Construction Withholding Tax

What is CWT?

In Germany, the Construction Withholding Tax is a tax regulation applied on construction services where the contractor (customer) withholds 15% of the subcontractor’s (vendor) invoice amount and pays it directly to the German tax authorities. The withheld amount is credited for the contractor’s tax liability, and they can use it to reduce their tax bills.

Who Should Register for CWT?

If you’re a contractor involved in a construction business in Germany, it is mandatory that you register for CWT. It is not compulsory for subcontractors to be registered for CWT, but if you are not registered, the tax amount will be deducted from your payments at a higher rate.

Enable CWT in Zoho Books

Warning: You cannot disable CWT in your organisation after you create a transaction under it. You can disable it only after you delete all transactions under CWT.

You can enable CWT to deduct money for services covered under it in transactions. Here’s how:

Enable CWT

Add a Contractor or Subcontractor

If you are a contractor, you can add subcontractors as vendors to bill them for their services and if you are a subcontractor, you can add contractors as customers to send them invoices. Here’s how:

CWT Preference CWT Deduction Rate

CWT in Transactions

Prerequisite: You should enable CWT tracking for your customer or vendor if you want to create transactions under CWT for them.

Note: CWT is not supported in Retainer Invoices, Expenses and Recurring Expenses.

CWT in Sales Transactions

When you send an invoice to your contractor, you can choose services which come under CWT. Here’s how:

CWT in Sales

Zoho Books will automatically calculate the deductions using the CWT Deduction rate which you provided in the CWT Settings for the services you choose.

CWT in Purchase Transactions

When you send a bill to your subcontractor, you can choose the services for which you deduct the amount on their behalf. Here’s how:

CWT in Purchases

Zoho Books will automatically calculate the deductions using the CWT Deduction rate that you provided when adding a subcontractor as a vendor for the services you choose.

CWT Reports

You can view a detailed report of all the transactions created under CWT for both contractors and subcontractors, total amount liable to deduction and deducted amount. Learn more.

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