Meanings of Own Receipt

What is a self-receipt?

In the bookkeeping, the iron principle “No posting without receipt” applies. No commercial booking without an invoice. In order to ensure that the bookkeeping and the tax office run smoothly, receipts and invoices should always be kept carefully. Invoice documents are generally divided into internal documents and external documents. Internal documents are created within the company for accounting , which can typically be payrolls or material withdrawal slips. These receipts serve the traceability of internal business processes and depict business issues in the company. Because no external economic operator has created these documents, these are already own documents. In general, your own receipts serve as a substitute for an invoice or receipt. In the event that there are no receipts for a business transaction, you must therefore create your own receipts and submit them to the tax office.

According to DICTIONARYFORALL.COM, external documents document ongoing financial and goods transactions of the company, which can be incoming and outgoing invoices or bank statements. The receipts and receipts serve as evidence of operating expenses and operating income. External documents, also known as external documents, enter the company from outside. They are created by suppliers and service providers such as consultants. If such documents are not available or if they are lost, a separate document can be created as a replacement.

In most cases, self-receipts are issued by the entrepreneur himself or by senior executives who are authorized to do so. Own receipts serve as a substitute for invoices or receipts in front of the tax office. They document business transactions that have actually taken place and identify them as income or expenditure during audits by the tax authorities, auditors or internal auditors. In principle, however, each receipt must be kept and a personal receipt must be created as soon as possible.

What to do if receipts are missing?

The lack of original receipts can have various causes. The payee may have forgotten to issue a receipt or may not have issued a receipt for receiving a tip. Original receipts may have been lost or destroyed. If no third party or company is involved in the transaction, a receipt is not always issued; in this case, a personal receipt must be prepared to document the business process.
For unscheduled depreciation such as spoilage, inventory reduction or theft, it is necessary to create a personal receipt. After all, no thief leaves a receipt. For the settlement of travel expenses or additional meal expenses (read: expenses) There is not always a receipt for an entrepreneur or employee. Since hotel bills often disappear or are simply issued incorrectly, a personal receipt is often required as a replacement for the missing receipt. If an individual entrepreneur or partner in the company makes private withdrawals in the form of money or assets, a personal receipt is also required. If he makes a private contribution, a personal receipt must also be written for it.

This is important when creating your own receipts

Entrepreneurs should not create collective receipts. A separate receipt is required for each individual amount. In tax law, professional and operational expenses must be proven. A deduction – and thus a reduction in the tax burden – may not be made if there are no valid invoices or receipts. This obligation to provide evidence does not apply to flat rates. If there is no receipt for a business transaction or the invoice has been lost, a separate receipt must be created as a replacement.

In order for a personal receipt to be recognized by the tax office, the expenses must be operationally or professionally necessary. In addition, the amount of the expenditure must be credible and plausible. Ultimately, the decision as to whether a self-receipt is recognized as part of the tax return or not lies with the responsible tax officer. If necessary, you can explain the facts to him in more detail during an examination. In any case, the self-receipt is only an emergency solution in the event of a lost receipt. However, self-receipts are common for small expenses that arise in daily business life. Own receipts can be issued for the use of coin-operated machines (e.g. for parking fees or entrance fees) or for the payment of tips.

This information is required on your own receipt

The following information must be included on the self-generated invoice:

• Name and full address of the payee
• Date of expenditure and creation (if different)
• Type of expenditure
• Costs – the total price or the individual price per piece can be specified here;
  the VAT rate must also be specified
• Proof of the amount of the receipt – if possible, a price list should be attached to your own receipt
• Reason for self-receipt, e.g. loss or theft of an original receipt, unacknowledged tip or use of a machine
• Hand signature of the exhibitor.

If the self-receipt for the payment of tips was created, the reason for the visit, the names of the people and the company must be recorded on the self-created receipt. A personal receipt can be handwritten and informally created, but it is important that it contains all of the above information, otherwise questions from the tax office regarding the receipt may arise. The exhibitor confirms the correctness of the information on the invoice or receipt with his signature. There are also many self-receipt templates that you can download for free.

Does the own receipt apply for the input tax deduction?

Input tax cannot be claimed from the tax office on your own receipts , because the formal requirements for input tax deduction according to § 14 and § 15 of the Sales Tax Act are not met. A proper invoice is essential for the input tax deduction. The reason is simple and obvious: it is not clear on the personal receipt whether the payee was a small business owner or even a private person. Strictly speaking, this receipt does not even show a payment that has actually been made.
The statutory retention period of ten years applies to your own receipt, just as it does to other receipts. These receipts should therefore be treated just as thoroughly according to the principles of proper accounting as external invoices.

Summary

As a rule, your own receipts for small amounts of up to € 150 gross are unproblematic. This applies in particular to payments made via an account. The account statement can be used as a secondary receipt for this. In general, there is no maximum limit for personal receipts set by the legislator. However, higher sums are questioned by the tax office, so taxpayers should seek replacement receipts to record the loss of the original receipt. This not only circumvents conflicts with the tax office, but also provides additional evidence for the warranty case.