Program scope according to §87c AO

Taxfix offers a web and mobile phone based application for the preparation and submission of income tax returns of natural persons in Germany (the "App"). In this process, the data relevant for the income tax return is requested from the user and converted into the format used by the tax authorities and forwarded electronically.

The App supports the following tax cases of (partially) unlimited taxable taxpayers that live in the EU/EEA at the time of filing the tax return:

Income from employment pursuant to Section 19 (1) Nos. 1 and 1a and (2) EStG
Income from capital assets in accordance with Section 20 EStG
Other income within the meaning of Section 22 No. 1, No. 1a, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 EStG
Benefits within the meaning of § 32b para. 1 no. 1 EStG
Income-related expenses pursuant to Sections 9, 9a sentence 1 no. 1 a) and no. 3 EStG
Special expenses in accordance with §§ 10, 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d EStG
Children according to §32 EStG
Extraordinary expenses pursuant to §§ 33, 33a para. 2, 33b EStG, with the exception of maintenance expenses pursuant to § 33a para. 1 EStG
Tax credits according to §24a EStG (due to age) §24b EStG (single parents)
Assessment of spouses according to §26 EStG
Foreign income within the meaning of § 32b (1) No. 2 EStG
Starting with the 2023 tax year, income in accordance with § 21 (1) No. 1–3 EStG, provided that the property was not rented out at a reduced rate and the rental is exempt from VAT under § 4 No. 12 UStG.
Starting with the 2024 tax year, the preparation and submission of the income tax return, the profit and loss statement (EÜR), and the trade tax return for taxpayers with income from business (§ 15 EStG) or self-employment (§ 18 EStG), provided they apply the small business regulation in accordance with § 19 UStG, operate only one business, and are not required to keep formal accounts.

The following cases are not supported by the app:

Maintenance expenses in accordance with Section 33a (1) EStG
Tax concessions according to §§ 10e - 10g EStG
Income from business (§ 15 EStG) or self-employment (§ 18 EStG) are excluded if they employ staff, hold shares in partnerships, engage in specific business activities (e.g. animal breeding, livestock farming, or futures trading), report losses from investments (e.g. REITs), or have been issued a VAT identification number. The app also does not support cases where the business was sold or discontinued during the tax year.
Types of income in accordance with §13 (agriculture and forestry) EStG and the associated regulations and forms

In addition, Taxfix offers a web-based application for preparing and filing German VAT advance returns (UStVA) for entrepreneurs pursuant to § 2 UStG in Germany (”VAT Essentials”). In doing so, the data relevant for the VAT advance return is collected from the user via self-preparer mode (user input and user documents), converted into the format used by the German tax authorities, and transmitted electronically.

VAT Essentials supports the following VAT cases that an entrepreneur carries out domestically for consideration in the course of their business:

Sole proprietors and freelancers (entrepreneur definition pursuant to § 2 UStG) who carry out only a self-employed activity.
VAT-liable entrepreneurs (taxable transactions pursuant to § 1 UStG in conjunction with the entrepreneur definition pursuant to § 2 UStG; distinction from § 19 UStG).
Cash accounting / taxation on collected consideration (calculation based on collected consideration pursuant to § 20 UStG in conjunction with tax becoming chargeable pursuant to § 13 UStG).
Domestic transactions (supplies and other services in Germany pursuant to § 1 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 UStG in conjunction with the place-of-supply rules pursuant to §§ 3, 3a UStG).
Taxable supplies (19% and 7%) (VAT rates pursuant to § 12 Abs. 1 and Abs. 2 UStG).
Intra-Community acquisition (§ 1a UStG).
Reverse charge in Germany for services received from abroad (VAT liability of the recipient pursuant to § 13b UStG in conjunction with the B2B place-of-supply rule for services pursuant to § 3a Abs. 2 UStG).
Domestic reverse-charge cases (catalogue cases pursuant to § 13b Abs. 2 UStG).
B2C distance sales (goods and digital services) to other EU Member States below EUR 10,000 (threshold rule inter alia pursuant to § 3c Abs. 4 UStG in conjunction with § 3a Abs. 5 UStG; below the threshold, taxation remains in Germany).
Input VAT deduction (§ 15 UStG).
VAT advance return and annual VAT return (assessment procedure pursuant to § 18 UStG).

In the following scenarios, correct and complete processing by Umsatzsteuer Essentials is exceptionally not possible, as these cases are not part of the described scope of the program:

