Key points at a glance
- Under § 146a AO (Abgabenordnung, the German fiscal code), an electronic till must be protected by a certified technical security device (TSE). There is currently no general obligation to use a till; a government draft provides for one from 2028 for businesses with turnover of more than 100,000 €.
- Every till transaction needs a receipt (Belegausgabepflicht, § 146a (2) AO), on paper or electronically with the guest's consent. An exemption is only granted on application.
- Tills must be reported to the tax office via ELSTER: new devices or devices taken out of service within one month.
- The Kassen-Nachschau (cash inspection) under § 146b AO comes unannounced. GoBD-compliant records and a clean DSFinV-K export protect against estimated additions to turnover.
- For business meal receipts, the tax office generally only accepts TSE-secured receipts from venues with an electronic till. Tips for staff are not turnover but must be recorded properly.
This post is general information and does not replace legal or tax advice. Rules change and some differ between federal states: check the details with your chamber of commerce (WKO) or IHK, the competent authority or your tax adviser.
Is there a cash register obligation in Germany?
Unlike Austria, Germany so far has no general cash register obligation. An open cash box (offene Ladenkasse) with a daily cash report is still legally allowed. But if you opt for an electronic till, as almost all restaurants, cafés and bars do, you must meet the requirements of the Abgabenordnung (§ 146a AO) and the Kassensicherungsverordnung (KassenSichV). In practice, an open cash box is hard to keep properly in a venue with many individual sales anyway, and it is a risk in tax audits.
| Obligation | What applies | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Individual recording | Every transaction individually, completely, correctly, promptly and in order | § 146 (1) AO, § 146a (1) AO |
| TSE | Electronic tills need a technical security device certified by the BSI (Federal Office for Information Security) | § 146a (1) AO, KassenSichV |
| Issuing receipts | Receipt for every transaction, paper or electronic with consent | § 146a (2) AO, § 6 KassenSichV |
| Registration | Via ELSTER, within one month of acquisition or decommissioning | § 146a (4) AO |
| Cash inspection | Unannounced inspection during business hours | § 146b AO |
| Retention | Records ten years, accounting vouchers eight years | § 147 (3) AO |
| Fine | Up to 25,000 € for a missing or incorrectly used TSE | § 379 (1) nos. 4 to 6, (6) AO |
TSE and KassenSichV: what the till has to do
The technical security device consists of a security module, a storage medium and a standard digital interface. It logs every transaction with a timestamp, transaction number and signature, so gaps or later changes can be detected. It covers electronic or computer-based POS systems and cash registers, including tablet and phone tills. According to § 1 KassenSichV, exceptions include vending machines for goods and services, ticket machines and pure accounting software.
- Hardware TSE: an SD card or USB stick in the till. Robust, but tied to one device.
- Cloud TSE: the security module runs at the provider in a certified environment, and the till connects via the internet. Practical for several tills, tablet tills and food trucks. Make sure the solution is on the BSI list of certified TSEs and that you follow the manufacturer's requirements for the operating environment.
- What happens if the internet goes down is something to clarify before you buy: how long does the till buffer, and how is the outage documented?
- Certificates expire: ask how long the TSE is valid and who handles the replacement.
Besides the TSE, the data export under DSFinV-K (the tax authorities' digital interface for POS systems) is important for tax audits. It must work at the push of a button, for past years too. On top of that comes the process documentation (Verfahrensdokumentation) under the GoBD (the principles for proper digital bookkeeping): a description of how your till is set up, who has access, how cancellations and training entries work and how the till is closed out.
Obligation to issue receipts and exemption
Under § 146a (2) AO, every guest involved in a till transaction must be issued a receipt. The receipt can be on paper or, with the guest's consent, electronic in a standardised format (§ 6 KassenSichV). The guest does not have to take the receipt; you do have to provide it.
- Full name and address of your business
- Date and time the transaction started and ended
- Quantity and type of food and drinks
- Transaction number
- Price and tax amount, broken down by VAT rate
- Serial number of the till or security module, check value and signature counter (also possible as a QR code)
The tax office can grant an exemption from the obligation to issue receipts on application under § 148 AO if you sell goods to a large number of unknown people and issuing receipts would be unreasonable. The exemption can be revoked and is rarely granted in practice. For a busy Imbiss the application may still be worth it; discuss it with your tax adviser. Until then, a digital receipt via QR code on the customer display is often the simplest solution.
