ED11 - Tax Office: Tax Number, § 60a AO, Payroll Tax Registration

Problem

After formation and business registration, the tax office (Finanzamt, FA) gets in touch - but in the SME sector it is unclear which obligations arise from this and how they are evidenced in the repo:

• "Tax number? The tax advisor has that." - many entrepreneurs do not know their own tax number, let alone where it is stored
• § 60a AO notice unknown - the notice on non-profit status (§ 60a Abs. 1 AO) is the basis for tax exemptions, but it sits somewhere in paper form
• Payroll tax registration as a black box - the LStA is prepared by the payroll office, but the entrepreneur has no evidence in the repo
• ELSTER certificate not documented - the personal or organisational certificate is installed somewhere, but not evidenced in the repo
• USt notification vs. KSt notification confused - different tax numbers for different tax types, but only one is on hand
• No deadline monitoring for FA registrations - LStA, UStA, ESt/KSt returns have different deadlines, but nobody monitors them centrally

Core message

Tax office obligations in the Git repo mean:

1. Tax numbers as registry entries - central storage in registry/ with sidecar, one number per tax type
2. § 60a AO notice as evidence with sidecar - exemption notice with validity tracking
3. Payroll tax registration as JSON artefact - LStA with source_sha256 on the ELSTER receipt
4. ELSTER certificate documented - .pfx file with sidecar (not the certificate itself in the repo, but the evidence)
5. Deadline check for all FA registrations - LStA, UStA, ESt/KSt with automatic warning

Compliance by Design: FA obligations are not managed after the fact, but captured structurally through registry entries with sidecars, deadline checks and JSON artefacts.

Tax numbers in the registry directory

Practical example: The KMU has KSt tax number <STNR>, USt tax number <STNR>, LSt tax number <STNR>, W-IdNr <WID>, USt-IdNr DE<UID>. Each number is stored as evidence with sidecar in registry/. The § 60a AO notice (recognition of non-profit status) is also stored there, with validity tracking.

§ 60a AO notice - non-profit status

Important: The § 60a AO notice is the basis for all non-profit privileges (KSt, USt, VBG, lump sums). Without this notice, tax exemptions do not apply. The notice must be stored in the repo with sidecar so that evidence can be produced during an audit.

Payroll tax registration (§ 41a EStG)

LStA as JSON artefact

{
  "$schema": "https://gitcover.org/schemas/diary-entry-1.0.schema.json",
  "V7GUID": "<V7GUID-Class-aus-Registry>",
  "uuidV7": "<uuidV7-Object-mit-vorgegebener-Zeitmarke>",
  "author": "E1",
  "role": "Lohnverantwortlicher",
  "tenant": "ORG-1",
  "sphere": "ideell",
  "source": "FA",
  "source_sha256": "<SHA-256-der-ELSTER-Quittung>",
  "tags": ["lsta", "§41a-estg", "nullmeldung", "aktivrente"],
  "lsta": {
    "monat": "09/2026",
    "brutto": 2000.00,
    "lst": 0.00,
    "soli": 0.00,
    "kist": 0.00,
    "freibetrag_aktivrente": 2000.00,
    "art": "nullmeldung"
  }
}

Note: The uuidV7 is the DocID of the entry. The composite key V7GUID:uuidV7 serves storage organisation and DB queries. The lsta object documents the payroll tax registration with all components. For an active pension (§ 3 Nr. 21 EStG) the LSt = 0.00 - this is a zero return (see ED14).

Documenting the ELSTER certificate

Important - no .pfx in the repo: The .pfx file (certificate + private key) is not added to the Git repo - it contains cryptographic secrets. Instead a sidecar is stored that documents the existence and activation of the certificate (date, status, ELSTER test receipt). The .pfx file is kept safely outside the repo (e.g. on encrypted storage).

See ED12: The practical use of the ELSTER certificate (authority interface practice, DE-Mail, mediation by GitCover) is covered in ED12.

Deadline monitoring for FA registrations

Practical tip: The deadline check is maintained as a Git artefact and updated on every commit. The auto warning (see ED07) warns 14 days before an FA deadline expires. This way no missed deadline is overlooked - and § 152 AO (late payment surcharge up to 25,000 EUR) is avoided.

Risk leverage

Harness requirement (preview)

Derivable from ED11:

The full requirement list in Harness-Anforderungen.md.

Sources

• AO (§ 60a - non-profit recognition, § 149 - tax returns, § 152 - late payment surcharge)
• EStG (§ 41a - payroll tax registration, § 41b - LSt certificate)
• UStG (§ 18 - VAT pre-registration, § 14 - e-invoice)
• AFJD/agents/ (anonymised) - SSoT concept with registry, deadline check, ELSTER

Source topology and CDN reference links

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