How to guide. German legislation. Version 1.0 March /23

Transcription

1 How to guide German legislation Version 1.0 March /23

2 Contents INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES... 3 GENERAL PREREQUISITES... 4 CHART OF ACCOUNTS... 5 BALANCE SHEET AND P/L STATEMENT... 6 DETERMINATION OF G/L ACCOUNTS IN ACCORDANCE TO TAX MATTERS... 7 GERMAN VAT DECLARATION RECAPITULATIVE STATEMENT EARLY DISCOUNT REMINDER CHARGES BY FIXED AMOUNTS PAYMENT LIFE CYCLE ADDITIONAL REPORTS GDPDU-EXPORT E-BILANZ /23

3 Introduction and objectives This document is a short description of the German localization. It states the legal requirements and the usage in the local market as well as the set-up. 3/23

4 General prerequisites Technical prerequisites The German legislation requires the following parameters and conditions. Activity code LEG must be active Activity code KDE must be active Activity code MUL must be active German language must be installed and active Companies being used within the German legislation must be assigned to a legislation. Related parameters The following parameters influence the behaviour of the German legislation functions. Chapter LOC, group GER GERRSEXTMP (default = no) : Recapitulative statement : allows the export of temporary documents respectively the exclusion of invalid entries on the export. GERVAT (default = yes) : activates the routines for the German VAT declaration and the Recapitulative statement (EU sales declaration). RSGFILPAT: standard server volume for the export of the Recapitulative statement file. Alternatively, the file can also be downloaded to the browser. VATFILPAT: standard server volume for the export of the VAT declaration file. Alternatively, the file can also be downloaded to the browser. VATLECMP : VAT leading company. If tax declarations are filed in for a group of companies («Umsatzsteuerliche Organschaft»), this parameter has to contain the company which master data (name, adress, tax ID) will be used for the declaration. Related activity code(s) LEG (legislations) KDE (German legislation) MUL (multi company) Related parameter(s) GERRSEXTMP (Recapitulative statement export of temporary documents) GERVAT (German VAT declarations) RSGFILPAT/VATFILPAT (Export volumes) VATLECMP (VAT leading company) 4/23

5 Chart of Accounts In Germany, there is no mandatory chart of accounts which is binding for companies. The German Association of Tax Consultants (DATEV) has issued several kinds of Chart of Accounts that are regarded as standard. The Chart of Accounts are subject to the size of the enterprise or the sector. Sage ERP X3 provides a short version of DATEV Standardkontenrahmen 03 ( DATEV SKR03 ) according to the German Accounting Law Modernisation Act ( BilMoG ). Besides the s, the chart of accounts contains the following: Predefined structures for the financial data extraction (balance, P/L statement) Accounting codes Tax codes for commonly used taxes German accounting principles and fiscal law differentiates strictly between VAT on sales and VAT on purchases (sales VAT/input VAT), although tax rates usually are the same. Therefore, the German chart of accounts and the tax codes have been set up accordingly with, for example, different tax codes for sales tax regular rate / input tax regular, tax accounts for sales tax regular rate / input tax regular rate etc. Set-up 5/23

6 Modification or extension of the chart of accounts is possible but beware to adjust the financial data extraction structures and/or accounting codes also. See also chapter Balance Sheet and P/L Statement The availability of a Balance sheet and P&L statement is described in German Accounting Principles (GoB). Both reports are available in the form of FDE reports in the standard of Sage ERP X3. The FDE reports are based on reporting codes that are assigned to G/L accounts. Do not forget to check the reporting codes when changing the chart of accounts or when adding new accounts. Determination of s in accordance to tax matters. 6/23

7 Balance Sheet and P/L Statement The availability of a Balance sheet and P&L statement is described in German Accounting Principles (GoB). Both reports are available in the form of FDE reports in the standard of Sage ERP X3. The FDE reports are based on reporting codes that are assigned to G/L accounts. Do not forget to check the reporting codes when changing the chart of accounts or when adding new accounts. Related function(s) GESGAC s GESTXS Financial data extraction parameters 7/23

