Your Responsibilities & What Happens If Data Is Late or Missing

To create accurate VAT filings and ensure compliance with tax authorities, it is essential that all your transaction data is uploaded directly into your hellotax software account — never sent by email.

This article explains why this responsibility is so important, what happens if data is uploaded late or not at all, and how you can stay compliant every month.

✅ Why You Must Upload Data Into the hellotax Software (Not by Email)

hellotax operates as a software-driven VAT compliance provider, which means all calculations, validations, and filings rely on the data stored inside your account.

Uploading your data into the system — instead of sending it by email — is critical because:

1. Email cannot be used for filing calculations

Files sent by email do not enter the system, are not validated, and cannot be included in your VAT return automatically.

2. Email is not secure or compliant for tax data

Tax authorities require proper record-keeping and traceability. Emails are not a compliant storage method.

3. The system must have a complete audit trail

The software logs:

• Upload date

• Data source

• Changes or updates

• Integration status

This is essential for audits and for proving compliance.

4. Manual work increases the risk of errors

If data is sent by email, it must be extracted, matched, and imported manually — a time-consuming and error-prone process that is not part of the standard subscription.

5. Data must sit inside your account before your filing period starts

The tax office deadlines cannot be postponed. Without your data in the system, hellotax cannot file.

📅 Your Deadline: Data Must Be Uploaded by the 4th of Each Month

All sales, returns, refunds, marketplace data, and webshop transactions must be uploaded no later than the 4th day of the month following the reporting period.

Example:
For January filings → Upload deadline = 4 February

This deadline applies to:

• Amazon / marketplace transactions

• Shopify / WooCommerce / webshop data

• Manual orders

• Corrections, cancellations, stock movements

• Any sales through third-party channels

⚠️ What Happens If You Upload Data Late?

If your data is uploaded after the 4th, your filing cannot be generated automatically by the hellotax system.
This forces our compliance team to:

• Manually review and prepare the data

• Rebuild the filing outside the automated process

• Re-run checks and validations

• Manually adjust the tax report and resubmit documentation

This is a labor-intensive exception process.

👉 For this reason, a €119 late-data fee applies for each affected filing.

This fee covers the manual processing required because automatic filing is no longer possible once the data is late.

🚫 What Happens If You Do Not Upload Data At All?

If data is not uploaded:

❌ No VAT return can be submitted

The tax office will treat this as a missed filing, which may trigger:

• Fines

• Late-payment penalties

• Estimated assessments from the tax office

• Compliance warnings or audits

❌ hellotax cannot take responsibility for missing filings

If data is missing, incomplete, or uploaded outside the software environment, we cannot produce your return.

❌ Your account may be placed on hold

Repeated failure to upload data may result in a suspension of VAT reporting services until the issue is resolved.

💡 Best Practices: How to Stay Compliant Every Month

Follow these recommendations to avoid late fees, filing delays, and compliance risks:

✔ 1. Activate all integrations

Connect Amazon, Shopify, WooCommerce, eBay, etc.
This ensures your data flows automatically.

✔ 2. Perform a monthly data check

Verify that:

• All marketplaces are connected

• Your webshop plugin is active

• No disconnections or missing permissions exist

✔ 3. Upload manual or non-integrated data by the 1st–3rd of the month

Do not wait for the final deadline.
Upload early to avoid last-minute issues.

✔ 4. Never send data by email

Email submissions are not accepted.
Always upload via your hellotax account.

✔ 5. Forward tax authority letters immediately

If the German tax office (Finanzamt) sends you any correspondence, send it to your Account Manager right away.

✔ 6. Ensure your team knows the process

If more people work in your business, make sure they understand:

• The 4th-day deadline

• Where to upload data

• That email submissions are not accepted

🤝 How hellotax Supports You

• Automated data processing

• Alerts for missing data

• Early warnings for integration problems

• Direct support from your Account Manager

• Detailed help-center guides for integrations and uploads

But ultimately, you are responsible for ensuring your data is uploaded correctly and on time.

📌 Summary

💬 Need Help?

If you're unsure how to upload your data or need help connecting integrations, your hellotax Account Manager and our support team are here to guide you.

Staying compliant is a shared responsibility — and we’re here to support you every step of the way.