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Electronic tax returns are becoming increasingly popular. Last year, a particularly large number of people opted for the digital route to the tax office instead of bringing the documents to the mailbox: 28.2 million people submitted their income tax returns for the 2019 tax year online. That is an increase of 19 percent compared to the previous year, when there were 23.8 million online tax returns. This was reported by the digital association Bitkom based on data from the tax administration, which operates the online service Elster. "The electronic tax return Elster is the prime example of how digital administration works in Germany: a central approach by the federal government and everyone participates," says Bitkom nurse database President Achim Berg. One advantage: effort and input errors are reduced. In addition, electronic tax returns are processed preferentially, so that taxpayers get their refunds more quickly. The number of tax returns for the Corona tax year 2020 will increase again compared to the previous year. One reason for this is the sharp increase in the number of people who received short-time work benefits. They are obliged to file a tax return.

Tax relief for the Corona year 2020
In addition to more mandatory tax returns, there are various innovations that were introduced as part of the Corona pandemic and create incentives to file a tax return on a voluntary basis. Citizens can benefit from various tax reliefs. For example, the so-called home office flat rate is interesting, which allows taxpayers to deduct a flat rate of 5 euros per day (max. 600 euros per year), even if the work was carried out at the kitchen table, for example, without a separate home office. Long-distance commuters can also deduct the BahnCard 100 in full if it can be credibly proven that it was not or hardly used for professional purposes due to Corona . The Federal Ministry of Finance has summarized all information about the changes in an FAQ list.