The VAT pre-return over ELSTER

Monthly or quarterly?

It depends on the VAT of the previous year (§ 18 (2) UStG, thresholds since 2025):

• More than €9,000: monthly.
• Up to €9,000: quarterly.
• Up to €2,000: the tax office can exempt you from filing pre-returns.
• Newly founded businesses file monthly in the year of founding and the following year; for businesses founded from 2021 to 2026 this rule is suspended.

Deadlines and the permanent extension

The pre-return is due by the 10th day after the end of the period, and the tax must be paid by then. A permanent extension (Dauerfristverlängerung) moves the deadline by one month; monthly filers make a special prepayment of one eleventh of the previous year’s tax for it.

Small businesses under § 19 UStG do not file pre-returns.

What the pre-return contains

Turnover by VAT rate, the VAT on it, the deductible input VAT from incoming invoices and, from these, the amount payable or the refund. Every figure goes into a numbered field of the official form.

How it works in TWT Accounting

• You book as usual: invoices, incoming invoices, bank and cash.
• TWT Accounting calculates the pre-return for the period and assigns every figure to its field.
• ELSTER checks the pre-return beforehand, and you see a preview.
• One click submits it to ELSTER; the transfer ticket is then in the log.

The EÜR too

If you determine your profit with the income surplus calculation (EÜR), you submit it from TWT Accounting over ELSTER as well.

DATEV export for your tax advisor