Short instructions on ELSTER basic registration

Short instructions on ELSTER basic registration
Open www.elster.de.
Click on the left in
the navigation
column under the
Produkte heading
on
ELSTEROnline
Click on weiter
zum
ELSTEROnlinePortal (continue
to ELSTEROnline
portal) in the
centre of the page;
a new window
opens.
Change from the
Startseite (start
page) to the
registration page
by clicking on
Registrierung
(Registration)
under
Öffentlicher
Bereich (Public
area).
Click on Infos und Registrierung (Infos and registration) under the heading
ELSTERBasis; the screen then expands downward and the following view appears:
Please click on zur
Registrierung (to
registration).
Now click on:
Schritt 1 :
Angaben zur
Person und
gegebenenfalls
Organisation
(Step 1:
Information on
person and if
necessary on
organisation).
Now please select
your certificate
type.
The persönliches Zertifikat (personal certificate) is sufficient for income tax purposes.
Registration with the nicht-persönliches Zertifikat (Non-personal certificate; company tax
number) is recommended for value-added tax/wage tax purposes. Please have your
company tax number ready for registration!
The further registration process is identical for both types of certificates.
Help for entering the data that follows now is provided at
https://www.elsteronline.de/hilfe/eop/public/registrierung/help_registrierung.html (only in
german).
Please fill in the personal data and
the security query.
After clicking Weiter (Continue), a
new window appears (not shown
here; so-called security test).
Please enter the letters and/or
numbers that appear there and click
on Weiter (Continue) again….
….to send the registration data
to the fiscal authorities with
Absenden (Send).
A sending confirmation then appears on your screen (not shown here) with the heading
"Your e-mail confirmation is underway".
A few seconds later you will find an e-mail in the e-mail mailbox you have specified (a socalled confirmation e-mail; shown here as an excerpt). In it the fiscal authorities ask you to
confirm the receipt
of the e-mail by
clicking on the link
that then follows.
Please click on this
link.
After clicking,
you will receive
an e-mail (a socalled
activation mail,
shown here as
an excerpt).
Please do not
delete this email. It contains
the initial
information on
your further
registration
steps.
Please wait now
until you receive
the activation
code and the
remaining
information for
registration (for
security reasons by letter). This can take up to 14 days. Please refrain from enquiring with
your tax authorities prior to the expiration of the 14 days.
The letter (not shown here) with the heading "Aktivierung Ihres Benutzerkontos im
ELSTER-Online-Portal (Activation of your user account at the ELSTER Online Portal)"
contains your Aktivierungs-Code (activation code) in the centre of the text. This is a 12place combination of numbers and letters, followed by your chosen short name as a
supplement in brackets.
Now – after
receiving the letter
– open the socalled activation
e-mail (see the
picture at the
bottom of the
previous page, not
at the top!) and
click on the link
shown there.
You then
automatically
return to this page
(see at left).
Now click on
Schritt 2:
Aktivierung und
erstmaliges
Login (Step 2:
Activation and
initial login).
Please enter the
"activation ID"
here (from the
activation e-mail,
see picture at
bottom of previous
page)
and
then enter the
"activation code"
(12-place
combination of
numbers and
letters from the
letter received
with the post)
here and click on
Weiter
(Continue).
After you have then given yourself a password (please note it, the corresponding entry
screen is not shown here), you can log in for the first time.
Congratulations on your registration
at the ELSTER Online Portal!
The so-called certificate, a file, was generated during the activation process.
It contains your entered data – securely encrypted – and is your "electronic signature". The
file name consists of:
"<First nameFamily name>_<Account short name>_elster_2048.pfx".
The file is generally saved under C:\Documents and Settings\<Your name> (with Macintosh
in the User directory). You can also choose a different storage location.
When you want to log in at https://www.elsteronline.de/eportal in future (ideally, you save the
address as a favourite), you click on Software-Zertifikat and then
on Login.
This login screen appears. After clicking on Durchsuchen (Browse)
a window
opens and
you must
find the
above file
with the
ending .pfx
on your
computer.
Please click
on it 1x so that it is marked or
appears in the "File name" field and
then click on Öffnen (Open). The
window closes again.
Then enter the password you have
assigned yourself in the login screen
under "PIN" (see previous page at
very bottom) and click the Login
button.
Important note:
Tax requirements are generally met at larger time intervals (monthly, quarterly or annually).
It is therefore advisable to additionally save the <First nameLast name>_<Account short
name>_elster_2048.pfx file on an external data carrier (e.g. a USB stick) and to keep it in a
safe place only accessible to you, which you can then find again easily when processing your
tax matters. This enables you to ensure, independently of the system used, that you can
always quickly and easily access this file in future – including when you change computers or
if you use several computers at the same time – when transmitting data to the fiscal
authorities. It is not possible to restore the .pfx file if lost. Complete re-registration is
unavoidable in this case.
The same applies to your PIN. With the ELSTER basic registration type, although your user
account will not be blocked after entering the PIN three times incorrectly, a complete reregistration is also unavoidable should the PIN be irretrievably lost.