Compliance

GoBD-konforme Software fuer Handwerker

What the tax office requires from your software — and how to stay on the safe side.

June 2026 · 5 min read

The 3 pillars of GoBD

Every digital bookkeeping must meet these three requirements.

Traceability
Every booking must be traceable from its origin to the balance sheet.
Immutability
Once saved, documents must not be altered retroactively.
Completeness
No document may be missing — no receipt, no invoice, no quote.

Why Word and Excel are not enough

Word and Excel allow saved invoices to be changed retroactively — without the change being logged. That is exactly what GoBD prohibits. Anyone who shows up to a tax audit with Word invoices risks the rejection of their entire bookkeeping.

What happens during a tax audit

Tax auditor arrives
Requests digital documents
Excel / Word found
Changes not logged
Invoice numbers incomplete
No process documentation
No audit-proof archive
Bookkeeping rejected
Consequences
Tax assessment adjustment +35.000 EUR
Tax back payment +12.400 EUR
Late payment interest +1.860 EUR
Tax advisor +3.500 EUR
Total risk 52.760 EUR

What your software must be able to do

These 6 points are checked by the tax office during every tax audit.

Immutable storage
Cancellation instead of overwriting. Once booked, documents are preserved.
Change log
Timestamp + user + reason documented for every change.
Sequential numbering
Gapless, ascending. No manual numbers, no skipping.
Process documentation
Automatically generated. Describes how data is captured, processed and archived.
Audit-proof archive
Stored for 10 years, protected and accessible at any time.
DATEV-Export
GDPdU-compliant data export for the tax office and tax advisor.

How EaseControl solves this

Every action is automatically logged — gapless and audit-proof.

new.easecontrol.de/buchhaltung
Audit-Log — Rechnung R-2026-0341
Timestamp User Action
06.06.2026 14:32:01 A. Berg Invoice created (R-2026-0341)
06.06.2026 14:32:01 SYSTEM PDF generated + archived
06.06.2026 14:33:15 A. Berg Sent via email to mueller@web.de
06.06.2026 15:41:22 N. Haeuser Payment received: 7,776.65 EUR
07.06.2026 09:15:03 A. Berg Status: paid
Changes: 0 Cancellations: 0 Archive: audit-proof

Excel vs EaseControl

Excel / Word
Documents editable
No versioning
No audit log
Numbers manual
No archive
Risk: up to 52,760 EUR
EaseControl
GoBD lock after sending
Complete change history
Automatic audit log
Sequential numbers
10 years audit-proof
Audit-proof from day 1

What EaseControl offers for compliance

GoBD-compliant invoicing
Lock after sending, cancellation bookings, no retroactive changes possible.
DATEV-Export
CSV + XML, SKR03, transmit directly to your tax advisor.
E-invoicing
XRechnung 3.0 + ZUGFeRD 2.2 — mandatory for public sector clients since 2025.
Audit-Log
Every action logged, with timestamp and user. Stored for 10 years.

Audit-proof from day one

GoBD-compliant, DATEV export, e-invoicing — everything included.

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