Scanning receipts with a smartphone in Germany: a GoBD checklist for choosing an app

The essentials in brief

• A smartphone is enough: image capture may be done with many kinds of devices, smartphones are named expressly (GoBD margin number 130).
• No signature needed: for tax purposes an electronic signature and time stamp are not required (margin number 138).
• Colour where it counts: full colour reproduction is required where colour has evidentiary function (margin number 137).
• Check the OCR text: full text produced by text recognition is kept after verification and correction (margin number 130).
• Paper may go: after capture you may destroy paper unless it must be kept as an original (margin number 140).

What must hold when you scan receipts

Anyone who captures paper receipts as images must keep the resulting document so that the reproduction matches the original visually when it is made legible (margin number 130; section 147 (2) AO). Section 147 (2) AO also requires that the documents are available at any time during the retention period, can be made legible without delay and can be machine-evaluated. Freelancers using the EÜR are affected too (margin number 115). The background is in GoBD and digital receipts; the periods are in Receipt retention periods in Germany.

Checklist: how to choose a scanning solution

The list is derived from the GoBD points; it is not an official certification.

A certificate or attestation is not needed: there are no positive attestations, and third-party certificates do not bind the tax authority (margin numbers 180, 181).

Your scanning routine in five steps

1. Capture the receipt: photo or scan, flat, well lit, whole page, in colour.
2. Check legibility: amounts, date, name and tax details must be recognisable.
3. Name and file the document sensibly: for example by year and month.
4. Work only with the electronic file from then on: further processing is done on the electronic document (margin number 139).
5. Destroy or keep the paper: you may destroy it unless it must be kept as an original (margin number 140).

Steps 1 to 3 and 5 are practical hints from this article; margin numbers 139 and 140 are requirements of the letter.

Organisational instruction: half a page is often enough

The procedure of image capture must be documented. The letter recommends an organisational instruction that regulates, among other things, who may capture and when capture takes place (margin number 136). The design depends on the complexity and diversity of your business, your organisational structure and the IT system used (margin number 151). For a small business you can note briefly: who scans, when (for example weekly), with what, where the files are kept and how you check legibility. That is this article's implementation idea; if in doubt, ask your tax office or tax adviser.

Do not print and scan receipts that arrived digitally

Invoices you receive as a PDF by e-mail are kept in the format in which you received them (margin number 131). A printout followed by a scan is no substitute. You only need to scan paper.

Common mistakes

• Unreadable photos. Dark, crooked or cropped: the reproduction must match the original.
• Black-and-white scans of coloured receipts. Where the colour means something, colour reproduction is needed (margin number 137).
• Accepting the OCR result unchecked. Verification and correction are part of it (margin number 130).
• Destroying paper until nobody knows what was captured. Document your procedure (margin number 136).
• No backup of the files. The system is to be secured against loss (margin number 103).

How it works with VAT GPT

You upload income and expense receipts to VAT GPT as PDF, photo or XML file. For invoices the AI reads date, amounts, VAT, currency and country and assigns expenses to one of 29 categories; you check and confirm the result. Through the data export you get a ZIP file with your income and expense receipts as original files, filed by year, quarter and month, with overview tables and a DATEV bookings file for your tax adviser.

After that it takes three steps:

1. Upload files: your Amazon or eBay CSV reports and your invoices. The AI reads amounts, countries and tax rates.
2. Check the result: VAT GPT breaks down the VAT for Germany and the EU (OSS) and prepares the advance return – monthly or quarterly. You check and confirm.
3. Send: with VAT GPT Pro via ELSTER directly to the tax office.

With Go you use all Pro features free of charge for 30 days. Get to know VAT GPT or create an account right away.

What VAT GPT does not do

• VAT GPT is not tax advice.
• VAT GPT does not scan paper receipts with a camera function of its own: you upload photos or scans that you made with your smartphone or scanner.
• VAT GPT is not a GoBD archive and does not write an organisational instruction for you: you describe your scanning procedure yourself.

What does VAT GPT cost?

Free (basic features, free of charge), Go (30 days free with all Pro features), Pro €49 per month or €444 per year, each including VAT.

Frequently asked questions

Is a phone photo enough? Yes, if the requirements are met; the letter names smartphones expressly (margin number 130).

Must the scanning app be GoBD-certified? No; third-party certificates do not bind the tax office (margin number 181).

May I throw away the paper receipt? Yes, unless it must be kept as an original (margin number 140).

Do I need a time stamp? Not for tax purposes (margin number 138).

Do I have to write a procedure documentation? The image-capture procedure must be documented; the extent depends on the business (margin numbers 136, 151).

Further reading

• GoBD and digital receipts
• Receipt retention periods in Germany
• AI invoice processing: scan receipts and read invoices
• Bookkeeping for small businesses in Germany

Not tax advice: the content does not replace individual advice.

Sources

• BMF: GoBD, letter of 28 November 2019 (in German)
• Section 146 AO (in German)
• Section 147 AO (in German)