Regulation on transaction reporting obligations (Mitteilungsverordnung)

The Regulation on transaction reporting obligations was passed by the Federal government on the basis of the authorization stipulated in Section 93a (1) of the Fiscal Code of Germany (Abgabeordnung, AO) on September 7, 1993 and has since been amended several times.

The Regulation on transaction reporting obligations regulates how authorities and other public bodies provide notification of transactions to the financial authorities. It contains specific instructions for the offices that are obliged to provide notifications, detailing at which time and to what extent which tax office or financial administration is to be provided with which information.

Authorities within the meaning of the Regulation on transaction reporting obligations are all public bodies which conduct public administration tasks (Section 6 (1) AO). This means that institutes of higher education are directly affected.

The obligation to provide notification applies as a rule to all payments made by authorities to third parties when the risk of recipients failing to fully declare their income for tax purposes is considered high.

This concerns the following payments:

• Payments to recipients who have not acted as part of their principal activity in a commercial or self-employed context or within the area of agriculture and forestry (Section 2 (1)(1) first alternative MV).This covers all payments made to individuals who are not entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs who are not acting within the scope of their company. It affects in particular payments to employees in accordance with Section 1 of the Wage Tax Implementing Order (Lohnsteuerdurchführungsverordnung) which are not made in return for performance as part of their employment (for the authorities who are under the obligation to report the transaction), rental payments to private individuals for buildings and property, and payments for voluntary work and secondary employment. This takes into account the fact that recording payments for tax purposes in the non-entrepreneurial area is less reliable than in the entrepreneurial area, where payments are controlled more closely, through, for example, external audits.It is unimportant how the payments are made. We are therefore also obliged to report payments made via a bank transfer to the recipient’s bank account.
• Payments that are not paid into the recipient’s business account (Section 2 (1)(1) 2nd alternative MV).This includes check and cash payments, but also payment in kind, such as vouchers.

• All travel expenses that P6 calculates and reimburses pursuant to the Bavarian Travel Expenses Act (BayRKG) and that are recorded via VIVA, the human resources administration system of the Free State of Bavaria.
  Note: Other travel expense reimbursements to non-employees of the Free State of Bavaria are not covered by the exception, see subsection “How does FAU record the data required for the MV?“
• Reimbursement for expenses and expense allowances, i.e. direct reimbursement of costs based on receipts, unless they are travel expenses.

As a rule, the report to the financial authorities has to include the data stipulated in Section 93c (1)(2) AO (in particular information on the authorities that are obliged to submit the report and details required to identify the individual in question).

The following data must be included:

• Last name, first name
• Registered address with street, zip code and city
• New: Date of birth
• New: Tax identification number (11 digit tax ID)

In future, payments will only be able to be made if all these data concerning the recipient are available.

If you do not yet have a tax identification number, you can apply for one from the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern) and inform the University accordingly.

As a rule, data are only recorded and processed if a payment is subject to the Regulation on transaction reporting obligations. The payment is marked accordingly. (At the current time that means entering 150 or 151 in the field “Sonstige Anordnung” (other classification) in the financial administration system. See the guidelines from H4 on using the FSV financial administration system).

In order to ensure that the payment can be made correctly, the data must be submitted to the State Finance Office using the IHV procedure together with the information required to ensure the smooth processing of payments. In Bavaria, only electronic processing is permitted in a bid to simplify administrative procedures.

From now on, these data will be required for all payments or reimbursements of payments and must now be included on all forms justifying payments.

In particular, these cover:

• Remuneration for guest lectures
• Remuneration for contracts for works and services and fee contracts
• Scholarships and prize money including all subsidies and bonuses
• Other fees and services of all kinds, e.g. remuneration for taking part in studies or for acting as a reviewer.
• Reimbursement of travel expenses for individuals who are not employed by the Free State of Bavaria

The regulations apply equally to payments made to domestic and international recipients. Recipients are informed of the content of the notification forwarded to the tax office.

