The 10 most common EÜR mistakes in 2026 — and how to avoid them

Freelancers, sole traders and small businesses in Germany file an Einnahmen-Überschuss-Rechnung (EÜR) instead of a full balance sheet. Freiberufler can use it without any revenue cap; Gewerbetreibende up to €800,000 in revenue and €80,000 in profit per year (§ 141 AO). It sounds simple — which is exactly why expensive mistakes happen. Here are the ten most common EÜR mistakes in 2026 and how to dodge them.

The key points at a glance

• Separate first: a dedicated business account and receipts scanned on the spot prevent half of all EÜR mistakes before they happen.
• The payment date counts, not the invoice date: the EÜR follows the cash-basis principle (§ 11 EStG) — an invoice issued on 28 December and paid on 5 January belongs in the following year.
• The costliest mistakes are the invisible ones: forgotten business expenses, a purchase over €800 net not depreciated, and a loss carry-forward (§ 10d EStG) you never recorded.
• Deadline 2026: the EÜR for 2025 must be filed electronically via ELSTER by 31 July 2026 (end of February 2027 with a tax adviser). Late-filing surcharge: at least €25 per started month.
• Fixable: as long as the assessment is not final, you can correct a faulty EÜR informally via ELSTER.

Mistake 1: Mixing personal and business money on one account

If client payments land in your private current account next to your supermarket runs, you lose track — and so does the tax office. In an audit, the inspector is allowed to look into a mixed account in full, including your private transactions.

Open a separate business account. There is no legal obligation for sole traders to do so, but it saves hours of sorting, makes every booking unambiguous and keeps the inspector out of your private life. Clean separation all year means no painful untangling of individual transactions in July.

Expert opinion

One of the biggest mistakes we see in support questions is mixing private and business expenses — things like health insurance, employment-related expenses and the home office. A lot of the deductions the self-employed try to claim actually belong in the income tax return, not the EÜR.

Mistake 2: Missing or faded receipts

Thermal-paper receipts (petrol stations, drugstores) are illegible after six months. No legible receipt, no business expense. Scan every receipt immediately and store it in a GoBD-compliant way. For cash spend under €250 an Eigenbeleg can save you, but it is always Plan B.

Important for 2026: the retention period for accounting receipts was cut from ten to eight years by the Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act — valid for all receipts whose period had not yet expired at the end of 2024. Invoices and bank statements must be kept for eight years, other tax-relevant documents for six. A digital archive is enough; you only need to keep the physical original for a few document types (e.g. customs paperwork).

Mistake 3: Forgotten business expenses

This is the most expensive mistake of all — and no one notices it, because it disguises itself as a higher profit. SaaS subscriptions, business share of your phone, technical books, insurances, software licences, account fees: self-employed people miss three- to four-figure amounts every year. Sweep your statements once a quarter instead of guessing from memory in July.

These are the items most often forgotten:

The home-office flat rate is the classic one: €6 per day you mostly worked from home adds up to the full €1,260 over 210 working days — with no separate room required.

The starter book for your self-employment

Free e-book: registration, accounting, your first invoice, and taxes — plus a tax calendar, deductions cheat sheet, and invoice template.

Email *

Company website

I want to receive the starter book and agree that Norman may send me related emails with tips and product info. Details in the privacy policy. Unsubscribe anytime. *

Get the free book

Mistake 4: Wrong fiscal year for income

The EÜR follows the cash-basis principle (§ 11 EStG): what matters is not when you issue the invoice, but when the money moves. An invoice you issue on 28 December and that is paid on 5 January belongs in the following year. Same for expenses — debited in the new year, it belongs in the new year.

The key exception is the 10-day rule: regularly recurring payments (rent, VAT prepayment, leasing instalments) within ten days of year-end are assigned to the year they economically belong to — not the year of the actual cash flow. Mixing it up shifts income or expenses into the wrong year, and you end up paying too early or too much.

Mistake 5: Purchases over €800 not depreciated

Laptops, furniture or cameras above €800 net cannot be written off in one go — you must depreciate them across their useful life (AfA). Putting the full amount in the year of purchase artificially lowers your profit, and the tax office corrects it with back-payment plus interest.

