Strengthening the recording obligations of the BAO as of 1 January 2007

With the Counterfeit Prevention Act 2006 In addition to changes in the EStG, NoVAG, FinStrG, ASVG, etc., the form requirements for keeping books and records under the BAO were also tightened.

:: Principle

Records must be kept in such a way that they can provide an overview of the business transactions to an expert third party within a reasonable time.

:: Concrete measures

• Income and expenditure must be recorded individually on a daily basis. Further relief is expected based on a regulation of the BMF.
• When using data carriers, records must not be alterable in a way that the original content is no longer visible, which could affect Excel. However, recording the subsequent changes should be possible. The complete reproduction of all business transactions must be ensured by appropriate means.
• Aggregate figures must be understandable.

:: Sanctions

A breach of these regulations can lead to an assessment, whereas compliance with them has the presumption of the correctness of the accounting records in itself, unless there is a justified reason to question the factual accuracy.

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