Germany: Uniform standard for electronic receipts

Now when the deadline to start using Technical Security Devices (TSE) on cash registers, obligation which is defined by the Law on protection against manipulation of basic digital basic records, from December 22nd 2016. has past (March 31^st 2021, except for the subjects opted for cloud solutions and applied for an individual postponement according to Article 148 of the Tax Code (AO)), it is possible to start preparation for creating electronic receipts.

The German Association for Cash Register and Accounting System Technology in Cash and Cashless Payment Transactions (DFKA) and its affiliated companies, together with representatives of other manufacturers from the specialist trade and members of associations ZDH (German Confederation of Skilled Crafts), HDE (German Retail Federation) and DEHOGA (German Hotel and Restaurant Association) in a working group “Electronic Document”, have agreed on a standard and prepared guidelines for issuing of electronic receipts.

Previously it was not defined in which way electronic receipts should be issued – it was clear that they are allowed, but without clear practical implementation definitions.

On May 28th 2020, Federal Ministry of Finance has issued a Letter referring to the Law on protection against manipulation of basic digital records, amending the application decree of Article 146a. Then, it was published that electronic receipts can be issued in standardized formats, such as JPG, PNG or PDF and that they can be provided to customers e.g., by scanning a QR code or through a download link, by near field communication (NFC), by email or directly in a customer account.

The interest for issuing electronic receipt is rising everywhere and in Germany this is a particularly interested topic since the obligation to issue receipts started on January 1st 2020, so retailers already issued such receipts.

Since the current legislation did not set a pace for a uniform approach when developing an adequate solution for creating of electronic receipts, now DFKA and other interested parties have defined a standard which should improve legal security and consensus in regards to retail processes.

The Electronic Cash Register Standard, EKaBS for short, enables a safe, environmentally and user-friendly alternative to paper receipts, following all of the legal requirements for printed receipts defined by the authorities, being a legally compliant digital alternative to cash register receipts.

The main intention of the standard is to close the gap created when using different technologies by different retailers. The document itself defines the content of the electronic receipt, format and structure of data, linking of readable documents with the structured data, transport routes to the recipient, electronic receipts in bookkeeping, consolidation of documents.

The coding of the document content is based on the proven JSON format already used in the DFKA-Taxonomie-Kassdaten® and can therefore be implemented and used quickly for most software manufacturers. With the option of automated verification of the data from the technical safety device (TSE), it also meets the requirements for receipts during a checkout.

In case you are issuing/planning to issue electronic receipts, feel free to contact us for all the details!

Need to get and/or to remain compliant? Get in touch!