Project launch in Hessia: Tax Department facilitates tax filing - Government-led Initiative in Hessen: Tax Returns Filed by Local Tax Office
Automated Tax Returns Simplify Compliance in Kassel
In a significant move towards modernizing and digitizing tax administration, the tax office in Kassel, Hesse, has initiated a pilot project to automatically prepare income tax returns for selected taxpayers. The project, which began in 2025, is aimed at simplifying the process for citizens and reducing the administrative workload for tax officials.
Initially, around 6,000 taxpayers in Kassel who missed the deadline for submitting their 2024 income tax returns have been targeted for this pilot project [2][3]. The tax office uses already available information from legally mandated reports such as wages, pensions, and insurance to prepare the tax return proposal [1].
Citizens do not need to actively file a tax return unless they want to amend the proposal; they simply approve it. If the proposal is approved or no objection is raised within four weeks, the tax office automatically issues the income tax assessment [1][2].
The project aims to ease the burden on taxpayers and let tax officials focus on more complex cases. Hessian Finance Minister Alexander Lorz and the Deutsche Steuer-Gewerkschaft support this initiative as a step towards modernizing and digitizing tax administration [1].
The tax office in Kassel, which processes the most tax cases in the state in the area of employee income, will also have to manage with around one third fewer staff due to the shortage of skilled workers by 2030 [4]. To handle this, the tax office will review the expenses and send the income tax notice after receiving the Elster tax form.
If the proposal from the tax office does not include all the income for the year 2024, citizens are still required to file a tax return [5]. Citizens can declare additional expenses within four weeks via the Elster tax form, and the tax office will review and adjust the tax return based on any additional expenses declared [6].
The German Tax Union, which represents the personnel in the tax offices, is in favor of simplification and has demanded the abolition of the tax return for employees [7]. The pilot project for automatic tax returns will be offered throughout Hesse for those whose tax data is complete [8].
After the completion of the pilot project, reliable and sound evaluations will be made [9]. If successful, this project could potentially simplify tax compliance for many citizens across Hesse, while making the tax office more efficient.
Read also:
- Citizen Thekla Walker, Minister, urges: "Let's face our responsibilities at home"
- Editorial Correspondence: Justifying the Elimination of a Program Earmarked for Reducing Our Own Carbon Footprint?
- Parliamentary proceedings in Germany's Bundestag this week
- Potential resistance encountered for Trump's nominee at the Federal Reserve
