Section 5: Taxation
§ 22 Obligation to keep records
(1) The taxable person is obligated to keep records for the purposes of determining the tax and the basis of its calculation. This obligation shall also apply to the cases referred to in § 13a paragraph 1 numbers 1 and 5, § 13b paragraph 5 and § 14c paragraph 2 to persons who are not taxable persons, in the cases referred to in § 18k, also for any agent acting on behalf of the taxpayer and in the cases referred to in § 21a, to the person presenting the goods to customs. If a farming or forestry operation, according to § 24 paragraph 3, is to be treated as a separately managed business, the taxable person is obliged to keep a separate set of records for this business part. In the cases referred to in § 18 paragraph 4c and 4d, the necessary records must be retained ten year beginning after the end of the calendar year in which the transactions have been carried out and are to be made available electronically at the request of the Federal Central Tax Office; in the cases referred to in § 18 paragraph 4e, the necessary records must be retained ten years beginning after the end of the calendar year in which the transactions have been carried out and are to be made available electronically at the request of the tax authority responsible for the taxation procedure; in the cases referred to in §§ 18i, 18j, § 18k and § 21a, the necessary records must be retained ten year beginning after the end of the calendar year in which the transactions or busines processes have been carried out and are to be made available electronically at the request of the tax authority in Germany or in the other Community territory responsible for the special taxation procedure or the special regulation.
(2) The records must show the following:
the agreed consideration for the supply of goods and services carried out by the taxable person. In this respect it must be made clear how the consideration is attributed to transactions subject to VAT, broken down by tax rate, and to transactions exempt from VAT. This shall apply accordingly to the taxable amounts as defined in § 10 paragraph 4, if the supply of goods within the meaning of § 3 paragraph 1b, and the supply of services within the meaning of § 3 paragraph 9a, as well as within the meaning § 10 paragraph 5, are carried out. Furthermore, it must be clear from the records, which transactions the taxable person has treated as being subject to VAT in accordance with § 9. With regard to the tax calculation based on consideration received (§ 20), the consideration agreed is to be replaced by the consideration received. In the case referred to in § 17 paragraph 1 sentence 6, the taxable person who pays to the tax office the VAT attributable to the reduction in consideration must separately record the amount of the reduced consideration;
the consideration or partial consideration for the supply of goods and services not yet carried out. It must be clear how the consideration is attributed to transactions subject to VAT, broken down by tax rate, and to transactions exempt from VAT. Number 1 sentence 4 shall apply accordingly;
the taxable amount for the supply of goods within the meaning of § 3 paragraph 1b and of the supply of services within the meaning of § 3 paragraph 9a sentence 1 number 1. Number 1 sentence 2 shall apply accordingly;
the tax amounts owed due to an incorrect VAT statement within the meaning of § 14c paragraph 1 and due to an unauthorised VAT statement within the meaning of § 14c paragraph 2;
the consideration for goods and services subject to VAT supplied to the taxable person for the purposes of his business and the consideration and partial consideration paid before these transactions were carried out, in so far as VAT arises on these transactions under § 13 paragraph 1 number 1 lit. a sentence 4, as well as the VAT amounts attributable to the consideration and partial consideration;
the taxable amounts for the importation of goods (§ 11) imported for the business of the taxable person, as well as the import VAT due;
the taxable amounts for the intra-Community acquisition of goods and the VAT attributable to such;
in the cases referred to in § 13b paragraph 1 to 5, the information, in accordance with numbers 1 and 2, regarding the recipient. The supplier must record the information in accordance with numbers 1 and 2 separately;
the taxable amount for transactions within the meaning of § 4 number 4a sentence 1 lit. a sentence 2, as well as the VAT amounts attributable to such;
in the cases referred to in § 21a, the name and address of the dispatcher and the recipient of the shipments, the taxable amounts for the import VAT on the goods (§ 11), the information on this received by the dispatchers, the recipients of the shipments and third parties, as well as the shipments which have been delivered in the expired calendar month to the respective recipient of the shipment, the collected import VAT for each shipment, the shipments which could not yet be delivered and which are still in the power of disposition of the person presenting the goods to customs, as well as the shipments which are re-exported or destroyed under customs control or have been otherwise disposed of.
(3) The obligation to keep records, according to paragraph 2 numbers 5 and 6, shall cease to apply if the input VAT deduction is excluded (§ 15 paragraph 2 and 3). If the taxable person is only entitled to deduct a portion of the input VAT, the input VAT to be attributed entirely or in part to transactions eligible for the input VAT deduction must be clearly identified in the records and easily verifiable. In these cases, the taxable person must also record the taxable amounts for transactions excluded from the input VAT deduction in accordance with § 15 paragraph 2 and 3 separately from the taxable amounts of the other transactions, with the exception of imports and intra-Community acquisitions. The obligation to separately state the taxable amounts, in accordance with paragraph 2 number 1 sentence 2 number 2 sentence 2 and number 3 sentence 2, shall remain unaffected.
(4) In the cases referred to in § 15a, the taxable person must record the basis of the calculation for the adjustment with regard to the respective calendar years.
