Till compliance in Germany (TSE)

If you sell at a counter in Germany, your till has to meet the Kassensicherungsverordnung. Put briefly: every till event is signed by a TSE — a technische Sicherheitseinrichtung — and on every receipt there is a QR code with which an inspector can check that signature. This article explains why that is asked for, how you set it up once, and what you still have to do yourself afterwards.

For that, Passavo works together with fiskaly, a certified Cloud TSE. So you do not need a box or a USB stick; an internet connection is enough.

Do you not sell in Germany? Then you do not have to do anything with this. This page only appears when your organisation is in Germany, and only for the owner.

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Why Germany asks for this

For years a till was a box you could get into afterwards. Wiping a receipt, setting a day's turnover lower, adjusting an entry — with many older tills that was possible, and it happened. The German tax authority had no defence against that: anyone receiving a till file that things can have been removed from never knows whether they are seeing the complete picture.

Germany has solved that by taking the proof away from the till itself. Every event has to be signed by a device the till does not have in its hands. With that, it no longer matters whether your till can be trusted: the signatures form an unbroken series, and a gap in that series stands out.

That is strict, but it works both ways. An association that works properly can also demonstrate that during an audit without a word having to be said about trust.

What is a TSE, in plain language?

Imagine a sealed signature machine standing next to your till.

Every time you ring something up, the till gives that receipt to the machine. The machine puts a signature on it, sticks a sequence number on it and notes the exact time. That sequence number simply runs on, receipt after receipt, without gaps.

Three things you need to know about that machine:

• It is sealed. You cannot get into it, we cannot get into it, and neither can the maker of the till. That is what it is certified for.
• It forgets nothing. What has been signed is in its own log — separate from your till.
• With us it is not a box but a service. The machine runs in a data centre and your till talks to it over the internet. That saves a device that can break or go missing.

The name TSE — Technische Sicherheitseinrichtung — literally means "technical security device". A TSS is your own copy of it: the signature machine that belongs to your organisation.

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What you need beforehand

A fiskaly account	You create it yourself at fiskaly and get an API key and an API secret there.
The owner role	Whoever can set up the TSE determines which TSE signs your turnover. That right therefore sits with the owner, just as with the payments.
Your Steuernummer and your Finanzamt	Those belong in the export you hand over during an audit.
Half an hour and a place to keep the PUK	See step 2. You get to see it once.

An API key is a long, random password with which two programmes recognise each other. Treat it the way you treat your bank details: do not email it on, do not put it in a shared document.

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Setting up once

Go to Settings → Till compliance (DE).

If a red message at the top says that signing with a TSE is not switched on yet on this platform, you can prepare everything, but your till signs nothing yet and does not comply with the KassenSichV. It is not a setting on your side: send a message to support.

1. Saving your keys

Paste your API key and your API secret, choose whether it concerns the Test environment or Production, and click Save the keys.

A key belongs to one environment. A test key in production only produces error messages that point nowhere — so check this once too often rather than once too few.

The test environment is there to practise in: you can send receipts through it that count nowhere. If you are really selling, you have to be on production. A real sale signed in the test environment does not count during an audit.

2. Creating the TSS

Click Create a TSS. In one action three things happen: the TSS is created, a manager PIN is set on it, and the TSS goes into service.

Copy out the PUK and the manager PIN that then appear on the screen. The screen shows them only once, and fiskaly never gives the PUK out again. The till keeps them encrypted so that it can operate the TSE, but does not show them to you again. Without the PUK you can no longer unblock a blocked manager PIN, and replacing a TSS is impossible without breaking your till log.

So keep it somewhere outside this system: in a safe, with your accountant, in your password manager.

A PUK is an emergency code, like the PUK of a sim card. It serves to release a blocked PIN. You may never need it — and if you do need it, it is a day on which nothing else helps any more.

3. Registering your tills

Every till is registered separately with the TSE and gets its own serial number. That number appears on every receipt from that device and never changes afterwards.

Click Register with the TSE on each device. If you forget one, it still happens automatically at the first sale on that device.

4. Your tax master data

Fill in your Steuernummer and your Finanzamt and click Save the master data. Without those two the export you hand over during an audit is incomplete.

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Your VAT rates

The German till rules know exactly five rates:

Rate	What for
19%	the general rate
7%	the reduced rate
10.7%	Durchschnittssatz §24(1)Nr.3 UStG
5.5%	Durchschnittssatz §24(1)Nr.1 UStG
0%	not subject to VAT

If a product is on a different rate — a Belgian 21% for instance — the TSE refuses that receipt. You see that straight away under TSE faults on this page, with the rate alongside.

That is deliberately strict. A signature under an amount that means nothing during an audit is worse than a reported failure.

Note: this is the mistake you make most often when you sell in two countries with the same list of products. If you sell in Germany, check before your first day of selling that every product that can appear at the German counter is on one of those five rates.

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The receipt

As soon as the TSE is switched on, a QR code appears on every receipt with the signature, the transaction number, the signature counter and the times. Below it those same numbers appear again in readable form: during an audit they are sometimes simply copied out.

