The most important facts in brief

• Elster is the free financial administration program
• upon www.elster.de You can download the form and install it on your computer. Your tax return is then processed offline and then encrypted and securely transmitted to the tax office.
• You no longer have to submit a so-called compressed tax return. It is usually enough for you to sign up once free of charge for the registration process called Elster-Basis.
• Services such as retrieving receipts are just as much a part of this as filing the complete tax return electronically. These are the so-called pre-filled tax returns. All data that is sent to the tax office can be added to your tax return at the click of a mouse.
• There is none Tips When it comes to taxes, you can use the Elster form free of charge. If you are really a complete beginner, then we recommend that you buy tax software, because only here will you get lots of tips, import options and personal support from the CrewSteuer team.
• Elster Online are the paper forms online, so to speak. Many colleagues will remember how terrible they were.

Who is a flying crew member should ask themselves the following question?

• You should ask yourself whether you are well versed in taxes and tax returns. Because this is the only way you have a chance to get along with the paper forms or magpie online. We have already talked to many colleagues and all have failed due to complexity and lack of manageability.
• Next, you should be honest with yourself. Do you have an overview of which spending has a tax-saving effect on your tax return? This is something that “normal workers” lack quite seriously; for us airmen, this is even more complicated. All of the advertising costs for flying personnel is complex.
• If all of this is not the case, you should definitely buy tax software. CrewLife has negotiated special conditions for you as a pilot and flight attendant with the series winner. You can find out more about the discounts here.

The magpie form

As you described above, if you are a beginner, you should use the Elster form not use. But if you still want to use it, proceed as follows. You can download the tax administration software on the Elster website. Alternatively, you can also go to your tax office. There you can get the free CD with the software. In the Elster software, you can then enter your data offline and then submit all forms electronically to the tax office. You could say that you're actually filling out the paper forms here, just on the PC. But there is no Tax savings tips, checks (whether the data makes sense, etc.). You only get this support with paid tax programs. For us aviators, the only perfect support is the tax software from Buhl. With the tax: web and the tax:savings account You don't get many helpers and automatisms.

After the entire Elster homepage was rebuilt and “improved” in 2017, it is more user-friendly, but it is still a long way from the quality of the well-known tax programs. MeinElster is virtually your online tax office. With the MeinElster offer, the forms are immediately filled out online and then sent. So without downloading the software beforehand. Registration and a user account on the website are required here

Beginners should use the paid programs

Yes, we've all already had to pay tuition fees. However, you should refrain from doing so on your tax return as a flight attendant and on your tax return as a pilot. It is not necessary to pay tuition fees when filing a tax return as a flying crew. The 25 euros for the test winners tax software tax:savings account and the browser version tax: web are more than manageable. Experience shows that colleagues who work with tax software get back several hundred euros more than colleagues who file their tax return with Elster. Many people literally give away money because they lose track of things when filling out the Elster form or simply don't know it. With the paid tax programs, you will be supported with extensive information.

Most data can be automatically included in your tax return, such as your account details, income tax certificate, roster evaluation, advertising costs such as kilometers, travel expenses, expenses, tips, cleaning costs and much more. You will also be supported with tax law, tax saving tips, sample letters and comprehensive books, which are largely tailored to flying personnel (this only applies to premium products from Buhl, which tax:savings account and tax: web). The Steuer:Passbuch and Steuer:web support flyers, airliners, pilots and flight attendants with many other functions that are tailored to us cabin crews and the cockpit.

The tax is created in the background, so to speak. You can answer a few questions about your individual situation and the system automatically calculates the tax from this BEFORE you submit it to the tax office. Like a digital tax advisor.
That's why you have to have the latest software here every year. For example, for the year 2017, the software has the year 2018 in its name. Here you should note that if you still buy this year's latest software at the end of 2017, this does not yet include any tax changes for 2018.

However, this problem is easy to solve. The first thing you need to do is register. Before processing the tax return, you just have to install an update (which is free of charge) and hey, you can also get started with the previous year's CD!

So have fun saving taxes!