If the profit is determined in accordance with section 4 (1), section 5, or section 5a of the Income Tax Act, the content of the balance sheet and the profit and loss statement must be transmitted by electronic data transmission in accordance with the officially prescribed record (section 5b (1.1) of the Income Tax Act).

The officially prescribed record is based on the HGB (German Commercial Code) taxonomy developed and continuously updated by XBRL Deutschland e.V. In addition to legislative changes, what are referred to as sub-legislative requirements are also taken into account in the taxonomy (e.g. the DRS - German Accounting Standards).

The tax authorities currently publish the updated data schema of the taxonomies annually in a letter from the German Federal Ministry of Finance as the officially prescribed record in accordance with section 5b of the Income Tax Act (referred to as electronic reporting to German tax authority).

Since the officially prescribed record in accordance with section 5b of the Income Tax Act is based on the HGB (German Commercial Code) taxonomy, the taxonomy defines the technical framework of the Tax Balance module.

Different taxonomy types are provided in the taxonomy package of Tax Balance, depending on the industry:

  • Core taxonomy for enterprises subject to the accounting regulations of the HGB (German Commercial Code) (the level of detail for the balance sheet is based on section 266 of the HGB (German Commercial Code) and for the income statement on section 275 of the HGB (German Commercial Code))

  • Supplementary taxonomies for entities that have to comply with special accounting regulations (KHBV, PBV, EigBVO, etc., JAbschlVUV, JAbschlWUV), or (in the case of agriculture and forestry) voluntarily follow the model financial statements of the BMEL (German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture).

  • Banking taxonomy for entities preparing financial statements in accordance with the Regulation on the Accounting of Credit Institutions (RechKredV) (special taxonomy for credit institutions)

  • Taxonomy for payment institutions for entities preparing financial statements in accordance with the Payment Institution Accounting Regulation (RechZahlV) (special taxonomy for payment institutions)

  • Insurance taxonomy for entities preparing financial statements in accordance with the Regulation on the Accounting of Insurance Companies (RechVersV) and the Pension Funds Accounting Regulation (RechPensV) (special taxonomy for insurance companies)

The following taxonomy versions are available in Tax Balance:

Taxonomy versionPublished with BMF letter datedValid for fiscal yearsIn case of deviating fiscal years
5.12012-06-012012 and 20132012/2013 and 2013/2014
5.22013-06-272013 and 20142013/2014 and 2014/2015
5.32014-06-132014 and 20152014/2015 and 2015/2016
5.42015-06-252015 and 20162015/2016 and 2016/2017
6.02016-05-242016 and 20172016/2017 and 2017/2018
6.12017-05-162017 and 20182017/2018 and 2018/2019
6.22018-06-062018 and 20192018/2019 and 2019/2020
6.32019-07-022019 and 20202019/2020 and 2020/2021
6.42020-07-232020 and 20212020/2021 and 2021/2022
6.52021-07-092021 and 20222021/2022 and 2022/2023
6.62022-06-212022 and 20232022/2023 and 2023/2024
6.72023-06-092023 and 20242023/2024 and 2024/2025
6.82024-05-272024 and 20252024/2025 and 2025/2026
6.92025-06-102025 and 20262025/2026 and 2026/2027

The underlines indicate the recommendation based on the BMF letter.

This content was generated using AI and reviewed by Lucanet subject matter experts before publication.

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Last updated on May 28, 2026