Prepare and lock your annual close

Use Accounting → Setup → Annual close after the year's books have been reconciled. This guide covers the Norman workflow for GmbH and UG; completing the screen is not a substitute for reviewing the company's accounting and legal obligations.

Before starting

Have the opening balances, complete year's postings, supporting documents, asset register and prior-year closing records available. Finish the Ledger review and company details.

No trading activity does not automatically mean a zero balance sheet. Check any capital, bank balance, charges, liabilities and existing assets.

1. Prepare the draft

1. Select the intended fiscal year and choose Start annual close, or open the existing close.
2. Check the beginning and end dates, especially for a short fiscal year.
3. Review the workbook's trial balance, net income, balance-sheet total, equity and profit/loss reconciliation.
4. Resolve blocking issues and examine warnings. For missing reporting positions, use E-Bilanz assignment.
5. Reconcile asset-register values and depreciation with the Ledger.
6. Where a genuine adjustment is needed, use Add closing entry with debit account, credit account, amount, booking date and memo. Use documented accounting instructions, not a balancing entry invented to silence an error.

If opening balances are already imported through migration, do not import them a second time from the annual-close screen.

Where the tax balance sheet differs from your books

Sometimes a value in the tax balance sheet differs from your books, for example a fee you recognise as income now that counts for tax only next year. Record each difference in the annual close instead of booking it. Norman sends the E-Bilanz with your books and a tax reconciliation (Überleitungsrechnung), and the corporate and trade tax returns start from the tax result.

1. Open Tax balance differences below the trial balance and choose Add difference.
2. Pick the Balance sheet line whose tax value differs and enter the Tax value minus book value. Use a minus sign if the tax value is lower.
3. Choose the Other side: an income statement line if the difference changes the profit, otherwise a second balance sheet line.
4. Enter a Reason and choose Save differences.

Norman then shows net income and balance sheet total of the books next to the tax balance. Example: other assets include a fee of 104.17 € that counts for tax only next year. Enter −104.17 € on other assets with other operating income as the other side. The tax result is 104.17 € lower, and the profit/loss reconciliation (BVV) follows it.

The next year's close takes over every difference still open at the last year end. Enter its value at the new year end, or choose Reversed this year once it has gone. A carried difference cannot be removed. Lock the previous year first: a year cannot be locked while the year before it is still a draft with differences. Differences from a year closed outside Norman are not carried over, so agree with your tax advisor how to reflect them before you file.

2. Test before locking

Choose ELSTER test preview and read the returned protocol or error details. This performs a test transmission, not a binding filing. Correct the named issue and generate a fresh preview.

A successful technical test does not establish that all accounting judgements or source records are correct.

3. Lock only when final

Lock the year freezes the annual-close workbook. Further closing entries and imports are no longer possible through this workflow, and the app does not offer an undo.

Before confirming, check the company, dates, all balances, mappings, outstanding warnings and any advisor adjustments. Do not lock just to see what the next screen looks like.

The status progresses from Draft to Locked. Locking alone is not E-Bilanz submission.

Documents that arrive after the lock

If a document belongs to a year whose annual close is locked or filed, the close stays as it is. Norman books the document on the first day of the first open year. Its VAT stays in its month. The UStVA of that month then shows the change, and you correct it. Read Correct a submitted UStVA.

Next: submit E-Bilanz and handle disclosure separately, then review the company tax returns.