The GoBD Export (Principles for the proper management and storage of books, records and documents in electronic form) is used for GoBD-compliant archiving of your personnel deployment and billing data.
This export fulfills the requirements of the Z3 access method (Data Media Transfer) pursuant to § 147 AO and enables tax auditors to import the data into their audit software (e.g., IDEA) for machine-based evaluation.
The export generates a ZIP file containing the following files:
- CSV file with the booking data (UTF-8 with BOM, semicolon-separated)
- index.xml - XML schema file describing the CSV format according to the description standard
Data Access Methods of the Tax Authorities (Z1, Z2, Z3)
GoBD / GDPdU distinguish three access methods for tax audits:
| Access Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Z1 - Direct Access | The auditor receives read-only access to the live system and can independently perform analyses using the provided evaluation functions. |
| Z2 - Indirect Access | The company creates targeted evaluations and reports from the system at the auditor's request. |
| Z3 - Data Media Transfer | The company provides tax-relevant data in a machine-readable format on a data carrier or for download. The auditor imports the data into their own analysis software (e.g., IDEA). |
The PlainStaff GoBD export is specifically designed for Z3 data media transfer. The export contains all necessary data to enable machine-based evaluation of tax-relevant personnel deployment and billing records during a tax audit.
Scope of Application
The GoBD export is relevant for companies that need to:
- comply with their statutory retention obligations under GoBD / GDPdU (Principles of data access and auditability of digital documents)
- implement the Z3 access method during a tax audit
- archive their personnel deployment and billing data in an audit-proof manner
Exported Data
The export contains the following information per employee:
Time Bookings
For each employee, the following lines are generated in the selected period:
- Target line - The planned working hours (target hours) for each day
- Actual lines - All recorded time bookings with reason, status and time
- Break deduction line - Automatically calculated breaks (if gross and net working time differ)
Project Bookings
All project bookings recorded in the period with:
- Customer and project
- Tasks and effort
- Hourly rates and revenue
CSV Columns
The CSV file contains the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| TYPE | Booking type (time booking or project booking) |
| DATE | Booking date (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| EMPLOYEE | Employee name |
| CODE | Employee code |
| REGION | Employee region |
| MODEL | Working time model |
| Email address (login name) | |
| TEAM | Employee team |
| REASON | Booking reason / absence reason |
| APPROVED | Approval status |
| START | Start time (HH:MM) |
| END | End time (HH:MM) |
| MINUTES | Duration in minutes |
| HOURS | Duration in hours |
| VACATION_DAYS | Vacation days |
| CUSTOMER | Customer name |
| CUSTOMER_CODE | Customer code |
| PROJECT | Project name |
| PROJECT_CODE | Project code |
| COST_CENTER | Cost center |
| PROJECT_MANAGER | Project managers |
| PROJECT_STATUS | Project status |
| CURRENCY | Currency |
| TASK | Task |
| TASK_STATUS | Task status |
| QUANTITY | Quantity (hours) |
| UNIT | Unit |
| PRICE | Hourly rate |
| TURNOVER | Revenue |
| COMMENT | Comment |
| CREATED_AT | Creation date |
| CREATED_BY | Created by |
| MODIFIED_AT | Modification date |
| MODIFIED_BY | Modified by |
Usage
- Navigate to Exports in the application
- Select GoBD-compliant Export (Z3) as export type
- Choose the desired time period and employees
- Configure filters as needed
- Start the export
After the export is complete, you will receive a ZIP file for download. You can hand it over directly to the tax auditor or copy it to a data carrier.
index.xml - Description Standard
The index.xml contains the metadata of the export and describes the CSV file format according to the description standard required by the tax authorities:
- Dataset name and description
- Format, character encoding and delimiter of the CSV
- Decimal separator (period)
- Field names and data types for all columns (AlphaNumeric, Date, Numeric)
This XML schema file enables the tax authority's audit software (e.g., IDEA) to automatically import and evaluate the CSV data.
Notes on GoBD Compliance
- The CSV file is output as UTF-8 with BOM and is therefore machine-evaluable
- All numeric values use a period as the decimal separator in English format
- The index.xml describes the CSV format according to GDPdU requirements for the description standard
- The export contains both master data (employees, projects) and transaction data (bookings) for the audit period
- Data completeness is ensured through page-by-page generation and merging
- The export is auditable and fulfills the requirements of Z3 data media transfer pursuant to § 147 AO