Starting January 1st, 2025, Germany will introduce reforms to its external audit procedures under the Fiscal Code, aiming to enhance efficiency and transparency for businesses. Major chages include: Audit orders must be issued by the end of the calendar year following the year in which the tax assessment was first completed. For example, if a sales tax return for 2025 is approved in March 2027,... Read more

In Germany, there is a mandatory registration and decommissioning of the cash registers to the tax authorities, which has been part of the fiscal law since 2021, but there has been no platform to report this information so far. So, what can you do now and how can you report cash registers? On June 28th, 2024, the German Federal Ministry of Finance issued a new application decree specifying the ca... Read more

The Business Identification Number or Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer (W-IdNr) is a new type of identifying number that will be introduced starting in November 2024. The Federal Central Tax Office will begin assigning the W-IdNr automatically to both new and existing businesses from that time, with the process expected to continue until 2026. The Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer (W-IdNr) is a u... Read more

As online shopping continues to grow, the European Union is planning to implement new regulations to protect local e-commerce sellers. One significant change affects consumers who shop on international platforms like Temu or AliExpress. The EU has already taken some steps at the first sign of growing foreign e-commerce sellers, and since July 1, 2021, all goods entering the EU, regardless of their... Read more

This entails reporting the following events: - ERS registration - ERS deregistration - ERS information updates - Address changes for business premises - Alterations in organizational tax identification - Expiry of BSI certificates (FCC updates to a new certificate version) - Potentially, other miscellaneous changes. ELSTER integration on the Fiskal Portal, data integrity, data integrity e... Read more

Businesses in Germany need to gear up for the mandatory implementation of B2B e-invoicing, as mandated by the Wachstumschancengesetz law which mandates the gradual transition to e-invoicing for all B2B and B2G transactions. The rollout will commence on January 01, 2025, and continue until January 01, 2028, in multiple phases to ensure all businesses can adapt. The government has not proposed a ce... Read more

One way to validate VAT numbers in the EU is the VAT Information Exchange System (VIES), which is a crucial tool for businesses operating within the European Union. Owned by the European Commission, VIES is a search engine that retrieves data from national VAT databases to verify VAT numbers. Here’s a detailed look at how VIES works and its significance. How VIES Works When a search is made usi... Read more