In a Circular on 28 June 2024 the Federal Ministry of Finance announced that from 2025 there will be a Germany-wide requirement to report on electronic cash registers. This rule had been suspended until now because of a lack of technical implementation on the level of German Tax Offices. Now that this function has been added to the German online tax return portal www.elster.de, the conditions have now been met for the businesses concerned to fulfil this reporting requirement.
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Contents of the requirement to report

For existing cash registers, businesses must file the following information on the ELSTER portal by 31 July 2025 at the latest: 

1. Name of taxable person
2.  Tax number
3. Type of certified technical security device (TSE)
4. Type of electronic cash registers in use
5. Amount of electronic cash registers in use
6. Serial numbers of the electronic cash register in use
7. Date of purchase of the electronic cash registers in use
8. Date of decommissioning the electronic cash register in use.


The German Tax Authorities have provided official guidance on how to fill this in, which can be downloaded at:
Ausfüllanleitung der Finanzverwaltung (PDF)  (in German).

For electronic cash registers purchased commencing with 1 July 2025, there is a deadline of one month to register them. It is essential to fulfil this requirement on time in order to avoid legal and financial risks.  Non-compliance can lead to fines of up to €25,000 and tax estimates by the tax office.

Conclusion: Check electronic cash registers to comply with deadlines

The requirement to register electronic cash registers affects not only the retail & consumer products sector but nearly all businesses that use electronic cash registers. Businesses should check in due course whether all their electronic cash registers have been registered correctly to keep the deadline.

We are glad to support you – from preparing the data to communicating with your tax office.