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How to use Vivid Tax to file your advance VAT return (UStVA)

Updated this week

This guide walks you end-to-end through filing your Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung (UStVA) with Vivid Tax.

Please note: Vivid Tax is self-filing software for self-employed people in Germany. We can help you with the submission process steps, but we can’t provide personal tax advice. If you’re unsure about if any aspects or rules apply to your situation, please contact an independent tax advisor.

Glossary - some terms to be aware of

  • UStVA (Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung): The periodic VAT return (monthly/quarterly).

  • Output VAT (Umsatzsteuer): VAT you charge on sales.

  • Input VAT (Vorsteuer): VAT you paid on purchases that you may reclaim.

  • Reverse Charge: Transfer of VAT liabilities from a seller to a customer in the EU.

  • Zero return (Nullmeldung): UStVA with all zeroes—required in some cases even with no activity.

1. Before you start: quick checklist

  • Eligibility: You’re a freelancer/sole proprietor registered for VAT in Germany with a Pro or Pro+ account.

  • Tax number: You have your Steuernummer.

  • Period & frequency: Know what you’re filing (e.g. September or Q3). The app shows the due date in German time.

  • Transactions ready: Your Vivid transactions are reviewed and finalized; add individual transactions manually or connect other bank accounts if needed.

  • Receipts: Upload the supporting documents to the transactions you want to include in the tax reports. Documents won’t be sent to Finanzamt upon submission, the documents are needed only for bookkeeping.

2. Open Vivid Tax & pick your period

From the Vivid app

  1. From the main screen, scroll down to the Taxes widget

    1. Click ‘Taxes’

  2. Or, go to ‘All services’ in the top right corner

    1. Click on the ‘Accounting’ section

    2. Click ‘Taxes’

  3. Or, you can go to the Transactions tab at the bottom

    1. At the top of the page, switch to the ‘Bookkeeping’ tab

    2. Click ‘Taxes’

  4. Complete Taxes onboarding and review the terms of use.

  5. Choose the tax declaration you want to submit.

  6. Review the due date shown. If your filing frequency changed recently, make sure it’s reflected in your profile.

From the web interface

  1. Go to the Taxes tab from the home screen

  2. Or, go to the Taxes widget

    1. Click ‘Taxes’

  3. Or, you can go to the Transactions tab at the bottom

    1. Click ‘Bookkeeping’

    2. Click ‘Taxes’

  4. Complete Taxes onboarding and review the terms of use.

  5. Choose the tax declaration you want to submit.

  6. Review the due date shown. If your filing frequency changed recently, make sure it’s reflected in your profile.

3. Review & prepare your data

Vivid pre-fills totals from your finalized transactions. Start by reviewing the entries on the bookkeeping tab.

How does pre-filling work?

We use your Vivid finalized transactions and receipts as bookkeeping entries, which you can customize at any time. The transactions you haven’t reviewed or approved in bookkeeping won’t get into the tax declarations.

Please note: your receipts are use to pre-fill in data in the tax declaration. The receipts are not attached to the tax declaration when submitted to the Finanzamt.

Review and edit the transactions

  1. Choose the category of the income/expense

  2. Choose the country of the client/vendor

  3. Select the applied VAT:

    1. Domestic sales 19%

    2. Domestic sales 7% (e.g., certain creative/printed works, food, books—verify applicability)

    3. VAT wasn’t paid (e.g., EU Reverse Charge)

    4. VAT-exempt output (e.g., certain §4 UStG activities; no VAT charged)

    5. Upload the supporting document

The app handles the UStVA mapping. You don’t need to know line codes - just pick the correct categories.

Handle Reverse Charge

Reverse charge means you owe output VAT on the purchase, and may claim input VAT for the same amount if deductible.

Common cases for freelancers - EU B2B digital services/ads/SaaS (e.g., Google Ads, Meta, Figma): supplier invoices without German VAT, usually quote your USt-IdNr.

How to categorize in Vivid:

  1. Open the transaction.

  2. Choose the country of the vendor

  3. If the vendor is in the EU, VAT inputs will change

  4. Choose if VAT was paid and what would be the VAT if the service/product would be purchased domestically.

Reverse charge in business expenses won’t influence the VAT owed to the tax office if you are NOT a Kleinunternehmer.

For example:

Invoice €100. Supplier charges no VAT.

  • App posts €19 output VAT owed to the Finanzamt via reverse charge.

  • Same €19 are treated as input VAT.

  • Net effect = €0 on tax due (but both sides are reported).

4. Add missing transactions you want to include in the tax report

Some of your sales and expenses could happen outside of your Vivid account. You can still report them through Vivid Tax.

Option 1. Add the transactions manually one by one

Upload a document or enter data manually. Every transaction parameter can be changed to give you a wide coverage of VAT scenarios.

Option 2. Connect another bank account

If you have accounts at multiple banks, you can connect them to Vivid via open-banking.

5. Validate your return

You will be able to review the declaration in two different ways.

The first view has descriptions of specific lines in your tax report. By clicking on them, you will see the exact bookkeeping entries that fall into this tax category.

Alternatively, on the Review screen, you can review the filled-out declaration that will be submitted to the Finanzamt.

When everything looks right, continue.

6. Submit from the app

  1. Read the declaration and confirm.

  2. Tap Submit. Your UStVA is sent electronically—no personal Elster login is needed.

  3. If you wish, you can also download the confirmation for your records.

  4. Congrats, one less headache for today.

7. After submitting: pay or await refund

If payment is due:

You should make the payment to the Finanzamt. Make the transfer by the due date!

If you have a SEPA mandate (direct debit) - the Finanzamt will deduct the funds automatically.

If no SEPA consent - transfer manually to the bank details of your Finanzamt stating the Steuernummer and the declaration name/period in the payment reference (e.g., “22/333/55555 . USt Q2-25”.

If a refund is due:

Wait for processing; timing varies amongst different Finanzamt’s.

Can I export my tax submission form?

Yes, you can export any in-app documents by following the steps here.

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