After a user rush because of the property tax return, the tax portal “Elster” collapsed on Sunday evening. The background is that owners have had to submit their property tax returns since July 1st and the system has therefore been overloaded since Thursday.
Tax portal “Elster” has been overloaded for days due to property tax returns
“Due to the enormous interest in the forms for the property tax reform, there are currently restrictions on availability,” says the Bavarian State Office for Taxes, which operates “Elster” on Twitter. “We are already working hard to be able to provide you with the quality you are used to as quickly as possible.”
This caused angry comments on social networks: “The fact that #Elster is overburdened when all of Germany has to re-declare property tax shows that politics in our country has still not understood anything about digitization,” wrote one user.
Deadline for property tax returns from July 1st to October 31st
Part of the innovation is that the Federal Ministry of Finance has already set up its own portal in advance, which should simplify the property tax return for private property compared to “Elster” and make it possible in just a few minutes. Owners have until October 31 to submit the declaration electronically to the responsible tax office. In individual cases, the paper form would also work.
Gathering the information for the property tax return requires some effort. The exact data to be provided depends on the location of the property. This includes, for example, land and building area, but under certain circumstances also standard land values, rental prices or location. The federal states use different models. It is particularly complicated for owners who own real estate in different parts of the country.
