The self-receipt – what is it?
The own receipt serves as a replacement for lost or unissued invoices and receipts. It is recognized by the tax office as a valid replacement document . Here it is important to know that a separate receipt is required for all postings of recorded income and expenses . Without valid evidence, the expenses will not be recognized by the tax office.
Every now and then it can of course also happen that there is no invoice for a certain company payment. This can have the following reasons: Either it was not issued at all or it has been lost. The first step should always be to get a duplicate of the original invoice. If that is not possible, there is an alternative option, namely the personal receipt. This self-written receipt can be used to ensure tax deductibility.
The mandatory details of a self-receipt:
The following information should be included on your own receipt:
- What was the amount that was paid?
- What was the sum paid for?
- When was the amount paid?
- Who was the sum paid to?
In addition, it should also be stated why a personal receipt must be presented and why there is no original invoice. Basically, all information should be noted that was also on the original invoice. Finally, you have to confirm the information with your own signature. There are also templates for your own receipt that you can use free of charge.
Important : the personal receipt is only used as an emergency solution! Ideally, there is an original receipt for every booking. However, if the own receipts are the exception and contain all relevant information, then these will normally be recognized by the tax office without any problems. A little caution is advised, however, because if you have too many own receipts, the credibility of the bookkeeping will suffer. In subsequent audits , it could therefore cause inconvenience. In addition, the own receipt does not represent a proper invoice. Accordingly, no input tax can be claimed on this receipt.
Tip!
If you want to comfortably create and manage invoices and orders, then you should look around for an invoicing program . With the help of this, you can not only create and process offers and invoices, but also delivery notes with little effort.
What are the requirements for an invoice?
You cannot create an invoice at will, because there are legal regulations on the components that must be complied with. In a nutshell, we would like to show you the legally stipulated mandatory information for an invoice:
- 1. Name + address of the recipient
- 2. Name + address of the supplying or performing company and its tax number. If available, the sales tax ID must of course also be given. People who work according to the small business regulation are not allowed to charge sales tax and must therefore include a corresponding reference to the small business regulation on the invoice
- 3. The (consecutive) invoice number
- 4. Exact date on which the invoice was issued
- 5. Period of delivery of goods or provision of services
- 6. Quantity and type of product or service. Try to insert the exact names possible here, because this way you can prevent annoying inquiries during the tax audit
- 7. Tax percentage and tax amount, provided that sales tax is shown
In addition to this mandatory information, contact details should also be given on invoices, after all, customers may have questions from time to time. Of course, bank details and an exact payment term should not be missing. A reference to possible follow-up costs if the payment is not made on time should not be missing. Despite the numerous points, attention should be paid to a clear invoice design.
The so-called small amount invoices represent a special case . These are invoices that do not exceed a sum of 250 euros including taxes. In this case, it is not necessary to provide all of the above information. The customer address can be left out, for example, and an invoice number is not necessary in this case.
Small amount invoices only need to contain the following information:
- Name + address of the supplying or performing company
- Type and quantity of goods or services
- Net, tax and gross amount
- If you work according to the small business regulation and do not charge sales tax, you must make a note of this on your invoice.
Discounts, discounts and special cases
Every now and then it happens that the invoice amount and the amount actually paid do not match. There are a number of different reasons for this:
- returns
- Complaints
- Canceled orders
- It is an invoice with a discount
- Due to a discount campaign, the final amount is reduced
- Payment tolerance due to an error. The open invoice amount was not transferred correctly due to a small number rotator. Short example: 299.78 euros instead of 299.87 euros.
So that there are no problems with invoicing and the accounting is correct, such changes and deviations must also be booked correctly.
