Cash book
In accounting , the cash book is a general ledger that contains all cash payment processes ( cash deposits , cash withdrawals , deposits and withdrawals ) of a company and is used to determine the cash balance .
General
If business transactions involve cash payments, a so-called business cash desk is required. The cash proceeds are either recorded individually, entered in a cash register or recorded as a total amount at the close of business in the open cash register using the counting protocol as a so-called day box or daily solution. The daily total is transferred to the cash book . In the case of the open cash register, this is done in the cash register report. The cash book contains the daily records of the "cash desk" - deposits and withdrawals - and is kept in account form . Forms for cash books are available in stores.
The balance of the cash book shows how much cash is in the company's cash register. The cash book also contains the accounting documents for the business transactions recorded. The target balance resulting from a cash book must match the actual balance of the cash register at all times ("cash fall ability").
The closing balance of the “cash book” (or “ cash ”) account appears in the balance sheet as an active inventory account in the current assets ( Section 266 (2) lit. B IV HGB ).
Structure of the cash book
The cash book documents the information for each business transaction:
- date
- The date of the business event
- receipt
- The receipt or your own receipt is required.
- Document number
- A consecutive number for the clear assignment of the document or the receipt to the business transaction
- Booking text
- An explanatory description of the business transaction
- tax rate
- The sales tax rate on which this business transaction is based
- Receipt in cash register
- The amount and currency of the business transaction that is to be documented as revenue in the cash register, if available. This also includes down payments and deposits.
- Issue through cash register
- The amount and currency of the business transaction that is to be documented as expenditure by the cash register, if available.
- Sales tax or input tax
- The sales tax or input tax, which results from the tax rate and income or expenditure from the cash register
- Cash on hand
- The current cash balance , taking into account the business transactions booked.
Legal basis in Germany
The legal basis follows from Section 146 of the Tax Code (AO) and from Section 22 of the Sales Tax Act (UStG), according to which each individual turnover must be recorded. Those who are required to keep accounts must keep a cash book. Who's profit after § 4 para. 3 Income Tax Act determined (ITA), has no cash book, but create financial reports. Then he has to keep records according to § 22 UStG, which are also relevant for income tax. This also requires the recording of sales, which for taxis include, for example, the shift slips. There is an individual recording obligation in accordance with Section 146 AO for every operating income and every operating expense.
Cash report
The cash book is mandatory for individual records. In it, the digital revenue records z. B. recorded from the cash register. This is in contrast to a cash report, which only contains the total amount (daily solution) for each individual business day after retrograde determination by counting. The cash report must therefore contain the respective date and be handwritten. This means that the relevant information that makes up the so-called daily solution is contained in the daily cash report. The cash report must be created daily, i.e. not delayed. It must have a retrograde structure. It is not permitted to summarize several days in a cash report. All cash reports together form the cash register for the respective year. Insofar as secondary funds are kept, these results must be transferred to the cash report via so-called secondary cash register. The daily cash report must be distinguished from the cash book. It is to be kept even if there is no obligation to keep the cash book. This is the case with Section 4 III computers. Insofar as a so-called open till - i.e. no registration of the individual records by making a new entry - is kept, the contents of the till must be counted daily at the end of business (daily recording) and the content of the counting log must be included in the till report. It is therefore incorrect if the content of the cash report is set to be the same as the cash book. If the distinction is correct, there is a cash report for the open cash register and a cash book for cash registers. The retrograde determination of the daily solution is incorrect here, since the daily revenues can be taken from the digital recording by the Z-receipt. If individual records are reasonable, they are to be kept in addition to the cash report.
Retention requirements
In addition to the obligation to record, there is also an obligation to retain the cash reports and the associated receipts. The counting protocols for the counting of the cash register must also be kept. A purely arithmetical cash management is not sufficient and leads to the fact that the cash management is incorrect, so that an additional estimate according to § 162 AO is justified. Even if no cash book is compulsory, it is still advisable to keep all records in order to provide evidence. This applies even if the individual recordings according to § 148 AO nF are unreasonable.
