As the year draws to a close, hsp captain Paul Liese takes a look back at the past few days. In the weekly live programme „hsp live at 11“, he brings viewers up to date. He also looks ahead to the coming weeks, as the hsp has some top-class fixtures in store.

First topic: Sustainability report. Tax practice firms are currently receiving occasional enquiries regarding the ESRS. They are asking us when we will make the relevant taxonomy available. The short answer: when the time is right. The long answer: in the summer of 2023, the European Commission adopted the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) Adopted. This is being implemented at national level in such a way that, in Germany, a company has been commissioned to develop the taxonomy by Q1 2024 at the latest. Until now, only a draft taxonomy existed, which was published in 2022. The mandatory, official taxonomy will not be available until next year. As soon as it is available, it will be incorporated into Opti.Tax. Very important: the timetable set out here is the official roadmap.

To date, the GS1 standards and the German Sustainability Code have been incorporated into Opti.Tax. These are not mandatory, but are intended to facilitate proactive communication on the topic of sustainability. Providers who currently offer their own taxonomies or ESRS solutions do not work with the official taxonomy – as this does not yet exist. The taxonomies that are claimed to exist are either drafts, speculations or empty promises. Here at hsp, we offer only the official taxonomy – in other words, the only one that is relevant. Until then, companies do not need to take any action whatsoever.

Outlook for the coming weeks: a major update and new tools

In the programme on 10 January, we’ll be looking at materiality analysis. This is because this analysis can already be carried out with clients – even without a taxonomy. It helps to determine, before a sustainability report is drawn up, what each individual company needs to report on. Opti.Tax Release 24.0 is due to be released on 24 January 2024 – so the live broadcast on the same day will also be entirely dedicated to this major update. The following week, Paul will be speaking to Andreas Gaebler from the law firm Schröder & Partner about the digital emergency file. It will be possible to create this using Opti.Tax to protect the companies concerned from significant damage in the event of a sudden loss of key personnel.

Paul is using the last programme of the year to thank all partners, clients, users and viewers on behalf of hsp. The wealth of ideas, the perseverance and patience shown when dealing with many complex issues, and the discussions and feedback – including amongst ourselves – have, taken together, helped us navigate the year successfully and move forward.