8 Determination of s in accordance to tax matters In Germany journal entries have to be posted to accounts in accordance to the tax matter underlying. If a product at product tax level normal rate has been purchased from a domestic supplier, there is a dedicated for purchase of goods from domestic supplier at regular rate. In case the same product has been purchased from an EU supplier, there is a dedicated for the purchase of goods from an EU supplier. In addition there is a dedicated for the purchase of goods from an export supplier. Similar rules apply, when a product is sold to customer. In order to accomplish this, the account determination is based on the accounting codes settings for the tax accounts and the BP tax rule. Set-up Standard set-up sales: Product A Normal rate Product B Reduced rate Domestic customer EU customer Export customer Domestic customer EU customer Export customer 8400 Revenues 19% 8125 Revenues EU 8100 Revenues export 8300 Revenues 19% 8125 Revenues EU 8100 Revenues export Tax account 1776 VAT 19% Tax account 1771 VAT 19% Accounting Codes Accounting Codes 8/23

9 Standard set-up purchase: Product A Normal rate Product B Reduced rate Domestic supplier EU supplier Export supplier Domestic supplier EU supplier Export supplier 3400 Goods received 19 % input tax 3425 Intra-community acquisition 19 % input tax, 19 % VAT 3200 Goods received 3300 Goods received 7 % input tax 3420 Intra-community acquisition 7 % input tax, 7 % VAT 3200 Goods received Tax account 1576 Input tax 19% Tax account 1574 Deductible input tax for intra- Community acquisition 19 % Tax account 1571 Input tax 19% Tax account 1572 Deductible input tax for intra- Community acquisition 7 % Tax account 1774 VAT from intra- Community acquisition 19 % Tax account 1772 VAT from intra- Community acquisition 7 % Accounting Codes Accounting Codes Tax Matrix In the matrix, you can see default accounts for tax, G/L sales/purchase, G/L discounts and tax accounting codes for the BP tax rules in combination with product tax levels. 9/23

10 Customer domestic Reduced Exempt Normal rate Misc. rates Code RED EXO NOR SON DEDEK DE Umsatzsteuer ermäßigt DE002 Umsatzsteuer erm. Satz DE002 Sales tax reduced rate dom. DE Umsatzsteuer frei DE001 Umsatzsteuer frei DE001 Sales tax exempt dom. DE Umsatzsteuer Regelsatz DE003 Umsatzsteuer Regelsatz DE003 Sales tax normal rate dom. DE Umsatzsteuer son. Satz DE016 Umsatzst. sonst. Sätze DE016 Sales tax misc. rates dom. Default Tax account * Default G/L G/L discount account Tax Account. Code DE_DE_RED DE_DE_EXO DE_DE_NOR DE_DE_SON Supplier domestic DEDEL DE Vorsteuer ermäßigt DE Vorsteuer frei DE Vorsteuer Regelsatz DE Vorsteuer son. Satz DE008 Vorsteuer erm. Satz DE040 Vorsteuer frei DE009 Vorsteuer Regelsatz DE048 Vorsteuer son. Satz DE008 Input tax reduced rate dom. DE040 Input tax exempt dom. DE009 Input tax normal rate dom. DE048 Input tax misc. rates dom. Default Tax account * Default G/L G/L discount account Tax Account. Code DE_DE_RED DE_DE_EXO DE_DE_NOR DE_DE_SON Customer EU DEEUK DE EU Umsatzsteuer ermäßigt DE011 Umsatzst. a. innerge. Lief. DE EU Umsatzsteuer frei DE011 Umsatzst. a. innerge. Lief. DE EU Umsatzsteuer Regelsatz DE011 Umsatzst. a. innerge. Lief. DE EU Umsatzsteuer son. Satz DE011 Umsatzst. a. innerge. Lief. DE011 Sales tax EEC DE011 Sales tax EEC DE011 Sales tax EEC DE011 Sales tax EEC Default Tax account * Default G/L G/L discount account Tax Account. Code DE_EU_RED DE_EU_EXO DE_EU_NOR DE_EU_SON DE Vorsteuer EU DE Vorsteuer EU ermäßigt DE Vorsteuer EU frei Regelsatz DE Vorsteuer EU son. Satz Supplier EU DE018 Vst. a. innerge. DE041 DE Vorsteuer frei DE019 Vst. a. innerge. DE020 DE VSt. a. DEEUL Erw. Erm DE018 Input tax reduced EEC EU DE041 Input tax exempt EEC Erw. Reg DE019 Input tax normal EEC Default Tax account * 1574 innergem. Erw. Son DE020 Input tax misc. rates EEC Default G/L G/L discount account Tax Account. Code DE_EU_RED DE_EU_EXO DE_EU_NOR DE_EU_SON DE Umsatzsteuer Drittl. DE Umsatzsteuer Drittl. DE Umsatzsteuer Drittl. DE Umsatzsteuer Drittl. Customer DEEXK Ermäßigt frei Regelsatz Son. Satz Export DE017 Umsatzst. frei DE017 Umsatzst. frei DE017 Umsatzst. frei DE017 Umsatzst. frei /23

