Accepted solution yields desired results
The fiscal authority accepts both read access and the provision of data carriers from archive systems, but only if the archive system has analysis functions that match the productive system in terms of quality and quantity. These requirements go far beyond auditing security, which was for a long time equated with GDPdU compliance.
A proposal by tax experts Groß, Matheis and Lindgens (in Deutsches Steuerrecht 23/2003, p. 921ff) shows how this requirement can be met in a way that the German Finance Ministry says yields the desired results and is substantiated. The solution consists of an audit-proof archive that contains the exported data from the productive system and from upstream and downstream systems, e.g. time recording systems, HR management systems and cash desk systems, and an analysis software program with IDEA functions which supports the definition of standard analyses.
‘With this kind of complete GDPdU solution, organisations can allow the tax auditor to carry out analyses for the whole retention period at any time, regardless of system changes in the productive area,’ confirms Bernhard Lindgens, an expert in tax law and electronic data processing at the German Finance Ministry.
Following these specifications, document management specialist S.E.R. joined forces with AUDICON in an exclusive partnership to develop the first total GDPdU solution, which is available exclusively from S.E.R. Unlike all other solutions on the market, it enables GDPdU-compliant retention of tax-relevant data and offers the same analysis options as the productive system in terms of quality and quantity.
It is also the only solution that supports the GDPdU description standard both for importing into the archive and exporting from the archive. The description standard may not be a mandatory criterion, but it does give organisations the certainty that they can provide tax-relevant data in the exact format desired by the fiscal authority.
