New regulations under commercial and tax law concerning electronic cash registers / ERP systems with a cash register function have been in place in Germany since 1st January. Commercial enterprises are faced with several requirements under the rules stipulated by the GoBD (governing the proper keeping and storing of books, records and documents in electronic form and data access). We have been receiving an increased number of queries from our retailers since last year, wondering whether the brodos.net ERP system meets these requirements. Our retailers have no need to worry, as we have already been dealing with this issue since early 2016, and they can rest assured that our brodos.net ERP system is completely secure. Our retailers don’t need to do a thing, and can look to the future with peace of mind.
What is behind GoBD?
The topic of GoBD (principles governing the proper keeping and storing of books, records and documents in electronic form and data access) has been bothering retailers for quite some time now, as according to new regulations issued by the tax office, cash register systems must save data electronically in future. Financial management has always called for business transactions to be recorded completely, correctly and promptly in a proper and unalterable fashion, but complying with the principles of proper book keeping including regulations under tax law demands a very high degree of discipline from all entrepreneurs.
Since 1 January 2017, cash register records are obliged to be:
– transparent
– verifiable
– accurate
– clear
– recorded continuously
– such that cash can be counted and checked at any time
– unalterable, and records must be retained for a certain period of time.
A lackadaisical approach to records or negligent treatment of documents which have to be available for inspection entail a potential for risk which can be often overlooked or underestimated. Failure to implement the guidelines can lead to accounts being rejected, with retailers then being subjected to a tax estimate.
Obligations of commercial enterprises
All individual data relevant from a tax point of view including any invoices created electronically using the device within the meaning of § 14 VAT Act must be unalterable and kept in full. For the duration of the retention period, the data must be kept available and be able to be read or analysed automatically at any time. Consolidating this data or saving just the final totals of the invoices is not allowed. Simply keeping a printed record of data which has to be retained is not sufficient. Digital documents and structural information must be made available in a data format which can be analyzed.
If it is not possible for all data relevant for tax purposes – in the case of cash registers in particular journal, analysis and progamming data as well as data relating to changes to master data – to be saved in the cash register, this data must be saved on an external data carrier in such a way that it is unalterable and can be analyzed automatically. When recording non-cash transactions with the device (e.g. EC cash, electronic direct debit), the individual data which is created means that it must be guaranteed that cash and non-cash payments can be aligned and booked correctly in the relevant book-keeping records.
Numerous benefits with brodos.net
Our retailers can breathe a sigh of relief! We have of course worked to ensure that the brodos.net system records all data relevant for tax purposes and saves such data for at least 10 years. The brodos.net cash register system therefore meets all requirements for recording cash register data under current legislation.
Instead of improving their current system, however, the better alternative for retailers would be to change over to our cross-channel system. Anyone who is interested can even test brodos.net free of charge and without obligation for 30 days. The Kiosk Team is happy to help if you have any further questions. Just give us a call at 00 49 9133 7770-4499.