Here is how to decide what is immediately deductible and what is spread over the years:

Below €800 net the GWG immediate write-off applies. Computers, laptops and software are a special case: since 2021 a one-year useful life may be applied — effectively a full write-off in the year of purchase, regardless of the price.

Mistake 6: Invalid input invoices deducted

An invoice without a tax number, date, service description or with the wrong recipient is worthless to the tax office — input VAT gone, business expense wobbly. For every receipt above €250, check the mandatory fields under § 14 UStG. Small-value invoices up to €250 gross need fewer details, but date, issuer, service and tax rate must still be on them.

Mistake 7: Losing Kleinunternehmer status by accident

If you operate under the small-business rule and accidentally show VAT on an invoice, you owe it to the tax office under § 14c UStG — even though you were not allowed to charge it. Correct faulty invoices in writing immediately.

New thresholds apply since 2025: you stay a Kleinunternehmer if your turnover was under €25,000 in the previous year and does not exceed €100,000 in the current year. Break the €100,000 limit mid-year and turnover becomes VAT-liable from the transaction that crosses it — miss this and you suddenly show no VAT when you should. More on this in our guide to VAT mistakes.

Mistake 8: Wrong per-diem and mileage rates

On business travel many people miscalculate the flat rates or claim them twice. The rates for 2026 for domestic trips:

The most common error: if you claim the mileage rate, you cannot also deduct fuel receipts — claiming both is a double deduction and gets corrected. Pick one method per vehicle. And the per-diem only applies to work away from your first place of business, not to your daily lunch at the office.

Mistake 9: Losses not recorded

Negative income? Enter it in line 84 of the EÜR form. Otherwise you cannot offset that loss against later profits (§ 10d EStG). In the first years of self-employment, this loss carry-forward materially lowers your tax bill in the next profitable year. A start-up loss from your founding year can still save you real money years later, once the business takes off.

Mistake 10: Filing late or in the wrong format

The EÜR form must be filed electronically via ELSTER — paper only in hardship cases. Miss the deadline and you risk an automatic late-filing surcharge. These dates apply to tax year 2025:

For mandatory filers, the surcharge is set automatically at the latest 14 months after the end of the tax year. If you can already see you won't finish in time, apply to the tax office for an extension beforehand — far cheaper than the surcharge.

Correcting your EÜR after the fact

Already filed and spotted an error? As long as the assessment is not yet final (within the one-month objection window), you can submit a corrected return via ELSTER — often informally. Once final, a correction under § 173 AO only works if new facts come to light, for or against you. The exact routes — simple amendment, objection, correction under § 153 AO — are explained in detail in our guide to tax-return mistakes.

Frequently asked questions about the EÜR

Who has to file an EÜR?

Freelancers and self-employed people who are not required to keep double-entry books file an EÜR. Gewerbetreibende may use the EÜR as long as they stay below €800,000 in revenue and €80,000 in profit per year (§ 141 AO). Exceed one of these limits permanently and you must switch to a balance sheet — how that works is covered in our guide to switching from the EÜR to a balance sheet.

What is the cash-basis principle?

In the EÜR what counts is the date of payment, not of invoicing (§ 11 EStG). Income is recorded in the year the money arrives, an expense in the year it is debited. The exceptions are the 10-day rule for regularly recurring payments and depreciation, which is spread over several years.

Do I have to submit the receipts with the EÜR?

No. You only file the EÜR form electronically via ELSTER. You do not send the receipts, but you must keep them for eight years and present them on request. A complete, legible receipt archive is therefore not optional — it is mandatory.

How do I correct a mistake in an already filed EÜR?

As long as the assessment is not yet final, you submit a corrected return via ELSTER or lodge an objection within one month. Once final, a change is only possible under the narrow conditions of §§ 153, 173 AO.

What does an EÜR mistake actually cost?

It depends on the mistake. Forgotten business expenses cost you directly in too much tax. Mis-booked income or purchases lead, in an audit, to a back-payment plus 0.15% interest per month (§ 233a AO). A missed loss carry-forward can cost four-figure amounts over the years.

Conclusion

Most EÜR mistakes don't come from ignorance, they come from July panic. If you book cleanly all year, July is 20 minutes of work instead of 20 hours of stress. Norman automates your EÜR: scan receipts, auto-categorise transactions, generate the EÜR — and file straight to the tax office. Read more in our EÜR guide and our DIY-bookkeeping guide.