Registering the till via ELSTER
Since 1 January 2025, the electronic notification procedure under § 146a (4) AO has been available. Tills acquired before 1 July 2025 had to be reported by 31 July 2025. For all later cases:
Buy, rent or lease a till
Rented and leased tills have to be reported too.
Collect the data
Type of till, manufacturer, model, serial number, software, acquisition date and the type and serial number of the TSE. Your POS provider usually supplies this data.
Report within one month
Via the form "Mitteilungsverfahren nach § 146a Absatz 4 AO" in Mein ELSTER, by XML upload or directly from the till software via the ERiC interface.
Per business location
If you have several venues, submit a separate notification for each location, listing all tills used there.
Report decommissioning
If a till is retired or sold, report that within one month too.
Cash inspection and GoBD
During a Kassen-Nachschau under § 146b AO, officials may enter your business premises without notice during normal business hours. It often starts with a test purchase. They then identify themselves and ask to see till data, cash reports, process documentation or a data export. If anything looks irregular, they can move on to a tax audit without a prior audit order.
Ready for a cash inspection
- One team member knows where the documents are and whom to call
- DSFinV-K export and TSE export have been tested
- Process documentation is up to date
- Confirmation of the ELSTER registration is filed
- Daily closing reports (Z receipts) are complete without gaps
- Cancellations and discounts are justified and traceable
- Tips, private withdrawals and change are recorded separately
The biggest danger is usually not the fine but the estimated addition (Hinzuschätzung) under § 162 AO: if the till records are not kept properly, the tax office may estimate turnover, often leading to considerable back payments. Anyone who does not use the TSE or uses it incorrectly also risks a fine under § 379 AO of up to 25,000 €.
Business meal receipts and tips
Business meal receipts (Bewirtungsbeleg)
Business guests partly deduct entertainment expenses under § 4 (5) sentence 1 no. 2 EStG (income tax act), and for that they need a proper receipt from you. Under the BMF letter of 19 November 2025 (guidance from the Federal Ministry of Finance), only machine-generated, TSE-secured receipts are generally accepted from venues with an electronic till; guests may rely on details such as the transaction or serial number. For invoices over 250 €, the tax number or VAT ID, a consecutive invoice number and the name of the host must be included too. A general description such as "food and drinks" is not enough.
Tips
Tips that guests voluntarily give to your employees are tax-free for them under § 3 no. 51 EStG and are not business turnover. With card payments, however, they land in your account. So record them in the till as a separate item and document the payout to the team. How much each person gets by hours or points is worked out by the tip pool calculator for restaurant teams. Tips you receive yourself as the owner, on the other hand, are business income. Agree the exact booking with your tax adviser.
Online ordering, website and till
If you take orders via your own website, Lieferando, Wolt or a pickup app, you have two worlds: the shop and the till. The KassenSichV covers POS systems, not web shops. If payment is made online, the shop creates its own record with an invoice or receipt. But as soon as you transfer an online order into the till, or the guest pays in cash or by card on pickup or at the door, it is a normal till transaction with TSE and receipt.
How to get it right
- Transfer online orders directly into the till via an interface
- Reconcile platform statements with the till every month
- Use a mobile till with TSE for your own drivers
- Book vouchers sold online in the till when they are redeemed
- Keep prices identical on the website, platform and menu
Better not
- Take cash for pickup orders and type them all in at the end of the evening
- Keep a second "shadow till" for delivery orders
- Settle phone or WhatsApp orders without the till
- Forget the ELSTER registration for the tablet at the pickup counter
Which ordering channels pay off for your venue and how much the platforms' commissions add up to is compared in the guide to delivery platforms and your own ordering. For reservations with a deposit or no-show fee, read the guide to online reservations. And to make sure your website and till show the same prices, see the guide to price indications in Germany.
A website that fits your venue
Menu as text, opening hours, reservation and order buttons: see a free preview of your new hospitality website.
A free preview of your venue website, designed by us.
Checklist for buying a till
Before you sign
- The TSE is certified by the BSI, validity and replacement are arranged
- DSFinV-K export is included and can be used at no extra cost
- The software supports ELSTER registration
- Digital receipt via QR code on the customer display is possible (important for the planned reform)
- Business meal receipt with tip directly from the till
- Interfaces to online ordering, delivery platforms and reservations
- Mobile till for the terrace, beer garden, catering or delivery
- Process documentation template from the provider
A new till is usually part of an opening. What else is involved, from the Gaststättenerlaubnis (restaurant licence) to registering with the tax office, is covered in the guide Starting a hospitality business in Germany. For a bar or club, the guide Opening a bar in Germany is also worth reading.
