What are tax-relevant data?
There is no standard definition of this term from the fiscal authority. In its FAQ list of 6 March 2003, the fiscal authority paraphrases the term as follows:
Data are relevant for tax purposes whenever they may be of significant for the taxation of taxpayers.
This very flexible definition of ‘tax-relevant data’ needs to be viewed from a content, methodological and technical point of view. The content aspect concerns the tax-relevant data to be audited. The content question needs to be answered by the taxpaying organisation on the basis of its business activity, in conjunction with its tax consultant or certified accountant. According to the German chamber of tax consultants, identifying all tax-relevant data is a task that only tax consultants are legally qualified to perform. Organisations should definitely make use of their services.
The methodological aspect is a question of auditing security and process documentation. Many of the requirements here are based on the German principles of orderly electronic bookkeeping systems (GoBS) of 1995. The GDPdU regulations refer to them frequently. They contain provisions on e.g. data security, documentation, verifiability and data rendering. This means that many of the problems that companies find themselves facing as a result of the GDPdU regulations have existed for almost ten years. The GoBS principles were in fact not really followed for almost a decade, being simply ignored by those required to keep books and records. With the introduction of the GDPdU regulations, the GoBS principles are not only experiencing a renaissance, they have acquired a fundamental significance, since GDPdU-capability cannot be achieved without following them.
The technical aspect includes e.g. the technical provision of the tax-relevant data in an analysable form, and data storage methods. Tax-relevant data can be produced and stored in a number of different systems. At this level, once the tax-relevant data have been classified, the task is to identify the necessary data-processing systems, storage locations and storage formats so that the data can always be provided in an analysable form. The range of special services provided by SER Solutions offers competent support in this area.
The datasets in question are primarily tax-relevant data from financial and asset accounting and payroll. But tax-relevant data from upstream and downstream systems are also included. For instance, an email is regarded as an original digital document that must be kept in an electronically analysable original format if it contains e.g. a calculation of travel costs or a calculation in spreadsheet format.
The GDPdU has not changed the scope or content of audits. What has changed is the form in which tax-relevant data are made available, accessed and analysed. This has been adapted to take account of technological developments. More and more information is being created electronically and can only be analysed electronically.