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German cash-basis profit computation (Anlage EÜR)

The Anlage EÜR is the official profit computation for everyone who does not prepare a balance sheet: profit is the excess of operating receipts over operating expenses (§ 4(3) EStG). It must be transmitted in the officially prescribed dataset by remote data transmission (§ 60(4) EStDV) and belongs to the tax return of the year in which that profit is assessed.

Up to date for 2025 — verified on October 3, 2026Official procedure, no printed formGuide: about 60 min

This content is part of the path: Determining profit as a self-employed person· Step 9 of 11· Next step: German income tax return (ESt 1 A)

Deadlines

Seven months after the end of the calendar year
General deadline for tax returns relating to a calendar year (§ 149(2) sentence 1 AO)
Last day of February of the second following year where a tax adviser is instructed
§ 149(3) AO — the tax office may order the return in advance in individual cases (§ 149(4) AO)
Throughout the year: the asset register
The assets concerned must be entered in special registers kept ON A CONTINUOUS BASIS (§ 4(3) sentence 5 EStG) — not only at year end

Documents to prepare

  • ELSTER access with a certificate or an ELSTER business account
  • Record of the financial year's operating receipts
  • Record of the financial year's operating expenses
  • Continuously kept register of assets with date and cost of acquisition or production
  • Separate record of withdrawals and contributions
  • The business's tax number at the competent tax office
See the procedure on the official site

No form is attached to this procedure: the link leads to the official page that describes it.

What this page gives you

The guide above and the link to the official site. ActioFin does not produce any document for this page: whatever you fill in or file is done on the official medium.

Who this applies to

  • Anyone not obliged by law to keep books and prepare regular closings, and who does not do so voluntarily either (§ 4(3) sentence 1 EStG)
  • Members of the liberal professions, whom the bookkeeping duty of § 141 AO does not reach — that provision names only commercial entrepreneurs and farmers and foresters
  • Commercial entrepreneurs below the limits of § 141(1) AO: 800,000 euros total turnover in a calendar year or 80,000 euros profit from the trade in a financial year
  • Tax-privileged corporations only where receipts including VAT from taxable commercial operations exceed the taxation threshold of 35,000 euros a year in total
  • Anyone who prepares a balance sheet files that and the profit and loss account instead of the Anlage EÜR (§ 60(1) EStDV)

Worked example

Miriam Kessler, a freelance translator in Freiburg, computes her 2025 profit

She receives 68,400 euros and pays 19,250 euros of business expenses: her profit is the excess of operating receipts over operating expenses, that is 68,400 − 19,250 = 49,150 euros (§ 4(3) sentence 1 EStG). In June 2025 she buys a computer for 2,400 euros net. It is not deductible in full straight away: § 4(3) sentence 3 EStG refers expressly to the rules on depreciation, on the valuation allowance for low-value assets and on the collective item. For her office deposit § 4(3) sentence 4 EStG applies: the acquisition cost of non-depreciable fixed assets only takes effect when the sale proceeds flow in or on withdrawal. Both belong in the continuously kept registers required by sentence 5. As a member of a liberal profession Miriam stays on the EÜR even if she were to exceed the limits of § 141(1) AO — that provision names only commercial entrepreneurs and farmers and foresters.

How to fill it in, step by step

  1. First establish that you may use the EÜR at all: no statutory bookkeeping duty, and you genuinely keep no books (§ 4(3) sentence 1 EStG).
  2. Record the year's operating receipts and exclude transitory items — amounts received and paid in the name and for the account of another (§ 4(3) sentence 2 EStG).
  3. Record the operating expenses, that is the expenditure caused by the business (§ 4(4) EStG).
  4. Treat fixed assets separately: depreciation, low-value assets and the collective item must be followed in the EÜR as well (§ 4(3) sentence 3 EStG).
  5. Keep the register of assets with the date of acquisition or production and the acquisition or production cost (§ 4(3) sentence 5 EStG) and transmit it as the Anlage AVEÜR.
  6. Sign in to Mein ELSTER, select „Einnahmenüberschussrechnung (Anlage EÜR)“ and the calendar year in which the profit is to be assessed.
  7. Transmit the Anlage EÜR with authentication — either separately for the business or together with the income tax, corporation tax or assessment return.

Good to know

  • The bookkeeping duty of § 141 AO does not start when the threshold is crossed but with the financial year following the SERVICE of the notice by which the tax authority pointed out the start of that duty (§ 141(2) AO).
  • Nor does it end by itself: only at the end of the financial year following the year in which the tax authority establishes that the conditions are no longer met (§ 141(2) AO).
  • From assessment period 2017 the standardised profit computation may only be transmitted with electronic authentication; on request the tax office may waive this in hardship cases, in which case the paper Anlage EÜR and Anlage AVEÜR apply.
  • When carrying data over from the previous filing, only a few items are transferred into the profit computation — ELSTER states expressly that this is not an error.
  • Anyone who keeps books and prepares closings voluntarily loses the option: § 4(3) sentence 1 EStG requires that one genuinely keeps no books and prepares no closings.

Common mistakes

  • Deducting every purchase in full in the year it is paid. § 4(3) sentence 3 EStG refers expressly to depreciation, to the valuation allowance for low-value assets and to the collective item — the cash-flow principle does not apply to them without limit.
  • Booking land, buildings held as current assets, shares in corporations or securities as an immediate expense. They only take effect when the sale proceeds flow in or on withdrawal (§ 4(3) sentence 4 EStG).
  • Compiling the asset register only at the closing. The law requires special registers kept ON A CONTINUOUS BASIS (§ 4(3) sentence 5 EStG).
  • Counting transitory items as receipts and expenses. They are excluded (§ 4(3) sentence 2 EStG) — they change neither profit nor loss, but they inflate every analysis.
  • Applying the turnover limit of § 141 AO to a liberal profession. That provision names commercial entrepreneurs and farmers and foresters; a bookkeeping duty for the liberal professions cannot arise from it.
  • Assuming the EÜR replaces the recording of withdrawals and contributions. For the interest-deduction rule they must be recorded separately (§ 4(4a) sentence 6 EStG).

Frequently asked questions

Who may compute profit by the cash-basis method?

Anyone not obliged by law to keep books and prepare regular closings, and who also keeps no books and prepares no closings (§ 4(3) sentence 1 EStG).

From what limits must I prepare a balance sheet?

§ 141(1) AO names, for commercial entrepreneurs and farmers and foresters, a total turnover of more than 800,000 euros in a calendar year or a profit from the trade of more than 80,000 euros in a financial year. What actually decides is the tax office's notice: the duty starts only with the financial year following its service (§ 141(2) AO).

Must the Anlage EÜR be filed electronically?

Yes. § 60(4) EStDV requires transmission in the officially prescribed dataset by remote data transmission. On request the tax authority may waive this to avoid undue hardship, in which case a profit computation on the officially prescribed paper form is attached to the return.

By when must it be filed?

Tax returns relating to a calendar year must be filed at the latest seven months after the end of that year (§ 149(2) sentence 1 AO). Where a tax adviser is instructed, the deadline runs to the last day of February of the second calendar year following the assessment period (§ 149(3) AO).

Which calendar year do I select in ELSTER?

In principle the year in which the profit computed with the Anlage EÜR is to be assessed. For income from agriculture and forestry, select the year in which the financial year begins.

Go further

Compute the related amounts

Understand this form: the related course

Related forms

Official sources

Read in German

Guide and document provided for information purposes only; they do not constitute personalised legal or tax advice. Check the recipient organisation's requirements and consult a professional if needed.