Cash register failure (Germany)

In Germany, a failure of the electronic recording system (POS/cash register) means that normal cashiering on the affected system is no longer possible. The governing obligations arise from § 146 AO, § 146a AO, the Kassensicherungsverordnung (KassenSichV), and the Application Decree to the Fiscal Code (AEAO).

Procedure in case of cash register/POS failure

1. Switch to another compliant electronic system (preferred).
   Switch immediately to another TSE-equipped and KassenSichV-compliant POS. The receipt-issuance obligation under § 146a(2) AO remains in force and only lapses in narrowly defined AEAO cases (complete failure of the recording system or failure of the printing/transmission unit).
2. If no electronic fallback is available → record manually (paper).
   Keep continuous paper records for the duration of the outage (e.g., bound cash book, handwritten receipts with duplicates). Document the outage (start/end/reason) and preserve evidence (e.g., repair or technician report). These paper records are the audit evidence for the outage period.
3. Special case - TSE failure only (POS works, signature missing).
   Operations may continue; document the TSE outage (start/end/reason) and make it clearly visible on receipts issued during that time (e.g., missing transaction number / note “TSE failure”). Fix the issue without delay; the receipt-issuance obligation remains in force.
   • During a TSE outage, the RetailForce-service creates an offline signature; once the TSE is available again, an automatic subsequent signing is performed. The POS flow (createDocument → storeDocument/cancelDocument) remains unchanged; the fiscal response indicates the outage (e.g., ErrorDescription / UserMessage / PrintMessage). See RF article: TSE outage – offline signature.
4. After the system is back in operation.
   Transfer/reconcile the manually recorded sales into your accounts so that the document and process chain remains complete. Retain paper originals/duplicates in accordance with the AO. For electronic periods, provide exports according to DSFinV-K; for the outage window, paper receipts + outage documentation serve as evidence.

Sources

• Fiscal Code (AO) § 146
• Fiscal Code (AO) § 146a
• Kassensicherungsverordnung (KassenSichV) § 6 – Minimum receipt content
• BMF – AEAO to § 146a
• RetailForce: TSE outage – offline signature