CHECK24 Steuer

What CHECK24 Steuer does

CHECK24 Steuer prepares and sends income-tax returns to the Finanzamt. It asks questions, gives personalized tax tips, estimates a possible refund and sends the return through the official ELSTER interface.

The provider describes it for employees, students, apprentices, pensioners, investors, landlords and self-employed people. It also lists support for investment income and rental income.

Fees and plans

The listed Free plan costs nothing. It covers online return preparation and digital submission to the Finanzamt through ELSTER.

CHECK24 Steuer also lists a free plan under that name and says there are no hidden costs. There is no free trial because the service is already free. No separate transfer, filing or transaction fee is published in the facts.

Where it runs

The service runs on the web and is listed for Android and iOS. The CHECK24 app is available for iPhone and iPad, and its listing includes free tax returns with CHECK24 Steuer.

The facts do not describe a separate Windows or Mac program.

Protection, as published by the provider

CHECK24 Steuer says tax data is encrypted with AES-256, handled under GDPR rules and stored in its own data centers in Germany. It says the data is used only for the tax return, not for advertising or other CHECK24 products.

The service is offered by Verbraucherportal Deutschland GmbH, whose registered office is listed in Dortmund. The facts do not state a licence, regulator, deposit protection, two-factor sign-in or dispute process.

Strengths

Guided questions and tax tips are designed for users without tax knowledge. An AI tax adviser is available in chat, alongside personalized AI tips and an AI risk check for unusual entries and likely tax-office questions.

Users can photograph documents and receipts for automatic recognition and sorting. The service can retrieve tax data from the Finanzamt, import earlier returns or data from another tax program, and show live processing status after ELSTER submission.

CHECK24 Steuer says it runs more than 7,000 plausibility and tax-advantage checks and automatically checks the tax assessment notice.

Catches and limits

For tax year 2025, the program-scope page lists unsupported cases. These include VAT-liable income, some foreign-income situations and inheritance-tax relief.

The facts do not specify which foreign-income situations are excluded, nor do they publish filing limits, supported countries or currencies. Those details may matter for a return with cross-border or business circumstances.

Who may want another option

CHECK24 Steuer's stated 2025 scope excludes VAT-liable income, some foreign-income situations and inheritance-tax relief.

A return involving one of those circumstances may therefore fall outside the program's stated coverage.

Verdict

CHECK24 Steuer suits German taxpayers who want a no-cost web or mobile route from guided questions to electronic ELSTER submission. Its document capture, Finanzamt data retrieval, prior-year import, refund estimate and assessment check cover much of the preparation process.

The fit is weaker for returns involving VAT-liable income, certain foreign-income cases or inheritance-tax relief, because the provider lists those as unsupported for 2025. The published facts also leave some filing boundaries unspecified, so unusual situations need closer scope checking.

Questions