Finance where I'm from: Running Microsoft Dynamics AX & D365 Finance and Operations in Germany, Part 2

Editor's Note: This article is part of an occasional series featuring financial management experts from different countries and regions.

As a Microsoft Dynamics AX and Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (D365FO) consultant located in Germany, I am regularly working on projects where German-specific requirements need to be configured for these two solutions. In part one of this article we looked at German payment systems-related requirements for vendors and customers. In this part we will look at requirements related to value added tax (VAT) and data export.

VAT system

A special characteristic of the German VAT system are customer and vendor payment discounts that are commonly used in German business practice. What makes customer and vendor payment discounts special from a VAT perspective is that VAT corrections need to be recorded when payment discounts are used. Recording and posting those VAT corrections for payment discounts is usually not an issue in an ongoing business environment. However, when migrating open customer or vendor positions to a newly set up system, one must ensure that those positions are migrated with a separate VAT posting. If this separate VAT posting is missing, VAT corrections are not posted when cash discounts are recorded and manual corrections are required.