Annual financial statements: Publish or deposit?
Based on EU Directive 2012/6/EU and the German Act on the Amendment of Accounting Law with Respect to Micro-Entities (Kleinstkapitalgesellschaften-Bilanzrechtsänderungsgesetz, MicroBilG), micro-entities have the option of filing their annual financial statements with the Federal Gazette.
The following applies:
You are deemed to be a micro-entity if you do not exceed 2 of the 3 relevant threshold values for 2 consecutive balance sheet dates:
- Balance sheet total: EUR 350,000
- Turnover: EUR 700,000
- Average number of employees: up to 10
Micro-entities need to prepare only a simplified balance sheet and do not have to include notes with their annual financial statements, provided certain details are shown in the balance sheet.
Irrespective of size, the following types of companies cannot use the filing option and must publish their annual financial statements:
- Credit institutions
- Pension funds
- Insurance companies
- Re-insurance companies
- External investment management company pursuant to KAGB
- Holding companies pursuant to UBGG
- Companies that participate on the regulated market
Micro companies of the legal form “Genossenschaft” (cooperative society) may deposit their annual financial statements for fiscal years starting 01 January 2016 or later.
For German branch establishments of a foreign principal establishment (under section 325a or 340 of the German Commercial Code [Handelsgesetzbuch, HGB]), the legal provisions apply with the corresponding threshold values in the EU country of the principal establishment.
Please take into account the requirements in your articles of association or operating agreement.
You can obtain support for questions about the form in which you have to disclose your annual financial statements by visiting the balance-sheet navigator, which can be accessed via the starting page of the Publication Platform.
Please note: In order to be able to file annual financial statements, an order must be sent to the Federal Gazette using the Publication Platform (https://publikations-plattform.de) or the mass interface (web service). Information about filed annual financial statements is available in the Company Register for retrieval. You must be registered on the platform to place orders and retrieve information.
