Tag line items with VAT rate, cost center, and GL mapping
Financial tags tell your finance system how each line of a Beleg (receipt/expense document) should be taxed and booked. This article explains the three tags — VAT rate (USt), cost center (Kostenstelle), and GL mapping — how they are validated, and how they are frozen at approval. Tagging is done while editing a Beleg and requires the belege:transition permission.
The three financial tags
| Tag | What it drives | Validated against |
|---|---|---|
| VAT rate (USt) | The VAT amount and the tax summary on the dashboard. | Active VAT rate options (matched on the percentage, rounded to 2 places). |
| Cost center (Kostenstelle) | Cost-center breakdowns and filtering. | Active cost center options (matched case-insensitively). |
| GL mapping | The general-ledger account the expense books to. | Active GL mapping options (matched case-insensitively). |
All three tags are optional per line item, but if you set one it must correspond to an active reference option for your tenant.
How validation works
When you save, each tag you supplied is checked against the active financial reference data:
- A VAT rate that is not in the active VAT options is rejected.
- A cost center code that is not an active cost center is rejected.
- A GL mapping code that is not an active GL mapping is rejected.
Any of these failures returns FINANCIAL_REFERENCE_NOT_ACTIVE ("Selected financial reference is not active") and the whole save is rejected — the Beleg is not partially updated.
Note: Validation only fires when there is at least one active option of that kind. If your tenant has no active cost centers configured at all, cost-center values are not checked. Configure your reference data first so tags are enforced.
Only the VAT rate changes the amounts
Of the three tags, only the VAT rate affects money. The net amount comes from quantity × unit price; the VAT amount is net × (VAT rate ÷ 100); gross is net + VAT. Cost center and GL mapping are classification tags — they route and report the expense but never change the calculated totals.
Tags are snapshotted at approval
While a Beleg is editable, the tags are live references — change a code and it re-validates against current reference data. When the Beleg transitions to Approved, each line item's cost center, VAT rate, and GL mapping are copied into snapshot fields (CostCenterSnapshot, VatRateSnapshot, GlMappingSnapshot) taken from the reference data at that moment. Those snapshots are immutable and preserve exactly what was approved, even if you later rename or deactivate a reference option.
Warning: Get the tags right before approval. After approval the Beleg is immutable, and the only way an authorized reviewer can retag it earlier is a financial correction (permission belege:correct-financial, SystemAdmin only) while it is still in a review state.
Position type and fuel type
Alongside the financial tags, each line can carry a position type (for example fuel, washing, toll, maintenance_repair, or other) and, for fuel lines, a fuel type key. These describe what the line is rather than how it is booked, and they help rules and reporting classify the expense.
Related
- Add line items to a Beleg
- Financial reference data: cost centers, VAT rates, and GL codes
- How net, VAT, and gross amounts are calculated
- Edit line items: create, update, and delete
