Press Releases

On November 6 and 7, employees from administration and industry gathered at the German Institute for Standardization, initiated by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, to launch a workshop aimed at defining binding and uniform quality standards for digital administrative services.

The Digital Legal Application Office, which was largely developed by the Federal Ministry of Justice, has been awarded this year's “Prize for Good Administration”. Every year since 2019, the “Prize for Good Administration” has been awarded to projects that contribute to more user-friendly administration.

Berlin, 28.08.2024 – An anniversary is coming up for one of the major intersections between innovation and administration: The Work4Germany Fellowship enters its fifth round today with the start of the introductory days for the 2024 cohort.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI) has launched the “Servicestandard 2.0” project in collaboration with DigitalService. The aim is to further develop and revise the content of the 2020 service standard in a user-centered manner by the end of 2024. The goal is to make the German Servicestandard compatible with the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) and to further strengthen its widespread use in the development and operation of digital administrative services.

Berlin, September 15, 2023 – Anja Theurer has been appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the Federal DigitalService with immediate effect. As Chief Financial Officer, she will work alongside CEO Christina Lang to assume responsibility for finance, legal affairs, compliance and shareholder management at the federally owned digitalization unit.

The German government today approved the key points on the digital check presented by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI), thus implementing important requirements of the coalition agreement and the Digitalstrategie.

Berlin, August 28, 2023 – New ministries, new timeline, new thematic focus: The Work4Germany fellowship program will start for the fourth time on Tuesday, August 29, 2023. 20 transformation experts from the private sector (“fellows”) will be sent to eleven federal ministries and federal agencies for six months to work with employees on projects in the context of administrative digitalization. The goal is to transform the federal administration from the inside out. The fellowship program is organized by DigitalService, the central digitalization unit of the federal government. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community.

Berlin, June 30, 2023 – Chief Operating Officer (COO) Philipp Möser will leave the Executive Board of DigitalService on June 30, 2023. With the founding of DigitalService as the central digitalization unit of the German federal government in October 2020, he had taken over responsibility for building up the product division along the lines of successful digital start-ups. Today, DigitalService employs more than 130 people, most of whom work on developing digital public services for citizens.

Berlin, February 20, 2023 – Since Monday, February 20, the application phase for “Work4Germany 2023” has opened. It is the fourth time that DigitalService, the central digitalization unit of the federal government, is organizing the fellowship program. Work4Germany brings transformation experts from the private sector together with employees of the federal administration for six months. Starting in September, successful applicants will bring their expertise directly to where it will have the most impact – on site in the federal ministries. The goal is to make modern and user-centered ways of working tangible and thus bring about change together. The application phase ends on March 20.

Berlin, January 10, 2023 – Since July 2022, DigitalService has been operating the free online service “Grundsteuererklärung für Privateigentum (Property Tax Declaration for Private Property)” on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Finance. It guides private owners of certain properties in federal states that apply the so-called “Bundesmodell” for property tax quickly and easily through the property tax declaration. The necessary identification can be done via an existing ELSTER certificate, activation code by letter or with the electronic ID card. The following tips can help to submit the property tax return electronically on time by January 31, 2023.

Berlin, December 6, 2022 – In the course of the reorganization of competencies in the area of digitalization within the Federal Government, the supervisory board of DigitalService as the central digitalization unit of the Federal Government becomes newly staffed. Chairperson will be Dr. Julia Borggraefe from the management consultancy Metaplan, a representative from the business community. Also new to the supervisory board are State Secretary Stefan Schnorr (FDP) for the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV), the chairperson of the Digital Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, Tabea Roessner (Buendnis 90/Die Gruenen), and Heike Zirden, responsible for fundamental issues of transformation and digital policy and social dialogue in the Federal Chancellery.

The goal of the collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal DigitalService as the central digitalization unit of the federal administration is the development of digital access to the courts and the further digitalization of the judiciary. Accordingly, the latter has now been commissioned to implement the first project phase in each case for the development and testing of a digital legal application center and a civil court online procedure. Both projects implement the agreement on digitalization from the coalition agreement.

Berlin, August 25, 2022 – Since the beginning of July, the free online service “Grundsteuererklärung für Privateigentum” (www.grundsteuererklärung-für-privateigentum.de) has been supporting citizens in submitting their property tax returns. The service is being continuously developed on the basis of user feedback and the scope of services is being expanded. As a result, property owners with ELSTER accounts can now also access the service developed by DigitalService, the central digitalization unit of the federal government, and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF). ELSTER is an online tax service provided by the German public administration.

Berlin, July 1, 2022 – All property owners must submit a declaration to determine the property tax value by October 31st, 2022 as part of the property tax reform. The DigitalService, the central digitalization unit of the federal government, has developed a user-centric, time-saving solution on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Finance that supports private owners with the submission. The free online service “Grundsteuererklärung für Privateigentum (Property Tax Declaration for Private Property)” will be available from July 04th. It can be used in the eleven states that apply the so-called “Bundesmodell” for property tax. An ELSTER account is not required.

Berlin, April 5, 2022 – Starting in May, federal ministries will once again collaborate with digital and transformation experts from business and civil society for several months as part of the Work4Germany and Tech4Germany fellowship programs. The common goal of the interdisciplinary teams: To demonstrate in 38 selected projects how iterative and user-centric methods can be used to create concrete added value. The fellowships are organized and carried out by the federally owned digitization unit DigitalService.

Berlin, March 16, 2022 – The establishment of DigitalService is progressing successfully. The federal government's digitalization unit, which was launched in October 2020, is gaining sought-after experts to work on the digital state. With Stephanie Kaiser, an experienced IT manager and member of the Federal Government's Digital Council (Chief Product Officer), Martin Jordan from the UK Government Digital Service (Head of Design) and Anna-Lisa Obermann (Head of People) from Blinkist, the DigitalService has also completed its management team.

Berlin, March 1, 2022 – The simplified, pre-filled online tax form for people in retirement is now available for the 2021 assessment year. The “Steuerlotse” was developed by the federally owned digitization unit DigitalService in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Finance. It is free to use and is aimed at retirees without additional income.

30 innovators from the private sector, 30 projects in the federal administration, 6 months, 1 common goal: to make the administration fit for the future with the help of new working methods and to advance digitalization. Interested parties can apply for the third round of the Work4Germany Fellowship until Jan. 16, 2022. The program itself runs from May to October 2022.

The Steuerlotse has been developed precisely to enable the target group to file their tax returns easily, quickly, digitally and online. This service is operated and continuously developed by the federally owned DigitalService4Germany GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).

The German federal government now has its own software development unit: “DigitalService4Germany”. This provides the federal authorities with an alternative in-house service provider developing user-friendly software, such as apps, in a user-oriented and agile manner.