Zero VAT rate for photovoltaics (0% pursuant to § 12 Abs. 3 UStG).
Corporations (GmbH, UG, etc.) (as a taxable person generally an entrepreneur within the meaning of § 2 UStG; accounting obligations under commercial law, e.g. §§ 238 ff. HGB).
Partnerships (GbR, OHG, etc.) (as a taxable person generally an entrepreneur within the meaning of § 2 UStG; e.g. GbR pursuant to §§ 705 ff. BGB, OHG pursuant to §§ 105 ff. HGB).
Accrual accounting / taxation on agreed consideration (tax calculation based on agreed consideration pursuant to § 16 Abs. 1 UStG in conjunction with tax becoming chargeable pursuant to § 13 UStG).
VAT-exempt supplies without input VAT deduction (exemptions pursuant to § 4 UStG; exclusion from input VAT deduction pursuant to § 15 Abs. 2 UStG).
Business cessation and the related obligation to file a VAT return (§ 18 Abs. 3 UStG).
Non-taxable transactions (distinction based on taxability pursuant to § 1 UStG and the place-of-supply/substantive rules pursuant to §§ 3, 3a UStG).
- Transfer of a going concern (§ 1 Abs. 1a UStG).
VAT group / VAT fiscal unity (§ 2 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 UStG).
Import: importation of goods from outside the EU (importation pursuant to § 1 Abs. 1 Nr. 4 UStG; import VAT pursuant to § 21 UStG).
Export: export supply to a non-EU country (exemption pursuant to § 4 Nr. 1 Buchst. a UStG in conjunction with § 6 UStG).
Complex allocation of input VAT for mixed supplies (input VAT allocation pursuant to § 15 Abs. 4 UStG in conjunction with the input VAT exclusion pursuant to § 15 Abs. 2 UStG).
Supply or acquisition of new vehicles (§§ 1b, 2a UStG).
Deemed supplies / supplies without consideration (UWA) (§ 3 Abs. 1b UStG and § 3 Abs. 9a UStG).
Incorrect VAT statement / wrongful VAT disclosure (§ 14c UStG).
Certain goods (input VAT restrictions / link to exemptions pursuant to § 15 Abs. 3 UStG in conjunction with § 4b UStG).
Input VAT adjustment (§ 15a UStG).
Recapitulative statement (ZM) (§ 18a UStG).
- Intra-Community supply (§ 4 Nr. 1 Buchst. b UStG in conjunction with § 6a UStG).
- Consignment stock / call-off stock simplification (§ 6b UStG).
- Cross-border reverse charge (B2B services) for outgoing invoices (non-taxable if the place of supply is abroad; B2B place-of-supply for services pursuant to § 3a Abs. 2 UStG; possible relevance for ZM pursuant to § 18a UStG).
Adjustment of the taxable amount (§ 17 UStG).
E-commerce platforms (Amazon, Etsy, Shopify) (marketplace/interface rules inter alia pursuant to § 3 Abs. 3a UStG; operator liability pursuant to § 25e UStG).
- B2C distance sales to other EU Member States above EUR 10,000 (place of supply for distance sales pursuant to § 3c UStG; generally destination principle; OSS reference pursuant to § 18j UStG).
- OSS scheme (§ 18j UStG).
- IOSS scheme (§ 18k UStG).
Small business scheme (§ 19 UStG).
Flat-rate schemes (§ 23a UStG in conjunction with § 5 Abs. 1 Nr. 9 KStG).
Agriculture and forestry (flat-rate taxation scheme) (§ 24 UStG).
Margin scheme (§ 25a UStG).
Triangulation transactions (§ 25b UStG).
Investment gold (§ 25c UStG).

Taxfix offers a feature that allows users to complete the "Tax Registration Questionnaire for Sole Traders" (FSE) electronically and submit it directly from the application to the competent tax office. The feature is intended exclusively for individuals who are newly starting a commercial activity (§ 15 EStG) or a self-employed/freelance activity (§ 18 EStG) and who wish to submit the FSE in self-filer mode.

The program processes the FSE in the officially prescribed version 2024FsEEU013. The FSE is provided exclusively in German. All user guidance, help texts, and notices are provided in German.

The program supports the entry and submission of the following content:

Personal details: Entry of the entrepreneur's personal master data (name, address, date of birth, tax identification number).
Type and commencement of activity: Entry of the type of activity (commercial pursuant to § 15 EStG or self-employed/freelance pursuant to § 18 EStG), the date of commencement of the activity, and the location of the place of business/activity.
Profit determination: The program exclusively supports profit determination using the cash basis accounting method pursuant to § 4 para. 3 EStG (EÜR). The selected profit determination method is submitted accordingly in the FSE dataset.
VAT: Selection of whether the small business exemption pursuant to § 19 UStG is claimed (Yes/No). Under standard taxation, only taxation based on collected consideration (actual taxation, § 20 UStG) and the expected annual turnover in the year of establishment and the following year are recorded.
Expected financial circumstances: Recording of the expected profit and turnover in the year of establishment and the following year as the basis for the advance payment assessment by the tax office.
Bank details: Entry of the entrepreneur's IBAN exclusively for the purpose of tax refunds. A SEPA direct debit mandate for the collection of tax payments is neither created nor submitted by the program; this must be arranged separately with the tax office.
Local jurisdiction and tax office selection: The local jurisdiction of the tax office is determined by the place of management of the newly established business (§ 22 AO). The program supports the selection of the competent tax office via a postcode-based search or manual selection from a stored list of tax offices. The correct selection of the competent tax office is the responsibility of the user.
Technical processing and submission: Plausibility checking and validation of user input based on the applicable field logic, mapping of input to the official form fields of the FSE (version 2024FsEEU013), creation of a dataset, and electronic submission of the FSE to the competent tax office.

Correct and complete processing is exceptionally not possible in the following cases, as they fall outside the described scope of the program:

Balance sheet accounting: Entrepreneurs who determine (or are required to determine) their profit using the balance sheet method pursuant to § 4 para. 1 / § 5 EStG cannot submit the FSE via this program.
VAT - accrual accounting: Taxation based on agreed consideration (accrual accounting, § 16 UStG) is not supported.
Payroll tax: The payroll tax section of the FSE (details on employees, expected total wages, payroll tax return period) is not supported. Entrepreneurs who employ staff from the outset cannot submit the FSE in full via this program.
SEPA direct debit mandate: The issuance of a direct debit mandate to the tax office is not part of the program and must be completed through a separate process.
Tax representation: The program is intended exclusively for self-filer mode. Entry and submission by or on behalf of an authorized representative (e.g., tax advisor) is not supported.
Agriculture and forestry: The commencement of an agricultural or forestry activity is not within the scope of the program.
Other FSE variants: Other variants of the "Tax Registration Questionnaire" (e.g., for partnerships, corporations, associations, or other legal entities) are not supported.
Amendments to existing registration data: Cases in which no new FSE is to be submitted but rather an amendment to already existing tax registration data is to be communicated are not within the scope of the program.