ED14 - Tax Office: Tax Number, § 60a AO, Payroll Tax Return

Problem

After incorporation and trade registration, the tax office (FA) makes contact—but in the SME sector, it is unclear which obligations this entails and how they are evidenced in the repo:

• "Tax number? The tax advisor has that." - many business owners do not know their own tax number, let alone where it is kept
• Payroll tax return as a black box - the LStA is prepared by the payroll office, but the business owner has no evidence in the repo
• ELSTER certificate not documented - the personal or organization certificate is installed somewhere, but is not evidenced in the repo
• VAT notice confused with corporation tax notice - there are different tax numbers for different tax types, but only one is available
• No central deadline monitoring for tax office submissions - LStA, UStA, income/corporation tax returns have different deadlines, but nobody monitors them centrally
• § 60a AO decision unknown - the decision on nonprofit status (§ 60a Abs. 1 AO) is the basis for tax exemptions, but it is somewhere in paper form

Core Message

Tax office obligations in the Git repo mean:

1. Tax numbers as registry entries - centralized storage in registry/ with a sidecar, one number per tax type
2. Payroll tax return as a JSON artifact - LStA with source_sha256 referencing the ELSTER receipt
3. ELSTER certificate documented - .pfx file with a sidecar (not the certificate itself in the repo, but the evidence)
4. Deadline check for all tax office submissions - LStA, UStA, income/corporation tax returns with an automatic warning
5. § 60a AO decision as evidence with a sidecar - exemption decision with validity tracking

Compliance by Design: Tax office obligations are not managed after the fact, but are structurally captured through registry entries with sidecars, deadline check and JSON artifacts.

Tax Numbers in the Registry Directory

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

§ 60a AO Decision - Nonprofit Status

Important: The § 60a AO decision is the basis for all nonprofit privileges (KSt, USt, VBG, lump-sum rules). Without this decision, tax exemptions cannot be substantiated. The decision must be stored in the repo with a sidecar so that evidence can be provided during an audit.

Payroll Tax Return (§ 41a EStG)

LStA as a JSON Artifact

{
  "$schema": "https://gitcover.org/schemas/diary-entry-1.0.schema.json",
  "V7GUID": "<V7GUID-Class-aus-Registry>",
  "docUid": "<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 is used to organize storage and for DB queries. The lsta object documents the payroll tax return with all its components. For an Aktivrente (§ 3 Nr. 21 EStG), the LSt is 0.00

• it is a nil return (see ED23).

Document the ELSTER Certificate

Important - .pfx not in the repo: The .pfx file (certificate + private key) is not included in 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 securely outside the repo (e.g., on an encrypted data carrier).

See ED16: The practical use of the ELSTER certificate (government interface practices, DE-Mail, transmission via GitCover) is covered in ED16.

Deadline Monitoring for Tax Office Submissions

Practical tip: The deadline check is maintained as a Git artifact and updated with every commit. The automatic warning (see ED08) warns 14 days before an FA deadline expires. This way, no missed deadline goes unnoticed again - and § 152 AO (late filing surcharge of up to EUR 25,000) is avoided.

Risk Leverage

Harness Requirement (Preview)

Derivable from ED14:

The complete requirements list in Harness-Anforderungen.md.

Sources

• AO (§ 60a - recognition of nonprofit status, § 149 - tax returns, § 152 - late filing surcharge)
• EStG (§ 41a - payroll tax return, § 41b - payroll tax certificate)
• UStG (§ 18 - VAT return, § 14 - e-invoice)
• E1/agents/ (anonymized) - SSoT concept with registry, deadline check, ELSTER

Source Topology and CDN Reference Links

Note: This mapping of sources, mirror and community hub reflects the current state and may change. Please check the respective canonical source on gitcover.org for the current state.