship rule in the ELStAM procedure

For employers who are not in a position and for whom it is not reasonable to retrieve employees' wage tax deduction details electronically, a substitute procedure is offered (Section 39e (7) EStG). The application is made using an officially prescribed form. In the application, the employer must state their employer tax number, the identification number and the date of birth of the employee employed, as well as whether they are the main employer in each case.

If the application is approved, the permanent establishment tax office (Section 41 Abs. 2 EStG) registers the employee concerned in the database. The employer receives the wage tax deduction details for the current calendar year in paper form. The application for the hardship rule must be submitted anew for each calendar year.

The employer must also notify the permanent establishment tax office of the termination of an employment relationship.

Processing in the database for wage tax deduction features is the same as in the electronic procedure. Only the wage tax deduction features and any changes to them are made available to the employer in writing.

Frequently asked questions about ELStAM (FAQ)

The list of questions and answers (FAQ) is merely a guide. It is neither an administrative instruction nor a BMF letter. The information has no legal or binding effect. The decision in a specific individual case is always reserved to the responsible tax office.

Documents

The use of wage tax deduction data is subject to strict earmarking regulations. The transmission and storage of wage tax data in the database is carried out on the basis of Section 39e of the Income Tax Act and Section 139b of the Fiscal Code.

Only the current employer (main employer) is authorized to retrieve the wage tax deduction data. If the employee has more than one employer, all other employers (secondary employers) are also authorized to retrieve the data. This authorization lapses when the employment relationship ends.

Employees can apply to their competent tax office to name or exclude specific employers for the retrieval of their wage tax deduction details or block an employer retrieval altogether (positive list/partial blocking/full blocking).
If an employer is not provided with ELStAM due to a block by their employee, they are obliged to tax the wages according to tax class 6.

Employees can view which income tax deduction details are stored for transmission and which employers have retrieved them in the last two years at any time under Mein ELSTER. This requires registration in Mein ELSTER with the personal identification number: Go to registration
In addition, the tax office is the point of contact for information on the employee's stored income tax deduction details.

Data security and access protection

The data is only transmitted with valid ELSTER authentication and identification with the tax number of the permanent establishment for income tax purposes.

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 date of birth of the employee

The retention period for log data is generally 2 years.

Additional explanations of the terms listed here can be found in the