Abstract

Ongoing work at the Federal Statistical Office of Germany aims to construct a macro-consistent income distribution within the internationally harmonised framework of SNA 2025. A key step is a systematic assessment of the available microdata sources, examining how their income concepts correspond to national accounts definitions, how coverage differs, how their distributional patterns compare, and how data gaps can be addressed. The analysis contrasts EU-SILC survey data with administrative income tax data. Particular attention is paid to differences in the recording of employee and self-employed income and to how different strategies for closing coverage gaps in these components perform. An additional challenge is that tax data are organised by tax units rather than households, requiring careful transformation. As no single dataset captures the full income distribution in line with macro aggregates, combining sources is beneficial. Practical approaches to linking microdata are outlined. Some national accounts aggregates are not captured in microdata at all, implying that the final results inevitably remain partly model-based.