Documenting Client Meetings: Minutes, File Memos and Client Letters

After a client meeting, a German tax firm has to record what was discussed. Three documents do this job, and they are easy to confuse: the minutes (Protokoll), the file memo (Aktenvermerk) and the client letter (Mandantenschreiben). § 66 StBerG, part of the German Tax Advisory Act, prescribes none of these formats. It prescribes a result: the client file (Handakte) must give an "orderly and accurate picture" of how the engagement was handled. This guide shows which document fits when, what goes into it and how long it has to be kept.

What separates minutes, a file memo and a client letter?

The most important difference is the addressee: minutes are for everyone who took part, a file memo is for the firm itself, and a client letter is for the client. Content and tone follow from that.

All three belong in the client file. According to the notes on rights of retention from the German Federal Chamber of Tax Advisors (BStBK), the term covers all documents relating to the engagement, whoever created them.

When do I need which document?

You need a file memo after almost every conversation, and minutes or a client letter only when the situation calls for them. In its non-binding notes on computer-assisted tax audits, the BStBK lists file memos on calls and meetings as an example of what belongs in the client file, including conversations the firm holds with third parties on the client's behalf.

Minutes are worthwhile as soon as several people on the client's side are involved or tasks are assigned, for example in succession planning or at the annual accounts meeting. Outcome minutes are usually enough. Minutes of the full discussion only make sense if the path to the decision needs to be traceable later.

A client letter is appropriate when the client has to decide, supply documents or observe a deadline. Advice given only orally is hard to prove later.

What goes into minutes?

Minutes contain the date, participants, topics, outcomes and who does what by when. Only write down what every recipient may read. The duty of secrecy covers everything that became known in the course of professional practice (§ 57(1) StBerG). That makes the distribution list a professional-law question: if the firm sends minutes to a bank, relatives or other advisors, it generally needs the client's release from secrecy (§ 5(2) of the professional code, BOStB).

Send the minutes promptly and ask for corrections if anything is wrong. That way a misunderstanding surfaces while everyone still remembers the conversation.

What goes into a file memo?

A file memo contains what the firm may need to prove later: what the advice was based on, which warnings it gave and what the client decided. Keep the client's statements separate from your own assessment. Structure, wording and a Word template are in the article Writing a file memo.

A memo can also work against the firm. The BStBK's notes on liability under tax criminal law warn that conversation memos meant to exonerate can also be read the opposite way by the courts. If the firm cautions a client about whom it has a well-founded suspicion, these notes say the memo should go only into the client file and should not be handed to the client.

What goes into a client letter?

A client letter contains what the client needs in order to decide or act: the starting point, recommendation, risks, tasks and deadlines. Behind it sits a legal duty to inform. According to the BStBK, tax advisory contracts are usually contracts for the management of another's affairs (Geschäftsbesorgungsverträge). Through § 675(1) BGB, part of the German Civil Code, § 666 BGB applies to them: the agent must give the principal the necessary information and account for the work once it is done. Tax advisors must also promptly inform the client of all material matters and documents they receive or send (§ 13(2) BOStB).

Tax advisors must sign material correspondence personally (§ 3(3) BOStB), and their personal responsibility extends to electronic correspondence (para. 4). An email draft is therefore held to the same standard as a letter. The BStBK's notes on tax criminal liability point out that emails can still become relevant as evidence many years later.

How long do the documents have to be kept?

German tax advisors keep client files for ten years, starting at the end of the calendar year in which the engagement ended (§ 66(1) StBerG). If an engagement ends on 14 March 2026, the period runs until 31 December 2036. What counts is the end of the engagement and not the date of the conversation. With an ongoing engagement, a memo can therefore stay in the file for much longer. The same rules apply to client files kept electronically, and other statutory duties to retain business records are unaffected (§ 66(4) StBerG).

Other professions have their own rules. German lawyers keep client files for six years, also from the end of the calendar year in which the engagement ended (§ 50(1) BRAO). Public auditors keep them for ten years after the engagement ended. For that period, para. 4 of § 51b WPO limits the term to documents received from or for the client, and para. 5 sets separate rules for the audit file in statutory audits.

Do I have to hand the documents over to the client?

On request you only have to hand over part of the client file, namely documents you received from the client or for the client (§ 66(2) StBerG). Correspondence with the client, documents the client already has as an original or copy, and working papers prepared for internal purposes are excluded. The client will usually already have the minutes and the client letter. A purely internal file memo is likely to count as a working paper. According to the BStBK, there are good reasons to argue that such papers fall outside the handover claim altogether. For lawyers, § 50(2) BRAO does not expressly list this exception.

There are two limits to keep in mind. The BStBK's notes on ending an engagement of January 2022 count memos on meetings the firm held with third parties on the client's behalf among the documents to hand over, although they predate the version of § 66 StBerG in force since August 2022. And according to the BStBK's notes of July 2025, it is not yet settled whether the right of access under Art. 15 GDPR gives clients further claims.

Who may write and see the documents?

Only people bound to secrecy may write and see them. Tax advisors must bind their employees to secrecy in text form and instruct them on the criminal consequences of a breach (§ 62 StBerG). They must also ensure that unauthorised persons get no access to client documents (§ 5(3) BOStB). In an electronic file, that means access rights per engagement and not an open shared drive.

External typing services and AI vendors are service providers. The firm may give them access only as far as the service requires, and the contract must be in text form (§ 62a StBerG). The questions to put to a vendor are in the article What should I check when choosing a vendor?

May I record the conversation to document it?

Yes, but only if everyone involved has consented beforehand. Recording the privately spoken word without authorisation is a criminal offence under § 201 StGB, and the BStBK FAQ on AI makes clear that consent given afterwards is not sufficient. What this means for vendors, contracts and data protection is covered in the article May an AI tool transcribe client meetings?

A transcript replaces none of the three documents. It reproduces what was said and tells you nothing about what follows from it. AI drafts also remain drafts: under the FAQ, the professional must always carefully check results for technical accuracy.

How do I produce all three documents without duplicate work?

The least work is to write all three on the same day from the same basis. Start with the file memo, because it is the most complete. Minutes follow once you remove internal assessments, and the client letter once you phrase the recommendation and tasks for the client.

Tools can prepare this step. TaxMeet (Next Intelligence GmbH, Berlin), for example, turns a conversation into minutes, a file memo, a client letter and an email draft. No meeting bot joins the call, capture happens per participant on the device, and nothing is executed without human approval. Prior consent from everyone involved remains a precondition here too. More is on the product page.