If corresponding supplies of goods or other services have been provided, the following business are required to submit an RS:

• Business within the meaning of Section 2 (1) of the German VAT Act (UStG)
• Business within the meaning of Section 2 (2) no. 2 UStG (controlled subsidiary company)
• Flat-rate farmers and foresters

Small undertakings within the meaning of Section 19 (1) UStG do not have to send an RS.

For

• intra-Community supplies of goods, i.e. deliveries or shipments to another EU member state - Section 18a (6) of the German VAT Act (UStG),
• other intra-Community services, i.e. another taxable service that has been provided for a business in another EU member state and for which the service beneficiary owes the taxes - Section 3a (2) UStG,
• intra-Community triangular transactions pursuant to Section 25b (2) UStG,

the

• VAT ID No. of the purchaser or service beneficiary,
• the basis of charge and
• the type of sales

must be stated in the RS.

Under the call-off stock regulation, the VAT ID No. of the planned purchaser must also be stated in the case of transport and shipping to another EU member state - Section 6b (1) UStG.

Return transport and return shipping are to be reported stating the VAT ID No. of the planned purchaser and the respective event.

In the case of a change in purchaser, the VAT ID No. of the originally planned purchaser must also be stated in addition to the VAT ID No. of the planned purchaser and the event.

If none of the types of transaction specified in the question “What has to be reported?” have been performed, then no RS needs to be sent.

Purchases of goods from other EU member states do not have to be reported.

The RS must be sent to the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) electronically by the 25th day after the end of the reporting period (Section 18a (1) sentence 1 of the German VAT Act [UStG]).

If the sum of the bases of charge for intra-Community supplies of goods and intra-Community triangular transactions pursuant to Section 25b (2) of the German VAT Act [UStG] amounts to more than EUR 50,000 neither for the current calendar quarter nor for one of the four preceding calendar quarters in each case, the RS may be sent electronically by the 25th day after the end of the calendar quarter (Section 18a (1) sentence 2 UStG).

The RS must be submitted for the calendar month if the sum of the bases of charge for intra-Community supplies of goods and intra-Community triangular transactions pursuant to Section 25b (2) of the German VAT Act (UStG) amounts to more than EUR 50,000 for the current calendar quarter or for one of the four preceding calendar quarters.

The switch to monthly submission takes place automatically. The business must pay attention to his/her submission requirements; there will be no notification from the BZSt regarding the change in the reporting period.

If the sum of the bases of charge for the above-mentioned transactions has exceeded EUR 50,000 in the current calendar quarter, the RS must be sent electronically by the 25th day after the end of the calendar month in which this amount was exceeded, for this calendar month and for the calendar months of this calendar quarter that have already passed (Section 18a (1) sentence 3 of the German VAT Act [UStG]).

Example:

Business M has so far been submitting the RS for the calendar quarter reporting period. In May, the sum of the taxable base amounts to EUR 57,000.

M must now submit an RS for the months of April and May by June 25. The RS for June and all following months must then be sent by the 25th day after the end of the respective calendar month.

Other intra-Community services must be sent electronically by the 25th day after the end of the calendar quarter (Section 18a (2) sentence 1 of the German VAT Act [UStG]).

If the business is already required to submit the RS on a monthly basis for supplies of goods, data on other intra-Community services are to be provided in the last month of each calendar quarter (Section 18a (2) sentence 2 UStG).

Yes. The other intra-Community services performed in the same period can also be included in the monthly RS (Section 18a (3) of the German VAT Act [UStG]).

Submission of an annual RS is permitted only if you are exempt by your tax office from the requirement to submit provisional VAT returns and to make VAT payments on account

and

also meet the following conditions (Section 18a (9) of the German VAT Act [UStG]):

• You are exempt by your tax office from the requirement to submit provisional returns and to make payments on account
• The sum of your supplies of goods and other services did not exceed EUR 200,000 in the past calendar year and is not expected to exceed this amount in the current calendar year
• The sum of your intra-Community supplies of goods or other intra-Community services did not exceed EUR 15,000 in the past calendar year and is not expected to exceed this amount in the current calendar year, and
• The intra-Community supplies of goods that you have provided are not deliveries of new vehicles to purchasers with a VAT ID No.

No, in contrast to the tax office and the provisional VAT returns to be submitted there, no annual statement needs to be submitted for the RS.

If a business is not able to submit the RS by the specified deadline, it is possible to request an extension of the submission deadline from the BZSt before this deadline, stating the reasons for this.

Please use the contact form to do so (available in German language only).

If a business has not fulfilled his/her obligation to submit the RS despite the previous reminder and warning of a penalty payment then a penalty payment may be imposed by the BZSt to force the business to fulfill his/her obligation to cooperate.

Payment of the penalty does not mean that the submission requirement has been met!

Even after payment of the first penalty the RS is still required by the BZSt and further penalty payments may be imposed.

The process is completed only after the submission of the RS or after the submitted provisional VAT returns or VAT returns have been adjusted and the relevant tax office has sent a notification confirming the discontinuation of the reporting requirement to the BZSt.

After the RS has been submitted, the foreign VAT ID Nos. are transferred to the BZSt database and checked for validity and plausibility.

If the VAT ID Nos. are invalid, the business will receive an automated written request to adjust them.

The plausible foreign VAT ID Nos. are also compared against the data pool in the other member states. In this process, it is checked whether the VAT ID No. has actually been assigned to business and whether it was also valid in the specified period. If this is not the case, the business with a German VAT ID No. will receive an automated request to make an adjustment, too.

The business is required to adjust incorrect or incomplete data in his/her RS electronically within one month (Section 18a (10) of the German VAT Act [UStG]).

Detailed examples can be found in the "Adjustment of an RS" topic area as well as in the guide on completing an RS and the leaflet on adjusting an RS.

More detailed information can be found in the guide on completing an RS, in the guide on completing reports in the context of the call-off stock regulation, and in section 18a.1. to 18a.5 of the German VAT Application Decree (UStAE).

When extending a certificate, it is important to ensure that the ELMA5 activation for the procedure in question is also extended. If an extension of the certificate is pending and there has already been an ELMA5 activation, when the certificate is extended you will also be informed of the extension of the ELMA5 activation or asked whether you agree to this. If you answer this question with 'yes', everything else will be handled through the BZStOnline portal (BOP).

Importing the BOP certificate into the browser is only necessary in cases where users want to use the BOP to transmit their mass data file. When establishing a connection to the ELMA server, the browser then identifies itself as authorized to do so using the imported certificate. Users who do not use the portal for mass data transmission, but establish a direct connection to the ELMA5 server with their computer (computer-to-computer connection via sftp), i.e. without mediation/support from the portal, do not need a browser certificate import. The process takes place without a browser.

Note/recommendation in the event of transmission problems related to mass data transmission via the ELMA5 interface in the portal and no cause:

The entire browser cache should be cleared and only the current certificate should be included.

As a rule, the transmission should also work if several certificates are integrated in the browser. When uploading the mass data to the ELMA5 server, it must be ensured that exactly this authorized BOP certificate is identified to the ELMA5 server and not one of the other imported certificates. It is usually the case that the certificate must be confirmed again before sending the file.

A valid certificate and ELMA5 activation for the procedure in question must always be available. A certificate import only when using the BOP and here only when using the mass data interface ELMA5. This is not necessary when sending individual BOP forms.