Open letter to Olaf Scholz

Open letter to the Federal Minister of Finance, Olaf Scholz

We think that a lot of things are going well. Hardly any other country is investing such enormous Support schemes during the current crisis just like the Federal Government. But there is still room for improvement in some areas. That is why we have written an open letter to Finance Minister Olaf Scholz:

Digitising the Covid-19 Bridging Support Programme: Proof of eligible costs should be provided via E-balance sheet procedure be submitted to the tax authorities in order to minimise the workload for all programme participants

Dear Mr Scholz,

As an IT company based in Hamburg, we are writing to you today regarding two matters.

First of all Thank you very much for your efforts in providing swift assistance to businesses in difficulty during the current coronavirus crisis.

Following on from this, we would like to put forward the following idea for reducing costs and workload:

According to the document Key points: „Temporary relief for small and medium-sized enterprises that are forced to cease their business operations entirely or to a significant extent as a result of the coronavirus crisis“, are the Provide evidence of the loss of turnover and the eligible costs and to have this substantiated by a tax adviser or auditor.

We suggest that, for this purpose, the E-balance sheet procedure is used. This is because the currently valid taxonomy already provides an efficient tool for transmitting the required data to the tax authorities quickly and efficiently. Turnover and eligible costs can be assigned to taxonomy items and submitted in a single XBRL data set for all the periods specified in the key points paper.

Data records of this kind can therefore be automatically checked and assessed within your organisation. Less effort, a lower risk of errors, and significantly faster – everyone involved would benefit.

Last week, my team and I assessed the effort involved in providing XBRL data sets in accordance with the format described above. As a result, we have decided to provide our customers with a corresponding function in our financial reporting software, Opti.Tax, in July 2020. Until the ELSTER interface is technically capable of accepting the data, our software will provide the data in the form of printable reports.

Make the most of the digital opportunities available. Should you or your staff have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With kind regards from your home country

Paul Liese

P.S.: Should the idea have already been raised within your organisation, please regard this letter as our approval and a word of encouragement.

We are keen to see the reaction.