Compliance export for tax auditors

What is this?

The compliance export makes your entire cashbook available in the legally prescribed format — for your tax advisor, the tax office during an audit or for migration to other accounting systems. This format precisely defines how electronic bookkeeping data must look so it is accepted.

Chorilo creates a complete export with:

• Entries file (DATEV CSV or compliant XML)
• All receipts as PDFs
• Index file linking each entry to its receipt
• Master data (accounts, categories, donation settings)
• Audit log of the export period (who changed what when)

All together in a ZIP archive that you hand to the tax advisor or auditor.

How to create a compliance export

1. Open Administration > Cashbook > Export.
2. Choose the format:
   • DATEV CSV for tax advisors
   • Compliant XML (IDEA format) for tax office audits
3. Set the period — usually a fiscal year or the quarter requested by the auditor.
4. Click Start export. With large data volumes the export can take several minutes.
5. Wait for completion — Chorilo notifies you when the ZIP is ready.
6. Download the ZIP archive and hand it to the tax advisor or auditor.

Contents of the export

The ZIP contains:

• entries.csv or entries.xml — all entries of the period
• receipts/ — folder with all receipt PDFs, numbered
• index.csv — entry-to-receipt-file assignment
• accounts.csv — chart of accounts and account master data
• categories.csv — entry categories
• masterdata.json — club, tax number, board
• audit-log.csv — all changes to the data set

When the export is mandatory

• During a tax office audit — usually 14 days deadline to submit
• When requested by the tax advisor for the tax return
• On switching the accounting system — you hand the successor a complete data export
• On club dissolution — 10-year retention obligation, the export secures the data

Permission

You need cashbook.view to start the export. In some clubs this function is additionally restricted to board or treasurer — depending on the permission group setup.

Tips

• Export at year end after period closure — then you have a clean, fixed version of the fiscal year.
• Always hand over the export as ZIP, never just the CSV — otherwise the receipts are missing.
• Keep the export files locally in addition to Chorilo storage — one more backup never hurts for important tax data.
• Preparing for an audit: when an audit is announced, export immediately and check receipts for completeness.