When I google "tax return online", I am shown quite a few tools with which I could prepare my electronic tax return. Where are the differences? We tested six providers.
With its simple and familiar interface, the wundertax tool invites you to get started with your (first) tax return. After a super simple registration and the entry of my basic data, it's straight down to the nitty-gritty: the reimbursement of my study costs.
I am guided step by step through the different areas and receive tips on how I can still save tax with my past expenses from my student days. The prerequisite for this is, of course, that I still have the relevant documents. fileee is a wonderful tool for this.
Only after I have entered all the information about my studies and can already see how much money I would save, do I enter income and other costs. Here, wundertax moves a little away from the previous user guidance, as I have to add each item individually and am no longer guided through the information step by step. When I'm done with everything, I'm asked to pay before I can send the tax return. The whole fun costs 34.90€, which is quite a lot compared to the other tools tested, especially for an application explicitly aimed at students.
If you are still studying or have just finished studying and have no other major income or expenses, studentensteuererklärung.de is the ideal tool for you. Otherwise, it will tend to annoy you because you will be asked to provide information that is not really relevant to you. We explain here whether a student tax return is worthwhile for you and what you should consider.
The first visual impression of Lohnsteuer kompakt cannot compete with wundertax. It all looks more like a classic tax return: Paperwork and forms. In addition to the visual appearance, however, the large amount of information that the programme offers is also immediately noticeable in a positive way. After I have imported my basic data from my old tax return programme, a three-part screen appears on which I can see my progress on the left, enter my data in the middle and always get the relevant information on the right.
This makes the programme a little bulkier, but it is also very suitable as a supplement to fileee, as I am given many hints as to which keywords I can search for in fileee. This saves me a lot of work in preparation and makes tags almost superfluous. You can find out how to decide whether you should set tags here.
As with wundertax, I only pay here after I have finished my tax return. With €19.99 as the basic price, I get off quite cheaply.
If visuals are not so important to you and you can find your way around the tax return without permanent user guidance, Lohnsteuer-Kompakt is convincing with many useful tips and the always appropriate hints that help me to find my documents again quickly.
Smartsteuer has been around much longer than the competition. Since 2012, smartsteuer has enabled users to prepare their tax returns completely online. The experience of lexware has resulted in a product filled with knowledge, which, however, is not quite as simple as Lohnsteuer kompakt.
On the other hand, smartsteuer scores with a very attractive user interface and clear menu navigation. Before each section, it briefly explains to me what comes next. If I have assigned my tags in fileee accordingly over the course of the year, I can now quickly click through the menu items.
With smartsteuer, I am elegantly guided through all the shoals of my tax return. The price per tax return is €24.95 and is only due upon submission. In terms of price, smartsteuer is in the middle of the tested tools.
If a clear interface and good guidance through the programme are important to you, then Smartsteuer is the right choice for you. It does not provide as much detailed information as Lohnsteuer kompakt, but this also makes it easier for those who are not yet tax experts to get an overview.
There is a well-known name behind the tax: web tool. According to its own statement, the Buhl Group has been the leading provider of tax and financial software with its "WISO Software" series since 1986.
The first visual impression is strongly reminiscent of Lohnsteuer kompakt, but it is a little tidier and more modern. The information I am offered on the right-hand side in particular is more reduced and targeted. At the start, however, I am immediately confronted with three possible options, which initially confuse me as a tax return layman. However, I can also just start without deciding directly.
Otherwise, steuer: Web seems quite solid and is comparable to Lohnsteuer kompakt. When paying, I can either take out a subscription for 29.95€, which also includes a webinar and a magazine, or pay 34.95€ once. In both cases, I can submit up to 5 tax returns for the current tax year. In addition to the web interface, the WISO software is also available as an app for Android and iOS.
As with Lohnsteuer kompakt, the user guidance is not quite as sophisticated. However, if you want to submit several tax returns directly and take advantage of the subscription benefits, tax: web is the right choice.
Steuerbot is still a relatively new tool and guides you through the tax return in chat mode.
The service is completely free, which initially raises the question of financing. According to its own statement on the website, Steuerbot wants to offer paid features in the future in order to finance itself. But even without these paid features, the tax return can already be submitted to the tax office without restrictions using the official ELSTER interface.
The entire process is done in messenger style, on the left is my account information, in the middle is a chat window and on the right I am shown the individual sections of the tax return, through which the chatbot guides me. The whole thing looks new and fresh and corresponds to the target group - trainees, students and young professionals. So for the first time, tax returns don't look like a lot of work and paperwork, but like a relaxed chat with friends.
The first steps are easy and Steuerbot guides me through the tax return from point to point with questions and explains succinctly what the individual entries mean. This is great for newcomers, but I would have liked to have been able to get through the individual points more quickly in one or two queries. For example, you can only jump back and forth between the sections after you have reached the corresponding section.
Newcomers to tax returns and all those who would like to try something new should take a look at the Steuerbot. Those who already have more experience with tax returns will probably be bothered by the user guidance, which guides them step by step from point to point.
Elster Online is the official, free programme for preparing tax returns provided by the German tax administrations of the federal states and the federal government. The Elster system is also used in the background by all other services for transmission to the tax office. The Elster system has been the mandatory standard since 2005.
The first big difference is the registration. Here I have to go through several steps, including waiting for a letter with a password. So it can take a little longer before I can actually use it. So maybe it's not the right choice for people on short notice.
When I start the programme, I quickly long for my tax helpers who explained everything so wonderfully. Elster may make everything highly official and correct, but it is also very complicated and unwieldy.
What is really practical, however, is that I can have my health insurance and income tax data filled in automatically. This saves me a lot of form work.
If you have already filled in your tax return by hand in recent years and this has not caused you any stress for a long time, then Elster is your programme. In addition to the automatic entry of data, the price is the winning argument, because the whole thing is free of charge. With fileee, it will also be easier than ever for you to compile the necessary data, especially since you no longer have to automatically submit receipts from the 2017 tax year onwards.
If all the work with the tax return is too much for you despite these tools, you can also sit down with a tax consultant. We discussed with a tax advisor how you can optimise the cooperation with the help of fileee.
If you have more questions about the electronic tax return and how you can best use your fileee account for this, then take a look at our tax return page.
