From 2018, a new law permits unannounced cash register inspections to be carried out without specific cause (Section 146b of the German Fiscal Code (AO)). This is designed as a standalone procedure for the prompt verification of the accuracy of till records and the correct transfer of these records into the accounts. Formally speaking, this does not constitute an external audit within the meaning of Section 193 of the German Fiscal Code (AO). However, if irregularities are identified during such an inspection, an external audit may be initiated without a prior audit order.

Requirement for individual recording standardised

In addition, the principle of the obligation to keep individual records using electronic recording systems has been enshrined in law in Section 146a of the German Fiscal Code (AO), and rules have been laid down for a new, certified electronic security device. These rules apply to calendar years following 31 December 2019; however, the provisions governing cash register inspections have been in force since 1 January 2018. As the various till systems generate different data outputs, it is foreseeable that till inspections will become very time-consuming. The German Professional Association for Cash Register and Accounting Systems in Cash and Cashless Payment Transactions (DFKA) has therefore set itself the aim of developing standardised procedures for daily closing and individual transaction records.

The key priority here was to ensure simplicity in terms of feasibility and acceptance. In view of the legislative requirement to digitise and make available data carriers containing individual transaction data in accordance with specific requirements, the aim is to improve data security and the benefits for all parties involved.

POS Taxonomy 1.0 in Opti.View

The DFKA working group on „POS Data Taxonomy“ will therefore standardise individual transaction records and the daily closing statement in the form of a structured data set (POS taxonomy). POS Taxonomy 1.0 is expected to be released in the first half of 2018 and has been agreed with the tax authorities in this version. The compliance specialist hsp Handels-Software-Partner GmbH from Hamburg will integrate POS Taxonomy 1.0 into its Opti.View inspection software integrate. With Opti.View, data is displayed in a structured format in accordance with GoBD (Z1, Z2 and Z3) and analysed using audit steps (macros).

Customised POS data output can be mapped to the POS taxonomy standard, resulting in the following benefits:

• Consistent data provision for audit purposes through clearly defined individual till transactions and till closures in the Z3 description standard (basic function)
• Enabling the transfer of all data recorded in the respective system to an archiving system, whereby the taxonomy represents the semantic description of the data record, or the use of the integrated database for till data (optional)
• Enabling the structured till data to be processed (further) as automatically as possible within the financial accounting system, as well as supporting the till operator in carrying out completeness and plausibility checks. The integrated interface with InfoZoom provides the user with an overview, whilst the integrated specialised check routines allow critical data records to be analysed in advance (optional).

hsp Handels-Software-Partner GmbH will integrate the POS Taxonomy 1.0 into Opti.View in the course of the year. This will standardise POS data so that it can be stored without any problems and analysed using IDEA during tax audits.