Tax account query via legitimation database (old procedure)
General information
The legitimation database is an old procedure that is currently being replaced. In future, you will need a power of attorney to query the account balance at the tax office.You can already apply for and manage authorizations for tax account queries via Mein ELSTER.
Special regulations in some federal states (for the old procedure)
Special regulations apply for the federal states listed in the table below. Further information can be found via the link to the procedure.Federal state | Procedure of the country | Special authorization form for Elster account query | Revocation of authorization form for Elster account query |
|---|---|---|---|
Baden-Württemberg | No form available | ||
Berlin | No form available | ||
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania | |||
Saxony |
Regulations for all other federal states (for the old procedure)
The following regulations apply to all other federal states.You will need an ELSTER-supported signature card to be activated for the tax account query via the legitimation database.
A list of the signature cards supported by ELSTER can be found on the page System requirements.
Activation of the tax account is possible for the following 3 target groups.
For a client by members of the tax advisory professions
To request the activation of a client's tax account query, please only use the Official sample power of attorney and send it to the competent authority in the respective federal state.
You also submit an electronic application for activation of the tax account query from the application you are using.
As soon as the electronic application has been received and the authorization has been issued by the competent authority of the respective federal state, the activation of the tax account query will be initiated promptly.
If your electronic application software allows it, you can enter an e-mail address there. You can use this e-mail address to receive automatic notification that your tax account has been activated for inspection if the relevant federal state provides for e-mail notification.
For your own tax account
If you submit an electronic application to activate your own tax account, you will immediately receive a letter from the tax administration by post for security reasons. Please sign the second sheet of this letter and return it to the office of the respective federal state already preset in the address field. Once your letter of consent has been received, you will be activated promptly by the relevant office of the federal state and automatically informed of the activation by e-mail if the Software you are using supports this.
For the tax account of a third party by proxy
If you, as an authorized third party (e.g. a company representative), submit an electronic application to activate the tax account of a third party, the owner of the tax account (e.g. the company) will immediately receive a letter by post from the tax administration for security reasons. The owner of the tax account signs the second sheet of this letter and sends it back to the office of the respective federal state already preset in the address field. Once your letter of consent has been received, you will be activated promptly by the relevant office of the federal state and automatically informed of the activation by e-mail if the Software you are using supports this.
The form can be accessed via the following link: Official sample power of attorney
A separate power of attorney must be issued and notified for each taxpayer. In particular, the relevant tax numbers and the holder of the signature card used must be noted on the supplementary sheet to the power of attorney. This also applies to jointly assessed spouses and partners.
The data retrieval authorization for tax account queries can always be granted if there is an unlimited power of attorney - in relation to the tax number for which it is to apply. Material and / or temporal restrictions of the authorization are technically not feasible with regard to the tax account query, so that in the case of such restrictions of the power of attorney, the authorized representative cannot be enabled to retrieve data for the tax account query in order to maintain tax secrecy.
A power of attorney is granted without restriction in terms of subject matter and time in relation to the respective tax number for which it is to apply if it is neither limited to an assessment period (line 23 / 24) nor to a tax type contained in the tax account (line 15) and the power of attorney for the assessment and collection procedure is not excluded (line 15). An exclusion of the power of attorney in line 15 of the official power of attorney template for representation in fiscal court proceedings and in criminal and fine proceedings in tax matters is irrelevant for the scope of the data retrieval authorization of the authorized representative(s) with regard to the data stored with the tax administration (see also footnote 12 of the official power of attorney template).
If your client has granted you a power of attorney that is limited in terms of subject matter and/or time (in relation to the respective tax number), but still wants to enable you to use the tax account query regardless of the subject matter or time restrictions to be observed, he has the option of granting an unrestricted data retrieval authorization in line 38 of the official power of attorney template.
The right to inspect the tax account only expires if the revocation of the competent authority of the respective federal state is notified. The authorization can be revoked informally by the client or the tax advisor. If your application offers the function for deleting authorizations, please use this.