11 Drittl. Drittl. Drittl. Drittl. DE017 Sales tax exempt export DE017 Sales tax exempt export DE017 Sales tax exempt export DE017 Sales tax exempt export Default Tax account n/a n/a 1770 n/a Default G/L n/a n/a 8120 n/a G/L discount account n/a n/a 8730 n/a Tax Account. Code n/a n/a DE_EX_NOR n/a Supplier Export Default Tax account DEEXL DE Vorsteuer Drittl. ermäßigt DE042 Vorsteuer frei Drittland DE042 Input tax exempt export DE Vorsteuer Drittl. frei DE042 Vorsteuer frei Drittland DE042 Input tax exempt export DE Vorsteuer Drittl. Regelsatz DE042 Vorsteuer frei Drittland DE042 Input tax exempt export DE Vorsteuer Drittl. son. Satz DE042 Vorsteuer frei Drittland DE042 Input tax exempt export n/a n/a 1570 n/a Default G/L n/a n/a 3200 n/a G/L discount account n/a n/a 3730 n/a Tax Account. DE_EX_NOR Code n/a n/a n/a 11/23

12 German VAT Declaration A dedicated function has been implemented that calculates the monthly or quarterly amounts of taxable bases and / or VAT amounts and associate these amounts to VAT report lines (VAT boxes). The scope of the function is to provide Sage ERP X3 users in Germany with the capability to print a preparatory VAT report, to generate a VAT file and to transmit the VAT declaration to the Fiscal authorities electronically. Electronic transmission of the VAT declaration is mandatory in Germany. The German VAT declaration covers also the case that a joint VAT declaration has to be filed in for a group of companies ( Organschaft ). For such cases, the VAT declaration can be run for a defined group of companies. The company master data (adress, tax ID etc.) used for the VAT declaration is taken from the company which has been set in the parameter VATLECMP (VAT leading company). Related function(s) FUNCTION CODE (Function name) FUNCTION CODE (Function name) Electronic transmission Electronic transmission of VAT declarations are done by means of the ELSTER 1 system. There are two options available to do the transmission: Usage of the ELSTER-Online web portal with manual entry in the online form. Direct online submission of using the Sage X3 ELSTER client The Sage X3 ELSTER client is an additional software delivered as part of the German legislation (no additional license required) and must be installed on the workstation. For details please refer to the specific documentation of the Sage X3 ELSTER Client. In addition, a registration at the ELSTER-Online web portal of the German tax authorities is necessary and a certificate for digital signatures must be obtained in ELSTER-Online. 1 ELSTER: Abbreviation for Electronic Tax Declaration. ELSTER is provided by the German fiscal authorities in order to transmit various kinds of tax declarations online. 12/23