As the above-mentioned instances will already be affected in financial year 2024, we have to alter our procedures for collecting, processing and transferring data at the University as of January 1, 2024. As of January 1, 2025, official requirements state that reports must exclusively be sent electronically.

The data are saved in HIS FSV as payment partner information and taken from there as and when necessary for making payments or reimbursements. Depending on the source of the payment partner information, the data are automatically removed from the payment partner list or locked.

The following options are available as of 2024:

1. Using the self-service function in the IdM system, a payment partner can be set up and maintained in HIS-FSV. This option is open to all members of FAU. The payment partner can then be found and used in FSV using the IdM username in the payment partner’s “matchcode” field. The data are deleted from the list of payment partners when the IdM username ceases to be valid or the affected person cancels the option for recording notifications via IdM.
2. Registration via FAU’s payment partner workflow. This option is intended for external parties. Any member of staff at FAU who has a valid, active IdM account can record data in the IdM system via the payment partner workflow, also on behalf of third parties. A payment partner number is allocated to the payment partner at the end of the workflow and the person who initiated the workflow is informed accordingly. This payment partner number is used to refer to the payment partner in HIS-FSV.The data are removed from the payment partner list if the payment partner is not used for an entry in accounts for two full financial years. If the payment partner was entered as the manufacturer or supplier of a device for stock-keeping purposes, only the bank details, tax identification number and date of birth are deleted after two years.
3. Recording on a paper form. Data are processed during the respective procedure. The data are not saved in FSV as a payment partner.
4. Per institution, it is possible for a payment partner to be entered directly while booking accounts as a one-off payment partner in HIS FSV. In this case, the decentralized data protection coordinator responsible for the institution in question is responsible for registering the procedure. This procedure is only tolerated during the transition period, and will be phased out in future.

In the financial transaction data, the tax identification number and the date of birth will be removed after two complete financial years. The actual financial data will be retained for ten full financial years and anonymized thereafter.

The data are only forwarded to the State Finance Office (Landesamt für Finanzen) via the HIS-FSV <-> IHV interface.

We have concluded an order data agreement to this effect with the LfF.

The State Finance Office gathers the data and sends them at the latest by the end of March of the following year in one package to the KONSENS interface (see interface to KONSENS reporting procedure).

The Regulation on transaction reporting obligations stipulates that those affected have a right to information. The State Finance Office meets these obligations for all official bodies of the Free State of Bavaria by sending information by post to the given address where the relevant person is registered.

Everyone who is born or registered in Germany is sent a letter with their tax identification number from the Federal Central Tax Office. You can apply for a new letter if necessary via their website.

FAU employees can also find their number at the top right hand corner of their wage slips.

People who are not registered in Germany must be issued with a tax identification number before they can be made a payment under the Regulation on transaction reporting obligations.

• Option 1: The person who is to receive the payment attends the Erlangen Tax Office in person, taking ID with them.
• Option 2: An organizational unit at FAU applies for a tax identification number from the Würzburg Tax Office in good time before booking the payment or before applying for authorization for a journey that is to be paid for by FAU.

Applying for an identification number:

1. Go to https://www.formulare-bfinv.de/ffw/
2. Enter the number of the form in the top right hand corner: 010250
3. Complete the form, save it as a pdf and print it off if necessary.
4. Copy the ID card/passport of the person in question.
5. Send the completed application form and copy of the ID/passport to Würzburg Tax Office (applicable to the whole of FAU irrespective of location), preferably using electronic means of communication or by post: Finanzamt Würzburg, Postfach 55 29, 97064 Würzburg

If you have any questions please contact Würzburg Tax Office: servicezentrum.01@fa257.stv.bayern.de

If payments are made to a person, exactly the same data must be used as are entered in the form for the tax office. In other words,surname, first name, date of birth, address abroad and tax identification number.

There are currently no exceptions to this rule, not even for small amounts or for cash payments, which should always be avoided.