A to G
AfA (depreciation)
The scheduled spreading of an asset's cost over its useful life. ZepDesk maintains the fixed-asset register and calculates the depreciation run for each period (Bookkeeping).
Participation (Beteiligung)
A share in another corporation, such as the holding's share in its subsidiary. In ZepDesk the holding keeps each participation as master data with share, acquisition date, acquisition cost and book value (Holding without a fiscal unity).
Income from participations (Beteiligungsertrag)
A distribution from a company to its shareholders, for a holding usually the subsidiary's dividend. ZepDesk records it with type and gross amount and shows the treatment under § 8b KStG and in the trade income (see participation exemption).
BWA (Betriebswirtschaftliche Auswertung)
A comparison of revenues and costs with an interim result for a month, quarter or year. In ZepDesk it comes straight from the entries, with a prior-year comparison (Reports).
DATEV
A cooperative of tax advisors and the standard for exchanging data with tax firms. ZepDesk exports a posting batch per period in the DATEV format (for tax firms).
E-Bilanz
Electronic submission of the balance sheet and income statement to the tax authorities according to a prescribed taxonomy (§ 5b EStG). ZepDesk prepares it, checks it against the schema and sends it to ELSTER after your approval (Annual accounts).
Profit transfer agreement (Ergebnisabführungsvertrag)
An agreement by which a company undertakes to transfer its entire profit to another (§ 291 AktG); a requirement of the corporate-tax fiscal unity (§ 14 KStG). ZepDesk books the transfer per controlled company with the maximum amount under § 301 AktG.
EÜR (cash-basis income statement)
A simplified way of determining profit for businesses without a duty to keep a balance sheet: income minus expenses, on the official form. ZepDesk assigns the entries to the lines of the Anlage EÜR (Bookkeeping).
GoBD
Principles for the proper keeping and retention of books in electronic form: traceability, immutability, retention (Security and GoBD).
H to O
Holding
A company whose purpose is mainly to hold participations in other companies. In ZepDesk the holding is a company of its own alongside its subsidiaries, with one sign-in for all (Holding and group).
Intra-group transaction (Innenumsatz)
A supply between two companies of the same VAT group. For VAT it is not taxable, because the group counts as one business. ZepDesk removes intra-group transactions on both sides in the group's advance return.
Kleinunternehmerregelung (§ 19 UStG)
Waiving the reporting of VAT on turnover below the statutory thresholds. ZepDesk knows this mode and warns you when the limits are exceeded.
Leitweg-ID
The identifier of a public-sector client that an e-invoice to authorities must carry. In ZepDesk it is stored in the customer profile and goes into the XRechnung (E-invoicing).
MCP (Model Context Protocol)
An open standard through which an AI assistant such as Claude accesses the data and tools of an application. In ZepDesk it reads with the rights of the person who connects it and only proposes changes (AI assistant, early access).
Controlled company (Organgesellschaft)
The integrated company of a fiscal unity, usually the subsidiary. Its own advance VAT return is dropped; the controlling company reports for it. In ZepDesk it releases figures only with its own consent, and every retrieval is recorded in its change log.
VAT group (Organkreis)
The controlling company and all controlled companies together, across several tiers as well. For VAT the group counts as one business with one advance return at the controlling company (Taxes and ELSTER).
Fiscal unity (Organschaft)
A link between legally independent companies that are treated wholly or partly as one business for tax purposes: for VAT (§ 2 (2) no. 2 UStG), corporate income tax (§ 14 KStG) and trade tax (§ 2 (2) sentence 2 GewStG). In ZepDesk one of the two companies requests it and the other agrees; without the subsidiary the link does not come about (Setting up a fiscal unity).
Controlling company (Organträger)
The dominant company of a fiscal unity, usually the parent or holding. It files the advance VAT return for the whole group, and under the corporate-tax fiscal unity the income of the controlled companies is attributed to it. ZepDesk does not calculate this attribution.
OSS (One-Stop-Shop)
The procedure through which businesses declare VAT on supplies to private customers in other EU states centrally to the Federal Central Tax Office. ZepDesk creates the return from the entries; you transmit it yourself (Taxes and ELSTER).
S to Z
Participation exemption (§ 8b KStG)
Tax exemption for dividends that a corporation receives from another: 95 % remain tax-free, 5 % count as non-deductible expenses (§ 8b (1) and (5) KStG), provided the participation is at least 10 % at the beginning of the year (§ 8b (4) KStG). For trade tax the reduction only applies from 15 % (§ 9 no. 2a GewStG). ZepDesk shows the reconciliation for each income from participations (example with figures).
SKR03 and SKR04
Two widely used standard charts of accounts. SKR03 follows the flow of business, SKR04 the structure of the balance sheet. Both can be selected in ZepDesk.
Spheres (spheres)
The four areas of a non-profit association or gGmbH: non-profit area, asset management, purpose-related business and commercial business, each with its own tax consequences (§§ 64 et seq. AO). ZepDesk posts by sphere and monitors the €50,000 exemption limit for the commercial business (associations and foundations).
TSE (technical security device)
A mandatory component for electronic cash registers under § 146a AO that logs records in a tamper-proof way. The cash register plugins sign through the customer's own fiskaly account.
UStVA (advance VAT return)
A monthly or quarterly VAT return submitted to the tax office through ELSTER, with official code numbers. ZepDesk creates it from the entries (Taxes and ELSTER).
XRechnung
A German XML format for electronic invoices, mandatory for public-sector clients, compliant with the European standard EN 16931 (E-invoicing).
ZM (EC Sales List)
A report of intra-Community supplies and other services to businesses in other EU states to the Federal Central Tax Office (§ 18a UStG). ZepDesk creates it from the entries and checks the VAT identification numbers.
ZUGFeRD
A hybrid format: a PDF with embedded structured invoice data, readable by both humans and machines (E-invoicing).
Create your company, choose the legal form and chart of accounts, write the first invoice. No setup fee, no minimum term, cancellable monthly.