13 Process overview of the electronic VAT transmission: Generate VAT declaration within Sage ERP X3 Preview amounts/vat totals by VAT report line Start Export Sage X3 ELSTER client transmits VAT declaration to fiscal authorities Import file in Sage X3 ELSTER client download file to workstation/directory Preconditions and restrictions The VAT declaration relies on the tax codes used in the documents and the journal entries. Therefore, only entries having a tax code will be considered in the VAT declaration. This also applies to transactions which are excempt from tax, but have to be shown in the VAT declaration (i.e. EU intra-community sales). For those cases, specific tax codes with a tax rate of 0% have to be used. Only journal entries of the main legal ledger are considered in the German VAT functions.the currency of the main legal ledger must be EUR. The VAT determination supports only tax by issue ( Sollversteuerung ), not tax on payment ( Istversteuerung ). Only journal entries of the category actual are considered. In every document type relevant for German VAT declarations, the settings tax on issue and/or tax on payment have to be activated Set-up For set-up of the VAT declaration a dedicated VAT user guide is available. Process in Sage ERP X3 Please refer to the dedicated VAT user guide for a description of the process. 13/23

14 Recapitulative Statement Any company making Intra-community sales of goods / services (EU Sales) is under obligation to submit a so-called recapitulative statement ( Zusammenfassende Meldung ). The recapitulative statement has to be filed with the tax office electronically. It has to state amongst other things the companies own VAT ID and that of its EU business partner, and the total turnover exported to each individual business partner. The German legislation provides Sage ERP X3 customers with three key capabilities: Generation of recapitulative statement reports for companies with a German EU VAT ID. Generation of recapitulative statement reports for a so-called Organschaft, usually a group of companies or group of sites. Generation of export files for electronic transmission. Electronic transmission is done by means of the Sage X3 ELSTER client (same as VAT declaration, see chapter German VAT Declaration ). Preconditions and restrictions The recapitulative statement relies on the tax codes used in the documents. Therefore, only documents having a tax code linked to the recapitulative statement will be considered. Only journal entries of the main legal ledger are considered in the German recapitulative statement.the currency of the main legal ledger must be EUR. Only journal entries of the category actual are considered. Set-up The set-up of the recapitulative statement is described in detail in the separate VAT user guide. Process in Sage ERP X3 Please refer to the dedicated VAT user guide for a description of the process. 14/23

15 Early Discount Usage of payment terms which allow for a discount on early payments are very common in Germany. Discounted amounts have to be posted to dedicated s for discount subject to the underlying tax matter of the original document. Discounted amounts are split in accordance to the VAT code (VAT rate) underlying. A fully German GAAP compliant solution requires dedicated s for discount per tax code. The German localization provides the ability to define separate GL accounts for discount for different tax codes. Example: A deduction of discount for product sold at regular rate will be posted to a G/L account for discount at regular rate. A deduction for products sold at reduced rate will be posted to for discount based at reduced rate, etc. Besides this, German fiscal law also requires doing a tax adjustment (clawback) when receiving or issuing discounted payments. Example (sales): Customer pays an invoice issued over the amount of EUR (19% VAT = EUR net.) with an early discount of 1%: Early discount = 11,90 EUR, payment amount = 1178,10 EUR. Now, only the net amount of the discount will be posted to the P/L account, the VAT amount contained in the early discount will be corrected: 10,00 EUR -> account Sales discounts VAT regular rate 1,90 EUR -> account VAT (sales tax) regular rate The corrective posting will be done when posting the payment and the corrected VAT will be considered in the VAT declaration for the period the payment has been received. Set-up In order to achieve the necessary behaviour for early discount, the parameter DEPMGTMOD (chapter TC, group INV) has to be set to Breakdown by VAT (account level) for Geman companies. Related parameter(s) DEPMGTMOD (Discount management mode) 15/23

16 Reminder charges by fixed amounts This function is delivered by the additional German local add-on. Sage ERP X3 s German legislation enables companies to work with reminder charges based on fixed amounts. Subject to a reminder level, a fixed reminder charge will be shown separately along with the total reminding amount on a reminder letter. It also allows to describe reminder intervals that define a cycle for an open item to appear in the reminder proposal and the reminder letter. Reminder charges and reminder interest (charges) are presented in the standard reminder letter after the total reminding amount. Reminder charges, possible reminder interests (charges) are totaled in turn. If there are several open items for a single customer that are in different reminder levels, the reminder letter will always show the reminder charge of the open item in the highest reminder level. There will be no aggregation of reminder charges Related function(s) GESXER (Reminder charges 16/23

