Value added tax, sales tax & Co.

Basic regulations on sales tax

If your income comes from self-employment, then as an entrepreneur you may have to value added tax to the Tax office and submit not only an income tax return, but also a sales tax return for the previous year.

• First, check whether you even have to pay sales tax based on your sales. If you have a so-called. If you are a small business owner and do not generate more than 17,500 euros in sales per year, you can choose the small business rule. You then make your bills net without VAT.
• If you do not fall under this regulation or if you want to forego it for other reasons, you must take advantage of all the benefits that you provide as an entrepreneur, the statutory VAT of 19% or 7% (some services are tax-privileged) to slap on.
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• At the tax office you can then also obtain a so-called. Apply for a sales tax identification number, which must be stated on the invoices or in the imprint of a website. It is preferable to the normal tax number for data protection reasons, as less conclusions can be drawn about the identity of the owner.
• In the first year of doing business, you will usually have to submit a monthly sales tax return. Among other things, the services you have provided on which you have levied VAT on the customer must be listed here, which is now transferred to the tax office as VAT.


Annual sales tax return - this is how it works

There are different ways to submit a VAT return ...

• In the monthly VAT return - which you have to submit online, by the way - you must also state the VAT amounts you paid for services from other companies. This results in either a reimbursement amount if you yourself have paid more sales tax than you received, or a claim from the tax office on you.
• You have to submit an annual sales tax return for the previous year. If you are setting up a business in the current calendar year, you should remember that this may already be the case to claim tax amounts paid prior to setting up a business and thus prior to being liable for sales tax.

VAT on anticipated business expenses

• So-called. Anticipated operating expenses are expenses prior to the opening of operations that relate directly to the start of operations, e.g. B. Acquisitions of necessary equipment, training courses, specialist books, etc. You should definitely keep the receipts and receipts from them!
• You can claim the value added tax you have paid in the context of the annual sales tax return, i.e. you can, among other things, U. who are reimbursed by the tax office for VAT paid in a period when you were not yet an entrepreneur.