this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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As a German who has been living and working overseas (mainly Australia) for over 5 years, coming back to Germany to visit is such a huge culture shock now. It's so much less developed compared to 20 or 30 years ago (or at the very least it stagnated), everything is slow and the economy depressing.
Even things that are meant to be easily done online like tax returns are a huge pain. You need to verify yourself by scanning your ID or getting a physical letter with a code sent to you. It's ridiculous. In Australia you simply log in into your myGov account and handle everything from visa applications, tax returns, health records, welfare payments, child support etc all on one website. It's super quick and easy.
And unlike Germany, government lingo is easy to understand and accessible. I feel like Germany is purposely trying to keep things as complex as possible to the point where many people have to hire an accountant for tax purposes
This sounds like a security and privacy nightmare. As much as german bureaucracy is over the top in many situations but having to wait one time for a verification-letter for your ELSTER-account is not among the problems.
myGov has mandatory 2FA for all accounts. I'd be more worried about the hundreds of decades old systems that handle this data every day than a modern, convenient front-end for viewing and filing stuff