17 Set-up Reminder charges The reminder charges function GESXER (Setup AP/AR accounting Reminders) allows to enter the reminder charge amount by reminder group/company and reminder level. It also allows to enter the interval days between the current and the next reminder level. FUP report The standard reminder report (FUP) has to be exchanged with the specific reminder report delivered with the German local add-on. This report has to be renamed to FUP and copied over the existing FUP report. 17/23

18 Payment life cycle In the payment life cycle, the following specifics exist for the German legislation: Bank file formats Local BID window Germany as part of the SEPA area uses SEPA SCT and SDD formats for payment transactions within the SEPA area. German banks have agreed on a local subset of the SEPA standard described by the European Payment Council. The current version of this local subset is «DK 2.7» and is used for the customer-bank communication and supported by all German banks. Depending on the bank they may also accept standard SEPA formats. For payment transactions outside the SEPA area (for example remittances to USA, Asia etc.) the DTAZV format (a local, non-iso standard) is used. To faciliate the entry of bank IDs a local BID window is available which opens for bank IDs with country «Germany». This local BID windows calculates German IBAN from account and bank sort code and vice versa. Calculation of the IBAN is done by standard rules and won t cover specific non-standard numbering. Related function(s) GESTCY (Countries) GESTFB Bank files Set-up Setting-up bank files In standard Sage ERP X3 two bank file definitions are delivered for the German local SEPA formats: DESCT03 (credit transfer using pain.003) DESDD02 (direct debits using pain.002) These bank file definitions have to used in the corresponding payment transactions. Generation of the DTAZV format is also done using standard bank file definitions but they are delivered in the German add-on. Setting-up local BID window The local BID window is activated in the country settings (GESTCY) for Germany: in the tab Bank the local BID window code BIDLOCDE has to be entered. 18/23

19 Additional reports This function is delivered by the additional German local add-on (since Update 7 or later). Additional reports are provided which have been adapted in respect to the expectations of German companies: XEBALGRPDEV XEFUP XEGLGRP XEGLGRP2 XEJOUGRP XELETTREVIRB XEPAYLIST XEPAYPROP XEOPLISTACC General balance (Summen- und Saldenliste) Reminder letter (Mahnschreiben) Account form G/L ledger (Kontenblatt) Account form G/L ledger (Kontenblatt mit interner Belegnummer) Journal codes (Buchungsjournal) Remittance Advice (Zahlungsavis) Payment list (Zahlungsliste) Payment proposal list (Zahlungsvorschlagsliste) Open item list grouped by acc. number (OP- Liste gruppiert nach Kontonummer) 19/23

20 GDPdU-Export Under the principles of data access and auditing of digital documents (abbreviated as «GDPdU» in German), tax auditors of the fiscal authorities in Germany have access to digitally stored records and can request for a copy of prepared statements in digital format. The right to access data is exclusively limited to data that is important for taxation (tax relevant data). Financial accounting data, fixed asset data and pay roll is always considered as tax relevant by the German fiscal authorities. The term tax relevant data is not defined concludingly by German fiscal law. There might be additional requirements on the kind of data the auditor may request, for example analytical accounting if relevant. Related function(s) GDPDU (GDPDU-Export) Set-up Tax-relevant data for the external audit can derive from different areas of the financial module. The GDPDU interface addresses therefore Accounting, Analytical Accounting and Fixed Assets. The German fiscal authorities do not impose a formal data structure for the data to extract for GDPDU purposes and comma-separated text files fulfill the requirements of the GDPDU description standard. In addition to the data files, a description of the data structure must be delivered (as a XML file). A GDPdU- Export therefore contains the following: Text files - Text files are generated by means of the X3 standard export templates. A set of dedicated export templates (prefix GDPDU ) is delivered. index.xml - This file describes data field contents and data field orders of the text files and is generated during export. gdpdu dtd - This file DTD (Document Type Definition) is provided by the German fiscal authorities. It defines the structure of the second element ( index.xml ) which basically describes the XML tags. List of GDPdU export templates Template No. GDPDU01 GDPDU0201 GDPDU0202 GDPDU0301 GDPDU0302 GDPDU04 GDPDU05 GDPDU06 English GDPDU s GDPDU Customer Accounting data GDPDU Customer Header data GDPDU Supplier Accounting data GDPDU Supplier Header data GDPDU Open items customers GDPDU Open items supplier GDPDU Journal entries header 20/23

