In early summer, the German government decided to temporarily reduce VAT rates from 19 to 16 percent and from 7 to 5 percent from July 1 to December 31, 2020 in order to stimulate the economy during the coronavirus crisis. This required far-reaching adjustments to JTL’s products, about which we have provided information in a detailed blog post.
However, these changes must now be reversed as of January 1, 2021. We’ll tell you here how to do this without having to sit at your computer on New Year’s Eve:
As a retailer, do I have to raise VAT again?
As an entrepreneur, you should ensure that you show the old VAT rates on all your items and invoices as of January 1, 2021. Although a transitional period is being discussed, there are currently no plans to introduce one. Incorrectly displaying VAT rates can result in warnings or tax penalties.
In which JTL solutions can changes occur?
The central adjustments are made in the ERP system JTL-Wawi. This is where you set your tax settings, create invoices, invoice templates and invoice corrections, export data for DATEV and much more. However, your sales channels must also output the old VAT rates on January 1. You may also have to make changes to JTL-eazyAuction, JTL-Shop, JTL-Connector or JTL-POS.
What settings do you need to make in JTL-Wawi?
For all orders that are not shipped on New Year’s Eve, you should increase the VAT from 16 to 19 percent or from 5 to 7 percent on December 31, 2020 after close of business. This is because the decisive factor for the tax office is the day of delivery, not the day of the order!
Then please follow the following video instructions on how to change the VAT rates in JTL-Wawi again.
This will ensure that you automatically receive all sales orders with the back-adjusted VAT, so that you can enjoy the holiday in peace and quiet and then process the orders in the new year with the correct data.
The video tutorial covers the following topics:
Your questions about the VAT changeover 2021 answered in the JTL forum
If you have individual questions about the VAT changeover in 2021, the JTL forum is your first port of call. Our Product Owner JTL-Wawi, Manuel Pietzsch, already created his own thread here during the first changeover, in which he answered all your questions.
Guide with step-by-step instructions
Our documentation team has created a detailed guide for you with the help of our support team. There you can read how to make the necessary settings in JTL-Wawi, JTL-eazyAuction, JTL-Shop, JTL-Connector and JTL-POS.
Settings in the ERP system





In JTL-Wawi, the imported gross prices are now displayed with the correspondingly adjusted net prices in your items.
Step 5: Import customer-specific gross prices with JTL-DataTransfer (if available)In JTL-Wawi, the imported customer-specific gross prices are now displayed with the correspondingly adjusted net prices in your items.
In this case, you must adjust the VAT manually in JTL-Wawi. To do this, you can set up a workflow that ensures that these sales orders are automatically set to “On hold” status. Optionally, you can then be informed by email about the affected sales orders so that you don’t forget to adjust them.
PreparationIf you are not yet working with workflows, you must first uncheck “Disable all workflows” in the window at the bottom left in the menu “Admin > Global settings > Tab: Debug”.
Create workflow





A change to the invoice is not possible according to GoBD, so the invoice must be written off with an invoice correction.
Follow the instructions in the JTL-Guide: Create invoice correction
You can then create a new sales order with the correct VAT rates and reissue the invoice.
Initial situation: You have already adjusted your tax rates to the reduced VAT. After January 1, 2021, you would like to subsequently export booking data with JTL-DataTransfer for the period up to the end of December 2020. In this case, you must reduce your tax rates for the duration of the export back to the 16% or 5% applicable in the second half of 2020.
Step 1: Change tax rates in JTL-Wawi to 16% or 5%Step 2: Export booking data with JTL-DataTransferStep 3: Change tax rates in JTL-Wawi to 19 % or 7 %Initial situation: You export your accounting data according to actual taxation. Your aim is to show if invoices were created before 1.1.2021 and payment was only received after 1.1.2021. In order for the booking data export to work for the tax rates of 19% and 7% as well as the previous tax rates of 16% and 5%, you must store the old and new tax rates in the tax administration of JTL-Wawi.
Step 1: Create new 19% and 7% tax keysStep 2: Change tax rates and tax keys for standard tax rates in the tax administrationStep 3: Change tax rates and tax codes for the transitional tax brackets in the tax administrationStep 4: Export booking data with JTL-DataTransfer


Settings for the sales channels
The prices on Amazon and eBay are not automatically changed when the tax rate is changed. You can adjust the prices for Amazon and eBay with JTL-DataTransfer.
Customize prices for Amazon with JTL-DataTransfer
Step 1: Export prices

Further information can be found in the JTL-Guide: Edit Amazon listings with JTL-DataTransfer
Customize prices for eBay with JTL-DataTransfer
Step 1: Export prices

