Buying taxi software: duties, costs, contract traps

Anyone buying taxi software for the first time usually compares the wrong things. Offers show monthly prices and feature lists; in Germany in 2026, however, three other things decide the purchase — the legal obligations, the actual costs behind the base price, and the clauses in the contract. This handbook takes those three apart in order, each with the relevant statute, deadline and source — and without pressing a particular product into your hands at the end.

The starting position has shifted. Until recently, taxi software was mainly a matter of convenience: dispatch, billing, an app for the drivers. Since the Kassensicherungsverordnung (KassenSichV, Germany’s cash register anti-tampering ordinance) started applying to taximeters as well, it has become a matter of tax and regulatory law. Looking at the field from that side, you will ask the right questions in the sales conversation — and notice when a glossy offer does not cover an obligation at all.

The essentials first

• Since January 1, 2026, the taximeter must record via a certified Technische Sicherheitseinrichtung (TSE — the certified tamper-proof security unit required for German taximeters). For breaches of the record-keeping obligations, § 379 of the Abgabenordnung (AO, the German Fiscal Code) provides for fines of up to €25,000.
• Of the thirteen systems reviewed here, HALE, MPC/TARIS, Seibt & Straub and fms/Austrosoft offer their own TSE route for the taximeter (as of 07/2026). Pure dispatch or billing programs have no TSE of their own — and don’t need one, because the obligation attaches to the measuring device.
• Not a single one of the thirteen systems explicitly advertises an order log (Auftragsbuch) under § 49 (4) of the Personenbeförderungsgesetz (PBefG, the German Passenger Transport Act). For hire cars this log is mandatory, and the trip lists from Uber, Bolt or FreeNow do not replace it.
• The monthly price is rarely the final price. Activation fees, mandatory service packages, paid modules and percentage fees on revenue come on top with many providers.

The costliest mistake

Putting two offers side by side and taking the one with the lower monthly fee. Comparing only the base fee overlooks the one-off setup, mandatory add-on packages and fees calculated on revenue — and may lock you in for two years. An honest comparison works through the first full year, including every ancillary item.

The three chapters of this handbook

Legal obligations: What applies in 2026. The TSE on the taximeter, the filing with the tax office via ELSTER (the German tax administration’s online portal), the DSFinV-TW audit export, the order log for hire cars, and the billing of insurer-funded patient trips. This chapter explains which obligation attaches to which device — and how to tell whether a software product covers that part at all.

Cost traps: What price tags don’t tell you. Why the base fee rarely stands alone, how modules, SIM cards, training and percentages on revenue add up to a different annual total, and how to draw up the one calculation that is missing from every offer. No price table — instead, the mechanisms that let you re-check any offer yourself.

Contract clauses: Before you sign. Term and notice period, silent renewal, and the most important yet least asked question: when I switch providers, do I get my data back — complete and readable? The GoBD (Germany’s principles for proper electronic bookkeeping and record retention) require ten years of retention — including data sitting on the server of a provider whose contract you have long since terminated.

How this handbook works

Kauf-Kompass crowns no winners. You will find no leaderboard here, no grades and no “go to provider” click-out. Where a product is named, it appears as a documented fact with a date — for instance, which system demonstrably covers a specific obligation and which one makes no public statement about it. A missing statement does not mean a missing feature; it means the provider does not document it publicly. We draw that distinction consistently, because it decides over hard euros.

The product information is based on the publicly available manufacturer documentation of thirteen systems active in the German-speaking market. The legal statements are based on the statutes themselves and on communications from the German tax and calibration authorities. Every figure carries its as-of date, because prices and deadlines change.

Terms that keep coming up

• TSE — Technische Sicherheitseinrichtung (technical security unit): the certified signature module that stores taximeter data tamper-proof.
• DSFinV-TW — Digitale Schnittstelle der Finanzverwaltung für EU-Taxameter und Wegstreckenzähler: the German tax administration’s digital interface for EU taximeters and odometers — the format in which an auditor must be able to read the data.
• WSZ — Wegstreckenzähler: the sealed odometer, the taximeter’s counterpart in the licensed hire car.
• § 49 PBefG — the provision of the German Passenger Transport Act that governs, among other things, the order log and the return-to-base obligation for hire cars.
• DTA — Datenträgeraustausch (data media exchange): the electronic procedure used to bill patient transport to Germany’s statutory health insurers.
• GoBD — Germany’s principles for the proper keeping and retention of books and records in electronic form, including the ten-year retention obligation.

Each of these words is explained again, in place, in the chapter that needs it.

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Last updated: July 11, 2026. This handbook explains rules with statute and source and is no substitute for legal or tax advice; individual cases belong with a tax advisor or lawyer. Primary sources: the statutes themselves (gesetze-im-internet.de), circulars of the German Federal Ministry of Finance, guidance from the Federal Central Tax Office, fact sheets of the Chambers of Industry and Commerce, and publications of the state calibration authorities. Product information comes from the public manufacturer documentation of the thirteen systems reviewed.