21 GDPDU07 GDPDU0701 GDPDU08 GDPDU09 GDPDU10 GDPDU11 GDPDU12 GDPDU20 GDPDU21 GDPDU22 GDPDU23 GDPDU44 GDPDU45 GDPDU46 GDPDU47 GDPDU48 GDPDUADD GDPDUCOA GDPDULED GDPDU Tax codes GDPDU Tax rates GDPDU Open Item Hist. Customer GDPDU Open Item Hist. Supplier GDPDU Journal entries lines GDPDU Document type GDPDU Journal code GDPDU Analytical entries line GDPDU Analytical sectors GDPDU Analytical dimensions GDPDU Analytical natures GDPDU Financial Assets GDPDU Depreciation methods GDPDU Depreciation rates GDPDU Depreciation charges GDPDU Physical elements GDPDU Address data GDPDU Account plans GDPDU Ledgers Process in Sage ERP X3 The GDPdU export can be accessed in Declarations/Audit/Germany. In the criteria screen start and end date of the auditing period are defined. In addition the user can define if he wants to export legal accounting data with or without historical open items, fixed assets and/or analytical accounting data. Export of the data must be done to an empty directory. After export, all of the files (including the index.xml and gdpdu dtd) must be copied in whole to a media (CD, DVD, USB stick etc.) handed over to the tax auditor. 21/23

22 E-Bilanz Electronic balance or E-Balance describes the electronic transmission of a company's balance sheet to the relevant tax office. From the year 2014 (for FY 2013) all companies are obliged to submit their balance sheet report electronically to the tax office. Legal basis for this is 5b Income Tax Act (EStG). E-Bilanz is based on XBRL (extensible Business Reporting Language) Next to Balance Sheet (based on German Commercial Code), Profit and Loss Statement (according to cost of production method or according to cost of sales method), Statement of changes in fixed assets (Asset analysis), E-Bilanz requires information that is not available in standard Sage ERP X3. For instance statement of movements in equity, cash flow statement, statement of profit appropriation, Report of the Supervisory Board, decisions and declarations or the determination of taxable profit for sole proprietorships and partnerships. E-Bilanz submissions can either be done by the tax advisor or done by the company itself, depending on the way a company does it s year s end statements. For those companies managing E-Bilanz submission themselves, Sage offers the Sage E-Bilanz, an external tools that is used by all German Sage Accounting products. Sage E-Bilanz requires a separate license which is not part of the German legislation. The implementation of Sage E-Bilanz requires advice and consultation and an in depth-knowledge on the E-Bilanz background on the customer s side. A collaboration with the customer s tax advisor is usually required, as German law has specific regulations about consulting regarding tax matters. Part of the Sage E-Bilanz license is the Sage E-Bilanz Connector which acts as an intermediary between Sage ERP X3 and Sage E-Bilanz. Sage E-Bilanz and Sage E-Bilanz Connector have to be installed on the workstation locally. Overview of the workflow: Related function(s) EXPEBIL (Export to Sage E-Bilanz) Export of accounts and balances from Sage ERP X3 Import of the exported data to Sage E-Bilanz with Sage E- Bilanz Connector Allocation of accounts and amounts to the E- Bilanz taxonomy Validation of the allocation, manual input of additional data Online submission of the E-Bilanz 22/23

23 Set-up Besides installation of the additional software, no specific set-up is required within Sage ERP X3. Process in Sage ERP X3 Using the EXPEBIL function (Financials Interfaces Export to Sage E- Bilanz) an export file containing the s and their balances is created. Export is done by company and time range (usually whole fiscal year). The export file is opened in the Sage E-Bilanz Connector and transferred to the Sage E-Bilanz Review and editing of the data is done in Sage E-Bilanz. When done, the E-Bilanz is transferred by online transmission to the fiscal authorities. 23/23