(4a) Goods, which the taxable person transfers from Germany into another Community territory for his own disposal must be recorded, if
work is carried out on the goods in the other Community territory;
a temporary use is given, where the goods are used to carry out a supply of services in the other Community territory and the taxable person does not have a fixed establishment in the Member State concerned, or
a temporary use in the other Community territory is given and, in corresponding cases, the importation of the goods from the third country territory would have been fully VAT exempt.
(4b) Goods, which the taxable person receives from a taxable person resident in another Community territory and who has a VAT identification number for the purposes of performing a supply of service, within the meaning of § 3a paragraph 3 number 3 lit. c, must be recorded.
(4c) A warehouse keeper, who operates a VAT warehouse within the meaning of § 4 number 4a, must keep inventory records for the stored goods and of the services performed within the meaning of § 4 number 4a sentence 1 lit. b sentence 1. On the removal of goods from the VAT warehouse, the warehouse keeper must record the name, address and German VAT identification number of the consignor or his fiscal representative.
(4d) In the case of the assignment of a claim on the consideration for a taxable transaction to another taxable person (§ 13c)
the supplying taxable person must record the name and address of the assignee, as well as the amount of the assigned claim on the consideration;
the assignee must record the name and address of the supplying taxable person, the amount of the assigned claim on the consideration, as well as the amount received on the assigned claim. If the assignee assigns the claim or a portion thereof to a third party, he must also record the name and address of the said third party.
Sentence 1 shall apply accordingly to the pledging or garnishment of claims. In the case of a pledge, the pledgee shall replace the assignee and, in the case of a garnishment, the judgement creditor.
(4e) In the cases referred to in § 13c, the person who makes the payments, in accordance with § 48 of the Fiscal Code, must keep records of the payments made. The name, address and the tax number of the person liable for the VAT are also to be recorded.
(4f) A taxable person who transports or dispatches goods from the territory of a Member State to the territory of another Member State according to § 6b, is required to keep separate records with regard to this transport and dispatch. These records must contain the following information:
the complete name and full address of the customer within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 1 number 1 or within the meaning § 6b paragraph 5;
the Member State of dispatch;
the Member State of arrival;
the day on which the transport or dispatch begins in the Member State of dispatch;
the VAT identification number used by the customer within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 1 number 1 or within the meaning § 6b paragraph 5;
the complete name and full address of the warehouse keeper, into whose warehouse the goods are transported or dispatched in the Member State of arrival;
the day on which the transport or dispatch ended in the Member State of arrival;
the VAT identification number of a third party acting as warehouse keeper;
the taxable amount, according to § 10 paragraph 4 sentence 1 number 1, the standard commercial description and the amount of the goods transported or dispatched into the warehouse;
the date of supply within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 2;
the consideration for the supply according to number 10, as well as the standard commercial description and amount of the supplied goods;
the VAT identification number of the customer used for the supply according to number 10;
the consideration, as well as the standard commercial description and amount of the goods in the case of a transfer of own goods, deemed as intra-Community supplies within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 3;
the taxable amount of the goods which are returned to the Member State of dispatch, within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 4 number 1, and the date of this transport and dispatch.
The taxable person, to whom the goods, within the meaning of § 6b shall be supplied, is required to keep separate records. These records must contain the following information:
the VAT identification number used by the taxable person within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 1 number 1;
the standard commercial description and amount of the goods destined for the taxable person as customer, within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 1 or within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 5;
the date on which the transport or dispatch of the goods destined for the taxable person, as customer within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 1 or within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 5, ended in the Member State of arrival;
the consideration for the supply to the taxable person, as well as the standard commercial description and amount of the supplied goods;
the date of the intra-Community acquisition within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 2 number 2;
the standard commercial description and amount of the goods withdrawn from the warehouse upon request by the taxable person within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 1 number 1;
the standard commercial description of any destroyed or lost goods, within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 6 sentence 4, and the date of the destruction, loss or theft of the goods, which were received beforehand in the warehouse or the date on which the destruction or loss of the goods was first detected.
If the owner of the warehouse, to which the goods within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 1 number 1 are transported or dispatched, is not identical to the customer, within the meaning of § 6b paragraph 1 number 1 or § 6b paragraph 5, the taxable person shall be released from the obligation to keep records according to sentence 1 numbers 3, 6 and 7.
(5) A taxable person, who executes transactions or acquires goods without establishing a commercial establishment or executes such on a door-to-door basis or on public streets or in other public places, must keep a tax ledger in accordance with the official pre-printed form.
(6) The Federal Ministry of Finance, with the consent of the Federal Council, may issue a directive
specifying, more precisely, how the obligation to keep records is to be met and in which cases relief may be granted in respect of the meeting of this obligation, as well as
how taxable persons, within the meaning of paragraph 5, may be exempted from keeping a tax ledger, provided that the basis for VAT can be derived from other supporting documents, and link this exemption to conditions.
Fundstelle(n):
zur Änderungsdokumentation
ZAAAH-50183