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External bookkeeping - required documents
External bookkeeping - required documents

external bookkeeping - income statement - tax returns - bookkeeping software - external transactions - lexoffice - sevDesk

Updated over 9 months ago

In order for us to prepare your tax returns for you, we need your bookkeeping data for the time before you started with Kontist.

This HelpCenter article is for anyone who has done their bookkeeping with another tax office or accounting program and would like to submit the data themselves in the tax return data query.

Information in the data query

To access the upload, you must enter the following information in the data query in the bookkeeping questionnaire, depending on how you have done your bookkeeping:

I did my bookkeeping with another tax firm:

I did my bookkeeping with a bookkeeping software:

We ask you to upload all documents in the corresponding field in the document upload.

Which documents we need are described below.

DATEV export as CSV file

A DATEV export in CSV format is provided by most accounting programs. When exporting, you can select whether the export should be with or without documents. We require the export with receipts.

Bank statements with your business transactions

According to the inflow/outflow principle, income/expenses are to be allocated for tax purposes to the calendar year in which they were received or paid. For this reason, we need the bank statements so that we can compare the corresponding income/expenses with the receipts and take them into account in the correct year when preparing the surplus income statement.

Invoices for your income

We need the corresponding invoice for every receipt.

Take a look at our video on this topic:

HOW TO WRITE AN INVOICE as a freelancer in Germany | Every item explained

Proof of your expenses

We also need the relevant receipts for your expenses. Without a receipt, we cannot claim the expense as a business expense.

There is an exception for regularly recurring expenses with the same invoice amount (e.g. rent payments for your office). In this case, it is sufficient for us to receive an invoice once.

List of assets

The fixed asset register is a list of all assets used for business purposes. Assets with acquisition costs of more than EUR 800 (net) can generally not be depreciated in the year of acquisition, but must be depreciated over their normal useful life.

Note: With the Growth Opportunities Act, the GWG limit is to be raised to EUR 1,000 (net) (with effect from 01.01.2024).

Furthermore, all additions and withdrawals of assets must be listed and documented in the fixed asset register.

So that we can take possible depreciation into account in the annual financial statements, we need your asset register from the previous assessment period.

For more information, please watch the following video:

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