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Taxes: working with tax advisors

We handle the bookkeeping; the tax advisor handles the taxes

Clearly divided: we handle your bookkeeping and payroll. Advance VAT returns, annual financial statements, and tax returns are handled by the tax advisor you engage yourself. This can be our partner tax advisor: when we post in their DATEV records, they work directly with our entries, with no separate data handover and short lines of communication. If you already have a tax advisor, we’ll work with them.

Find a tax advisorWho handles what

Collaboration

The partner tax advisor handles this on your behalf

Bookkeepers may set up charts of accounts, keep the books on an ongoing basis, run payroll, and prepare wage tax returns. Everything else in tax matters is reserved for tax advisors. That’s why we work closely with our partner tax advisor; you engage them directly.

Advance VAT returns

Based on the figures we post and reconcile each month, the tax advisor files the advance VAT return, with a permanent filing extension if you wish.

Closing and opening entries

The entries made at the end of the year are part of the year-end closing and are handled by the tax advisor.

Annual financial statements

Balance sheet or cash-basis income statement based on the reconciled books for the year.

Tax returns

For your business and for you as the owner.

Tax advice

Tax structuring, choice of legal form, investments, and specific tax issues.

Tax office

Correspondence, objections, and support during tax audits.

Here’s what we provide: chart of accounts, ongoing entries, payroll, and wage tax returns, all reconciled every month. We bundle our questions so the tax advisor can work with the figures right away.

Contracts

Why two contracts?

Bookkeepers are not permitted to handle anything beyond the chart of accounts, ongoing postings, payroll, and the wage tax return; that is the tax advisor’s responsibility. That is why you enter into a separate contract with the tax advisor for tax matters.

For you, it’s a single process: you sign your contract with GKM and the related documents online in the client portal. If you work with our partner tax advisor, you’ll also receive the power of attorney for them there, ready for your signature. You have a single point of contact for receipts, bookkeeping questions, and appointments. Tax advice and responsibility lie with the tax advisor.

We prefer to enter transactions in DATEV, which is primarily a program for tax advisors. If we enter transactions through our partner tax advisor’s account, your accounting data will also be available to them, and they can view it even if they do not handle any tasks for you themselves. As a tax advisor, they are bound by professional secrecy, and they are named in our data processing agreement with you.

Guide: Bookkeeping firm or tax advisor

Costs

What tax advice costs

The tax advisor bills you directly, either under the StBVV, the statutory fee schedule for tax advisors, or under a fee agreement.

So you’ll receive two invoices: one from GKM for bookkeeping and payroll, and one from the tax advisor for taxes.

The initial consultation and the introduction are free.

Process

How we work together

  1. You choose

    In the quote, you decide: our partner tax advisor or your own tax advisor.

  2. Engagement and power of attorney

    You enter into the engagement directly with the tax advisor. With our partner tax advisor, you sign the power of attorney for the tax office online in the client portal; your own tax advisor obtains it directly, as usual.

  3. We post the entries; they file the return

    GKM posts entries every month. Our partner tax advisor works directly with these entries, and your own tax advisor receives them in DATEV format. The tax advisor submits the advance VAT return.

  4. Financial statements and tax returns

    Once the year has ended, they prepare the financial statements and tax returns based on the reconciled figures.

Already have a tax advisor? Then they’ll remain your tax advisor. We’ll post directly in their DATEV records or provide them with the accounting records in DATEV format, exactly as they need them. DATEV and other options

Find a tax advisor · free and with no obligation

Looking for a tax advisor? We’ll put you in touch.

You tell us about your business, and we conduct the initial consultation and identify what your company needs. Then we put you in touch with a tax advisor we work with. The initial consultation and introduction are free.

Find a tax advisor
Here’s how the search works

Read more

Related

Guide: Bookkeeping firm or tax advisor

§ 6 StBerG explained clearly: which tasks a bookkeeping firm takes on and where the tax advisor’s work begins.

Learn more

Guide: Finding a tax advisor in Hamburg

Industry, digitization, availability, language: the criteria that matter in day-to-day work.

Learn more

Ongoing bookkeeping

Reconciled figures for your tax advisor, custom pricing on request.

Learn more

Contact

Let’s talk about your bookkeeping.

During our initial consultation, we’ll determine what your business needs. Afterward, you’ll receive a binding quote via email.

Request a quoteSchedule a callback
Phone
+49 40 2989 6395
Monday to Friday, 9 am to 8 pm
Email
info@gkm-buchhaltung.de
Reply within one business day
Office
Gerhofstraße 1–3
20354 Hamburg