If you send the receipt by email, the code is in there just as well.

What an inspector does with it

A German inspector may walk in unannounced and ask for a receipt — sometimes they buy something themselves. What they can do with that receipt:

• Read the QR code. In it are the transaction number, the signature counter, the serial number of the till and the times.
• Check the series. The signature counter runs on without gaps. If a number is missing, a receipt has disappeared.
• Set the receipt against the TSE's log. That log does not come from your till but from the TSE itself. If those two match, the story adds up.

At that moment you do not have to do anything for that except hand over the receipt and, if asked, supply the exports listed below.

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If the TSE is briefly down

Your till simply carries on working. That is not only pleasant, it is also what the law asks for: during a failure you must be able to carry on selling, the failure must be recorded, and the events must still be signed afterwards.

What you then see:

• the receipt says TSE fault instead of a QR code;
• the failure appears in the list on this page, with reason and time;
• as soon as the TSE is reachable again, it is signed retrospectively and Signed afterwards is added.

So you do not have to do anything. If a failure stays open for days, something else is going on — then check your keys and the state of the TSS.

If a visitor asks why there is no QR on their receipt: that receipt is just as valid as all the others. Only the signature follows a little later.

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During an audit

You need two exports, and they belong together.

1. The till's DSFinV-K export. That comes out of your till journal and contains the receipts, the daily closes and the signatures. You fetch it under Point of sale → Till sessions → Export journal: choose a day and the format DSFinV-K-style JSON (German audit).
2. The TSE's own log, as a TAR archive. You fetch that with the Export and download this month button on this page. The file downloads straight away. Need it again later? Click Download again next to Last export.

The first tells what the till thinks has happened, the second proves what the TSE has signed. Do feel free to ask your accountant for both.

If you need a period other than the current month, request it through support: we will export it for you.

DSFinV-K stands for the German standard in which till data is supplied. A TAR archive is one file with many files inside it, like a zip. You do not have to open it — pass it on as you receive it.

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What you still have to arrange yourself

The TSE connection covers the till side. Two things remain your responsibility:

• the registration of your till with your Finanzamt (§146a AO);
• keeping your PUK and your manager PIN.

That registration, a little more concretely

Germany wants to know which tills you use and which TSE is in them. You make that report to your own Finanzamt; it is done electronically and in practice your Steuerberater usually does it for you.

What you will want to have to hand for that can be found on this page: the serial number of every registered till, the details of your TSS, and the date on which you put the till into service. Taking a till out of service has to be reported too.

Note: the deadlines within which that has to happen and the exact form are down to the German tax authority and change from time to time. Ask your Steuerberater what applies for your situation. We supply the details and the exports; we do not give tax advice.

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Common mistakes

• Not copying out the PUK. It appears once on the screen, and fiskaly never gives it out again.
• Running with a test key in production. The error messages you then get point nowhere. Check the environment before you start.
• Selling a product with a Belgian or Dutch VAT rate at the German counter. The TSE refuses that receipt. Put your German products on one of the five permitted rates.
• Forgetting the registration with the Finanzamt. The connection arranges the signatures, not your tax return.
• Stopping selling during a failure. That is not necessary, and the law does not ask for it either. Carry on selling; it is signed retrospectively.

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What if …

What if the TSE keeps failing for days?

Then it is more than a hiccup. Check whether your keys are still right and whether your TSS is in service on this page. If you cannot work it out, send us the text of the failure as it appears in the list — the reason is in it.

What if I have forgotten to register a till with the TSE?

That sorts itself out: at the first sale on that device the registration still happens automatically. The serial number then appears from that first receipt.

What if I have lost my manager PIN?

For ordinary work you do not need it: the till uses it itself. If the manager PIN ever gets blocked, the PUK is needed to unblock it. Take it from your safe, from your accountant or from your password manager, and contact support.

What if I sell in Germany and in Belgium?

The TSE belongs to your whole organisation. When it is on, it signs every counter sale of that organisation, including at a Belgian venue — and it refuses a Belgian VAT rate. If you sell at a counter in both countries, talk to support before you start about how to split that.

What if an inspector is standing at my counter?

Hand over the receipt they ask for and carry on selling. You may send the exports on afterwards; fetch them through this page and through your till journal, or have your Steuerberater request them.

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Frequently asked questions

Do I need a little device? No. The TSE runs in the cloud at fiskaly. You need an internet connection, not a box and not a USB stick.

Does that cost extra? fiskaly is a separate service with its own account and its own terms. Check their rates before you start; we do not pass that on in our invoices.

Does anything change for my Belgian or Dutch till? No. There is no TSE obligation there and the signature fields stay empty.

Who may set this up? Only the owner. Whoever sets up the TSE determines which signature goes under your turnover — that is the same kind of decision as connecting your payment provider.

Is this enough to be in order? For the till side, yes. The registration with your Finanzamt and your tax return remain your business. In case of doubt ask your Steuerberater; we can supply you with the exports, not with tax advice.