Error during data import is not a correctable typing error

A click when importing the data into the tax software is not comparable to a typing error when completing the tax return and therefore does not allow the final tax assessment to be changed at a later date.

For some years now, tax law has provided for the possibility of amending final tax assessments if the taxpayer has made clerical or calculation errors when preparing the tax return, which have led to incorrect information in the return. The Federal Fiscal Court has now ruled that a manual error when importing data into the software used to submit the tax return is not such a clerical error that would allow the already final tax assessment to be amended.

In the case in dispute, the plaintiffs had submitted a tax return again in authenticated form via ELSTER, but inadvertently did not click on the current data when importing, but on the data from the previous year, in which higher rental income was stated. The tax office then set the tax higher, but the plaintiffs only noticed the error when the new assessment was already final. According to the Federal Fiscal Court, this "click" when importing the data should not be treated as a clerical error. Other amendment provisions are also out of the question for this type of error, meaning that the plaintiff spouses will have to pay the higher taxes for better or worse.