Software must be prepared for digital audit, otherwise tax arrears may be paid

Hamburg, 7 March 2019 – TeamDrive Systems GmbH has made its sync and share software of the same name GoBD compatible. The service for storing, synchronizing and jointly processing data and documents thus complies with the “Principles for the proper management and storage of books, records and documents in electronic form and for data access” (GoBD). This means that companies can use TeamDrive in a legally and tax-compliant manner for all accounting relevant documents. TeamDrive is regarded as one of the most secure data services in Germany, meeting all legal requirements, from the Data Protection Basic Regulation (DSGVO) to the GoBD. TeamDrive GmbH is a 100 percent German company and all data is stored on servers in Germany so that TeamDrive users are not affected by the unsafe US legislation. Independently of this, TeamDrive’s end-to-end encryption ensures that only the user himself can read the data – neither the provider nor any authority in the world is able to decrypt the data. With GoBD conformity, TeamDrive continues this strict alignment with the highest data protection, security and legal standards of the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union, according to the Hamburg-based company.

GoBD conformity is applicable law

As early as 2014, the Federal Ministry of Finance (BFM) laid down new “Principles for the Orderly Keeping and Storage of Books, Records and Documents in Electronic Form and for Data Access” (GoBD), which have been in force since the assessment year 2015. The GoBD prescribes proper digital accounting including all upstream and downstream IT systems. Therefore, not only accounting programs are affected, but also PC cash register, merchandise management, invoicing, measuring scales, cost accounting, time recording and documentation management systems.

In the event of serious violations of the GoBD, the tax authorities are required to estimate the tax bases. But the medium-sized economy is hardly prepared for the digital audit by the tax authorities. So far only the pure bookkeeping data were examined with tax audits namely. Most enterprises are not prepared for an examination of the data from the pre- and auxiliary systems: Many cannot place these dates in the demanded form the finance authorities at the disposal. In addition, many medium-sized companies still have an acute need to catch up when it comes to setting up an appropriate internal control system (ICS) and the procedural documentation of the IT systems used, all of which are also valid requirements of the GoBD.

The consequences of the “digital tax trap” can be devastating and even threaten the company’s existence: if the auditors find GoBD defects, they can derive estimates of the income and sales taxes determined by the company to date – i.e. subsequently increase the tax burden.

The tax authorities have already begun to deploy specialists who will specifically scan the affected software for weak points in the new GoBD during tax audits. Important: The users themselves are responsible for compliance with the GoBD and thus for the correctness of the software products used for accounting.

TeamDrive Managing Director Detlef Schmuck explains: “The grace period that has been running since 2015 expired on January 1, 2017 and now the tax authorities will pay strict attention to GoBD compliance. Anyone using IT systems that do not meet these requirements will have to reckon with sensitive tax arrears. This also includes the entire file and document management in the company, if offers, calculations, performance records, statements of account or other information that can influence the profit and loss account of the company are affected”.

By the way, the German legal situation is based on the “OECD Guidance on Tax Compliance for Business and Accounting Software 2005”.

TeamDrive has a current white paper “Information on Digitization and GoBD” for interested entrepreneurs.