Steuerberatung und Wirtschaftsprüfung für den Mittelstand +49-69-25622760

Steuerberatung und Wirtschaftsprüfung für den Mittelstand +49-69-25622760

If you are not obliged to prepare annual financial statements, it is sufficient to determine the profit as the surplus of operating income over operating expenses. These are then compiled in a so-called income statement and sent to the tax office once a year together with the corresponding tax forms. As the revenue surplus statement is regulated in Section 4 (3) of the Income Tax Act, it is also known as the “4/3 statement”.

One of the legal bases is § 141 AO, which specifies the relevant size criteria. Only if you are a commercial entrepreneur and fall below these criteria can you exercise the right to choose and only prepare an income statement instead of an annual financial statement. For freelancers, the exemption option applies regardless of their size.

The income statement differs from the annual financial statements in particular in that it is payment-oriented. This means that you can legally influence the profit in a year by delaying or bringing forward payments. Outgoing invoices are only recorded as income when they have been paid. Incoming invoices should only be recorded as expenses when you have paid them. The only exceptions to this are regular recurring payments, such as rent, which are also attributed to the old year if they were paid within the first 10 days of the new year or if they are attributed to the new year if they were paid within the last 10 days of the old year.

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