Individual record requirement
The individual record-keeping requirement contained in Section 146 (1) sentence 1 AO new version also applies to open checkouts. This requires written records, not just tally sheets or the storage of chips until the daily motto is counted and included in the cash report. It is therefore necessary to keep and file the individual written receipt for the specific business case in addition to the daily report. This always intervenes when the customer's name is known. In terms of income tax, it was previously possible for retailers to waive this obligation for cents (small amounts). However, this case law is also obsolete for income taxes , as the sales tax record-keeping obligations according to § 22 UStG also apply to income tax, so that there is also an individual record obligation here for retailers , restaurants, etc. The Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) has explicitly stated this. This means that the earlier jurisprudence - not only with taxis - is outdated. Due to the relevance of the sales tax recording obligation, the individual income tax recording obligation is never unreasonable. This criterion has been obsolete since the new case law. It is also inaccurate that there is no individual recording requirement up to 15,000 euros. In the case of individual payments of over 15,000 euros, an additional individual record must be made with the identity of the business partner in accordance with the Money Laundering Act (GwG) ( Section 10 (3) GwG). A special recording obligation follows from § 22 UStG and then also applies to income tax. The sales tax records must also be observed as a record obligation for income tax. The cash management and thus the bookkeeping are - also for income tax - not properly according to Section 158 AO, if the entrepreneur only has a single till for services and deliveries at different tax rates, without the fees for the different tax rates being recorded separately. Recording without separation is incorrect if the deliveries are subject to different tax rates (standard tax rate, reduced tax rate, tax-exempt). This problem can only be successfully avoided by using a cash register with the different tax rates. If a cash register is used, all receipts and revenues must be registered without exception and detached from the value by entering them, because individual records are mandatory for cash registers. The individual records are therefore to be kept at the cash register anyway. They must be kept at the open till, otherwise a formal error according to § 158 AO exists. In cash-intensive establishments, this serious formal error becomes a material error.
Incorrect cash accounting
A cash book is difficult to keep because many sources of error are possible. The cash book is incorrect i. S. v. Section 158 AO, if it is electronically linked to a changeable file such as B. Excel is performed. The requirements are comparable with an electronic logbook. Furthermore, it must not only be run arithmetically. This can be seen from the deficit in the cash register and the lack of counting protocols. The cash book is wrong if the subsidiary or special funds are not included in the cash reports. If there is - as almost always - an individual recording obligation, only a total amount as a so-called daily solution is not sufficient. The cash book is based only on the entire daily solution. The cash book is not sufficient if this violates the obligation to record each individual operating income. The cash management is inadequate if - even if no cash book is required - the individual records that are still necessary are not kept chronologically. Another consequence is the loss of the license if no or only implausible records (shift slips for taxis) are kept.
Appreciation
The disadvantages arise from additions according to § 162 AO. If the cash register is only kept arithmetically, the bookkeeping is not properly in accordance with § 158 AO. If the cash book is only kept electronically without a change lock or if it is incomplete or presented with many changes if it is handwritten, this will lead to additional estimates. This also applies if the individual recordings according to § 22 UStG have not been carried out. In cash-intensive companies, the violation of the formal correctness also triggers the necessary violation of the material correctness of the accounting according to § 158 AO. Thus, the entire bookkeeping is discarded, so as not properly acc. § 158 AO assessed.
Punishment for tax evasion
The cash book is only a personal record and therefore has no high evidential value. If the cash book is deliberately incorrectly kept, this can trigger the initial suspicion of tax evasion in accordance with Section 370 AO. This is always the case if the tax office becomes aware that the daily slogan (the daily turnover) has been entered incorrectly on purpose. This positive knowledge can result from the shadow bookkeeping ( black funds ), from the employment of illegal workers , from test purchases, from control notifications , through the so-called summary risk assessment (SRP) or from the post-calculation.
Commercial sanctions
If no records of the origin of income are kept or stored or if they are inconclusive, this is a serious error according to § 158 AO and also in the sense of professional law. So if the so-called shift slips are not available for taxis, this is sufficient to revoke the taxi license according to § 25 Passenger Transport Act (PBefG). In the case of other traders, there is a trade ban or even a revocation of the license to practice medicine or the operating license of the pharmacist.
literature
- Assmann: Cash management - cash register. StBp 1990, 169
- Scherer: Cash report - sources of error and control options. StBp 1995, 193
- Wiethölter: The cash management. StBp 2003, 129
- Brinkmann: Estimates in Tax Law. Erich Schmidt Verlag, 3rd edition, ISBN 978-3503138517 , page 152
- Huber: Cash registers and cash register systems in tax law. ÖStZ Spezial.- LexisNexis Verlag, Vienna 2012, ISBN 3-700-75360-8 , p. 106
- Schmidt, Liebig: Cash shortfalls. NWB compartment 17, 1297
- Teutemacher: checklist for proper cash management. BBK, January 2013 (special edition online at horeca24.de from December 4, 2012)
- Teutemacher: Handbook for cash management , NWB - Verlag 2015
