German EC Sales List (ESL)

If a company is VAT-registered in Germany and supplies goods and certain services to a VAT-registered customer in another European Union (EU) country, the company is obliged to report details to the German Federal Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern).

The company needs to complete an EC Sales List (ESL) showing details of each of its customers in the EU and the value (in euro) of the supplies and certain services the company made to them in the period.

The ESL contains details of:

• the customer
• the relevant country code
• the value of goods or services

The information given to the German Federal Tax Office is used by tax authorities in other EU countries. They use it to check that the businesses the company has carried out, has been declared correctly in their countries.

WW+KN can assist foreign companies with the preparation of their German ESL.

If you have any questions or if you need a service, please contact us via email to office@german-tax-consultants.com.