Reporting forms and nil reports

The reporting forms as well as explanatory notes on how to complete the reporting forms (Excel and PDF files) are available at the bottom of this page. In addition to the instructions for completing the forms, you can find various notices and an FAQ section to assist you in creating reports.

Parties required to report

Annex K3 to the Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance:

• Enterprises and individuals whose shares or voting rights held directly in a non-resident enterprise amount to 10% or more provided that the non-resident enterprise concerned has a balance sheet total equivalent to over €3 million. If an enterprise held directly abroad is dependent on a German investor (majority stake), any other foreign participating interests that are dependent on this foreign enterprise also have to be reported.

Annex K4 to the Foreign Trade and Paymants Regulation:

• Enterprises with a balance sheet total of more than €3 million if one or several affiliated non-resident enterprises hold 10% or more of the shares or voting rights in the enterprise. If the majority stake in a German enterprise is held abroad, any other enterprise in Germany dependent on the party required to report has also to be reported.

Procedure references

Submission of reports

The entry into force of the revised Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance (AWV) on 1 September 2013 will make it a legal requirement to submit reports on external sector transactions electronically.

Forms K 3 and K 4 can be submitted electronically either using the General statistics reporting portal (AMS) or via ExtraNet File Transfer Protocol. Both procedures use the Bundesbank’s ExtraNet infrastructure, which facilitates the secured transfer of files and data. Therefore, you must register once for the desired procedure before you can submit forms electronically.

Methods of submitting reports

• via AMS (online generation of reports)

The General statistics reporting portal enables you to create reports easily and securely online and to send them to the Bundesbank. Reports generated using this portal will always comply with the current requirements.

• via ExtraNet (reporting forms as XML files)

You can use File Transfer Protocol to submit forms generated in XML format. This is particularly useful for submitting relatively large volumes of data. For more information, please click on the link located on this page under "Notes on technical procedures".

• in paper form or by fax will be accepted until June 30, 2019 only

Reporting deadline

The reports are to be submitted by the last working day of the sixth month following the balance sheet date of the party required to report.