Charts of accounts SKR03 and SKR04: differences and key accounts

What is a chart of accounts?

A chart of accounts is a standardised list of accounts with four-digit numbers. Every income and expense item is booked to exactly one account: the software subscription to a licence account, the rent to the rent account, the customer invoice to a revenue account. At the end of the year, the total of each account produces a figure in the Anlage EÜR or in the balance sheet.

The account plan (Kontenplan) is your extract from the chart of accounts: a freelance translator might use 30 accounts, a craft business 150. The best-known charts of accounts come from DATEV; there are also industry-specific charts, for example for doctors or car businesses, and the industrial chart of accounts (Industriekontenrahmen, IKR), which tends to be used by large companies.

SKR03 and SKR04: the difference

Both charts of accounts essentially contain the same accounts, just with different numbers. The difference lies in the order of the account classes:

SKR03 or SKR04: which suits you?

SKR03 follows the path of money through the business: first assets and finances, then purchasing, costs and finally revenue. It is the most widespread among sole traders, freelancers and small trade businesses with an EÜR, and many tax advisors are used to it. SKR04 is structured like the balance sheet and profit and loss account under § 266 and § 275 HGB and is therefore popular with GmbHs, UGs and companies that prepare balance sheets.

Rule of thumb: EÜR without a particular reason → SKR03. Corporation with a balance sheet or a tax advisor who uses SKR04 → SKR04. Switching is possible, but only sensible at the start of a financial year, because all balances and carry-forwards have to be remapped. This also makes prior-year comparisons more difficult.

The most important accounts for the self-employed (SKR03 with SKR04 and Anlage EÜR)

Freelancers and small traders need these accounts most often. The Kennzahlen (Kz) refer to the Anlage EÜR 2025; they are occasionally reassigned when the form changes each year.

How accounts flow into the Anlage EÜR

The Anlage EÜR does not ask for account numbers but for totals per Kennzahl. Each income or expense account is therefore assigned to exactly one Kennzahl; several accounts can flow into the same Kennzahl. Office supplies, postage and specialist literature, for example, all end up in Kz 229 “work equipment” (Arbeitsmittel). Balance sheet accounts such as bank or cash, on the other hand, do not appear in the EÜR because they only show where the money is.

VAT is special in the EÜR: VAT received is business income (Kz 140), input VAT paid and VAT paid to the tax office are business expenses (Kz 185 and 186), refunds from the tax office are income again (Kz 141). On balance VAT is profit-neutral – but if one side is missing, the profit is wrong. More under VAT (Umsatzsteuer) for the self-employed and filling in the Anlage EÜR.

Example: three bookings from invoice to Kennzahl

This is how typical transactions of a self-employed person are booked in SKR03 (debit to credit) and reflected in the Anlage EÜR:

Automatic accounts and tax keys

Some accounts in SKR03 and SKR04 are set up as automatic accounts (Automatikkonten) with a fixed tax rate: if you book to 8400, the program automatically extracts the 19% VAT and books it to 1776. For other accounts a tax key (Steuerschlüssel) controls which VAT applies – for example with the reverse charge procedure, when you purchase a service from another EU country and owe the VAT yourself.

Mistakes with tax keys are expensive: a wrong key can mean that input VAT is missing or that a transaction ends up in the wrong Kennzahl of the advance VAT return (Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung). So always check new accounts with the first receipt.

Common mistakes when choosing accounts

The choice of account often determines whether an expense is fully, partly or not at all deductible:

• Business meals on “other operating expenses” instead of 4650 – without separate records the deduction is lost entirely (business meals).
• Gifts over €50 on the deductible account 4630 instead of 4635 “non-deductible”.
• Laptop for €1,200 net on office supplies instead of as a fixed asset or with a one-year useful life (see AfA and GWG).
• Income tax payment on an expense account instead of 1800 private withdrawals.
• The owner’s health insurance as insurance (4360) – it is private and belongs in the income tax return.
• Everything on 4900 “other operating expenses”: not formally wrong, but the Anlage EÜR becomes imprecise and the tax office asks questions.

Charts of accounts with KontoVexa

From the Business plan, KontoVexa books according to SKR03 – KontoVexa does not currently offer SKR04. But you don’t need to know the account numbers: for an expense you choose an understandable category, and KontoVexa books to the right account with the correct tax rate and private share. KontoVexa maintains the mapping of every account to the Kennzahl of the Anlage EÜR, the advance VAT return and the trade tax return for each tax year. Under “Why this tax treatment” you see for every booking line which return and which form field it flows into. In the Business and Pro plans your tax advisor gets free access and finds the familiar SKR03 accounts.

Frequently asked questions