(2022) Employee bonus: Electronic notification only, instead of Form VL

In order to apply for the employee savings bonus for capital formation schemes as part of your tax return, the investment institution, such as the building society, issues an annual certificate to the investor. This certificate (Form VL) used to be attached to the tax return. However, the main tax return form 2022 now includes the following new query in line 42 to apply for the employee savings bonus: "The employee savings bonus is requested for all electronically submitted capital formation certificates from the provider." What does this mean?

• As early as 26 June 2013, the "Amtshilferichtlinie-Umsetzungsgesetz" stipulated that the employee savings bonus should no longer be applied for using the "Form VL" in paper form, but that an electronic capital formation certificate should be introduced (§ 13 para. 1 of the 5th VermBG). The Federal Ministry of Finance was to announce separately when the new regulation would first apply (§ 17 para. 14 of the 5th VermBG).
• In December 2016, the Federal Ministry of Finance announced that the electronic capital formation certificate procedure was to be used for the first time for capital formation schemes invested from 1 January 2017. Therefore, the data had to be transmitted electronically to the tax authorities by 28 February 2018. At the same time, it was pointed out that the "Form VL" in paper form would no longer be issued in the future (BMF letter of 16 December 2016, BStBl. 2016 I p. 1435).