Recapitulative statement
Any entrepreneur making intra-Community supplies of goods / services is under obligation to submit a so-called recapitulative statement. The recapitulative statement has to be filed with the Federal Central Tax Office electronically within 25 days of the end of each month. It has to state amongst other things the entrepreneur’s own VAT ID and that of its foreign business partner, and the total turnover exported to each individual business.
Businesses in other European Union member states also have to file these statements in their own country. The information thus collected throughout the European Union is compiled in a database which can be accessed by the tax authorities in all the European Union countries. This way every European Union member state can check whether all intra- Community supplies of goods have been duly taxed.