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Understand open cash-box records

Do you use a cash box or drawer? Use this introduction to consider records, receipts and questions for your tax adviser separately.

Current lawGovernment draft · not yet lawAs of 13.10.2026

This overview helps you prepare. It is not a full assessment or individual legal or tax advice.

Worksheet to take with you

For a cash box, you want to discuss an actual business day in a traceable way. Describe the process without assuming an exemption.

Illustrative example, not a case assessment

The examples show one way to organize the information. Print the sheet and add your details on paper. No information is collected or stored here.

Location / date

  1. Manual cash box

    Example

    Starting point: a cash box in the shop; note how sales are recorded outside an electronic cash-register system.

    Your notes

  2. Records

    Example

    Daily process: identify sales, cash deposits and cash expenses separately; refer to the existing record for each event.

    Your notes

  3. For your tax adviser

    Example

    Advisory question: do the available records and receipts suit the activity? Have possible exceptions explicitly assessed by a professional.

    Your notes

What you take away

A description of a day with references to existing records and open questions. This sheet replaces neither cash records nor the assessment of possible exceptions.

Still open / contact person

For your conversation

  1. Manual cash box

    Current law does not impose a general obligation to buy an electronic register. The applicable recording, cash-management and retention duties continue to apply to a manual cash box. Whether exemptions from individual transaction recording apply must be assessed separately.

  2. Records

    Check how sales, cash movements and receipts are recorded and retained. Orderly documentation already matters today.

  3. Receipts

    The receipt-issuing duty under § 146a(2) AO applies to the electronic recording systems covered by that provision. This does not imply a blanket exemption from other receipt or record-keeping duties.

  4. For your tax adviser

    Review current record-keeping with your tax adviser. The relevant annual figures matter for the proposed register obligation; shop size and the number of products do not answer this question.

Official sources

kassenpflicht-kompass.de

An information resource from moaby, a provider of cash-register systems.

Individual tax questions belong with a tax adviser.