Tax topics, explained clearly
Short articles on the questions we hear most often at the firm: receipts, deadlines, payroll and annual financial statements – written for the self-employed, trades businesses and small companies.
What this is about
From the firm's daily work
The same questions reach us anew every year – about receipts, deadlines and distinctions. What can be answered in general terms, we write down here.
These articles come from where questions regularly arise in client work: which receipt is actually needed, how to properly document a business meal, or why a January payslip looks different from a December one. We write them in the same language we use at the meeting table.
Every article states the status it refers to. If a rule changes significantly, we revise the text or take it offline rather than leave it as is.
- Receipts: what must be kept and for how long
- Deadlines: which dates recur throughout the year
- Bookkeeping: staying organised monthly instead of piling up by March
- Payroll: notifications, certificates, staff changes
- Annual financial statements: which documents we need and when
- Self-employment: questions on getting started and VAT
Topic focus areas
Six topics we're asked about most often
A trade business asks different questions than a freelancer. That's why we organise the articles by the situation that gives rise to the question.
Receipts and documents
Which proof belongs to which entry, what counts as a valid invoice, and which retention periods apply. Plus the question of when a digital copy is sufficient.
Financial accounting
How a month is properly closed, why open items should be noticed early, and which reports actually help during the ongoing year.
Payroll and personnel
New hires, departures, mini-jobs and sick notes: what information we need and when, so payroll reaches employees on time.
Annual financial statements
What happens between the last posting month and the finished statement, which questions typically come up, and how the effort involved can be reduced beforehand.
Tax returns and deadlines
Which returns are due during the year, how advance payments are calculated, and what to do if a tax assessment differs from what was expected.
Starting out as self-employed
Questionnaire for tax registration, small business regulation, first invoices: the points that raise the most questions in the first year.
Most follow-up questions on annual financial statements don't arise from complex matters, but from missing receipts for perfectly ordinary transactions.
Dates
The deadline calendar for the tax year
Most follow-up questions in our guide revolve around deadlines. Knowing the rhythm of a tax year makes for calmer work: ongoing financial accounting and payroll follow a monthly cycle, while the annual financial statements and tax returns come afterward. The overview below shows when we need which documents from you and what we produce from them at the firm. Variations are possible, for example with quarterly filing or an approved permanent deadline extension.
Four Stages Through the Year
Monthly by the 10th
VAT advance return: We electronically file the previous month's VAT return with the tax office. To do this, we need your outgoing and incoming invoices as well as the previous month's bank statements by around the third working day. With a permanent extension, the deadline shifts by one month, but a special advance payment is required for monthly filing.
VAT advance return: We electronically file the previous month's VAT return with the tax office. To do this, we need your outgoing and incoming invoices as well as the previous month's bank statements by around the third working day. With a permanent extension, the deadline shifts by one month, but a special advance payment is required for monthly filing.
Payroll: We process wages and salaries, submit contribution statements to the health insurance funds and the wage tax return to the tax office. Please notify us of new hires, departures, sick days, vacation, and variable components such as overtime or bonuses by the 20th of the month at the latest.
Annual financial statements: We close the books, clarify open items, post depreciation and provisions, and reconcile inventory values. With income surplus accounting it's faster; with balance sheet accounting, we go through the line items with you beforehand – especially for trade businesses with work in progress.
Tax returns: Income tax, trade tax, corporate tax, and the annual VAT return. Clients who engage us fall under the extended deadline for tax-advised cases. After receiving the assessment, we check the determination and file an objection within the deadline if there are discrepancies.
- Submit receipts monthly instead of annually: We keep the books up to date continuously, so input tax amounts don't get held up and questions can be clarified while the transaction is still fresh.
- Provide entertainment and travel expenses with the occasion, date, and participants noted, otherwise the tax office often won't recognize the deduction.
- Briefly flag private payments from the business account; this saves us follow-up questions and saves you correction entries.
- Report purchases over 800 euros net with the invoice and purchase date so we can apply depreciation correctly.
- Forward tax office assessments immediately: The objection period is one month from the date of notification.
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