The VAT increase has no effect on Amazon. The tax rate is applied when the order is created, so the net prices are automatically higher. If you want to pass on the VAT increase to your customers, you can update the Amazon prices via JTL-DataTransfer.
Please note that Amazon Business prices apply to the B2B customer group.
You can read how to do this in the instructions Adjust prices on Amazon with JTL-DataTransfer.
Tax rates and prices in JTL-Shop are controlled via JTL-Wawi. However, simply changing the tax rates is not enough.
In the following, we will show you three methods on how you can proceed to customize tax rates in JTL-Shop in the best possible way.
Method 1: Standard procedureSuitable and recommended for: JTL-Shops of all versions whose synchronization of all items (no categories, images etc.) is run through in a time acceptable to you.
Optional method 2: Directly via the JTL-Shop databaseSuitable for: JTL-Shops of all versions whose synchronization of all items (no categories, images etc.) would mean too long a downtime for you. Tax rates taken into account: 16 % → 19 % and 5 % → 7 %
IMPORTANT: Only suitable for JTL-Shop with standard tax settings (tax headquarters in Germany).
IMPORTANT: Item, scale and special prices for all customer groups (who have not activated net price display) are taken into account. Two special cases are NOT taken into account:
- Different configurator prices: If you use fee-based configurator components that are not linked to items or linked components with different item prices, these will not be adjusted by the snippet. After you have changed the prices via Ant, they are synchronized via the global data (online store > Complete synchronisation settings column “Global data”). This should be relatively quick.
- Surcharges for the old variations (variation combinations are normal item prices and are therefore taken into account)
Suitable for: JTL-Shop (only version 4.06.x and PHP version at least 7.0), whose synchronization of all items (no categories, images etc.) would mean too long a downtime for you.
IMPORTANT: Only suitable for JTL-Shop with standard tax settings (tax headquarters in Germany)
IMPORTANT: Item, scale and special prices for all customer groups (who have not activated net price display) are taken into account. Two special cases are NOT taken into account:
- Different configurator prices: If you use fee-based configurator components that are not linked to items or linked components with different item prices, these will not be adjusted by the plugin. After you have changed the prices via Ameise, they are synchronized via the global data (online store > Complete synchronisation settings column “Global data”). This should be relatively quick.
- Surcharges for the old variations (variation combinations are normal item prices and are therefore taken into account)
Note: If you want to keep the gross prices, this is possible with the plugin, but all customer groups for which the net price display is activated in JTL-Wawi will not get adjusted net prices with the plugin!
Empty item cache:
We recommend that you check all texts in your online shop (general terms and conditions, item descriptions, etc.) to ensure that the correct VAT rates and percentages are entered everywhere.


Carry out steps 1-5 from “Question 1 – How do I keep my gross prices?” as described.
Option 2: Pass on tax savings to your customers:In this case, you only need to adjust your tax rates.


The net prices are now calculated using the new tax rates.
Step 3: Transfer tax rates and prices to the connector online storeCarry out a complete synchronisation for your items via the online store synchronization (menu online store > Complete synchronisation > Check “Items”).

Carry out steps 1-5 from “Question 1 – How do I keep my gross prices?” as described.
Option 2: Pass on the tax increase to your customers:In this case, you only need to adjust your tax rates.


The net prices are now calculated using the new tax rates.
Step 3: Transfer tax rates and prices to the connector online storeCarry out a complete synchronisation for your items via the online store synchronization (menu online store > Complete synchronisation > Check “Items”).
JTL-POS ERPConnected
PreparationHow do I change my tax rates and keep my gross prices?In JTL-Wawi, the imported gross prices are now displayed with the correspondingly adjusted net prices in the items and transferred to JTL-POS with the next reconciliation.
How do I change my tax rates and pass on the tax savings to my customers?Step 1: Change tax rates in JTL-Wawi

The net prices are now calculated using the new tax rates.
Step 2: Recalculate prices for JTL-POSTo have the prices recalculated according to the new tax rate, you must disable and re-enable all items in JTL-POS once.


With the next synchronization, the items with the updated prices are transferred back to JTL-POS.
JTL-POS StandAlone
In JTL-POS you have to change the tax rates manually under “Settings > Tax rates”. The tax rates in your items will be automatically adjusted after saving. This will not change your gross prices. If you use DATEV, discuss any necessary changes to your DATEV accounts stored under “Settings > Tax rates” with your tax advisor.

Since JTL-POS works on the basis of gross prices, your gross prices remain the same even if you change your tax rates as described above.
How do I pass on the tax increase to my customers?If you want to pass on the tax increase to the customer in the form of higher prices, you must adjust your prices manually after changing the tax rates. The quickest way to do this is via CSV import/export. If you only have very few items, you can also adjust the prices manually. To change the prices via CSV import/export, proceed as follows:
JTL-POS General
What happens if a customer buys something before the changeover and returns it after the changeover?The tax rate at which the customer made the purchase is permanently stored in the closed receipt. Changes to the tax settings no longer have any effect on closed receipts. So if the customer purchased something at 16% VAT before the tax rate changeover and returns the goods on 02.01.2021 after the changeover, for example, they will be refunded the 16% VAT applicable to the purchase, even if the tax rate has been changed in the settings.
This article does not replace tax or legal advice and is only intended to provide you with initial guidance. If you are unsure, we recommend that you seek independent specialist advice to ensure compliance with the applicable laws and regulations.
