How to write an invoice in Germany: requirements, VAT and an example

What must be on an invoice in Germany.

Section 14(4) of the German VAT Act (UStG) lists the details every regular invoice must contain. If one is missing, the invoice is formally incorrect, and a business client may ask for a corrected one, since their right to reclaim VAT can depend on it. The German term in brackets is the one your tax adviser will use.

• Your full name and address (vollständiger Name und vollständige Anschrift des leistenden Unternehmers).
• Your client’s full name and address (vollständiger Name und vollständige Anschrift des Leistungsempfängers).
• Your tax number or your VAT ID (Steuernummer oder Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer, USt-IdNr.). One is enough.
• The invoice date (Ausstellungsdatum).
• A unique invoice number (fortlaufende Rechnungsnummer).
• What you supplied: the quantity and usual description of goods, or the type and scope of the service (Menge und handelsübliche Bezeichnung der Gegenstände, Umfang und Art der sonstigen Leistung).
• The date or period of the service, even if it matches the invoice date (Zeitpunkt der Lieferung oder sonstigen Leistung, Leistungsdatum).
• The net amount, split by VAT rate or exemption, and any reduction agreed in advance, such as an early-payment discount, unless already deducted (nach Steuersätzen und Steuerbefreiungen aufgeschlüsseltes Entgelt, im Voraus vereinbarte Minderung, for example Skonto).
• The VAT rate and the VAT amount, or a note that an exemption applies (Steuersatz und Steuerbetrag oder Hinweis auf eine Steuerbefreiung).
• Only for building or land-related work for private clients: a note that the client must keep the invoice for two years (Hinweis auf die Aufbewahrungspflicht des Leistungsempfängers).
• Only if your client issues the invoice for you (self-billing): the word “Gutschrift”. In German VAT law it means self-billing, not a credit note.

Describe the work so it can be identified, for example “Backend development for the booking app, 40 hours”; a period such as “September 2026” works as the service date. Invoices to business clients must be issued within six months of the service. Invoices up to 250 € including VAT (Kleinbetragsrechnung) need only your name and address, the date, the service, the gross total and the VAT rate, except in reverse charge cases.

Tax number or VAT ID: which one goes on the invoice?

When you start freelancing, you file the tax registration questionnaire (Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung) in ELSTER, and your tax office (Finanzamt) assigns you a tax number (Steuernummer). In the same form you can apply for a VAT ID (USt-IdNr.), which the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern) issues as “DE” plus nine digits.

• For clients in Germany, either number is enough. If you have both, using the VAT ID keeps your tax number, which is linked to all your tax matters, off your invoices.
• For business clients in other EU countries, your VAT ID is required, along with theirs.
• Your personal tax ID (steuerliche Identifikationsnummer, 11 digits, sent after you register your address) is neither of the two and does not belong on invoices.

How to charge VAT on a German invoice.

If you charge VAT, the standard rate of 19 % applies to most freelance work, including software development and consulting. The invoice shows the net amount, the VAT rate, the VAT amount and the total. If you use the small business exemption, you charge no VAT at all and add a note instead.

The reduced rate of 7 % covers only items listed in the law, such as books, most food and, in some cases, granting rights to use copyrighted work, such as an article licensed to a publisher; check with a tax adviser before using it. If an invoice has items at both rates, show the net amount and VAT per rate.

An early-payment discount agreed in advance must appear on the invoice, for example “2 % discount if paid within 7 days”. Never show more VAT than is due either: you owe whatever VAT an invoice shows until you correct it (section 14c UStG).

The small business exemption (Kleinunternehmer)

Under section 19 UStG you charge no VAT if your turnover was no more than 25,000 € last year and stays at or below 100,000 € this year (rules since 2025, as of October 2026). Crossing 100,000 € ends the exemption immediately, from the sale that crosses it; crossing 25,000 € ends it from the next year. In your first year of business, 25,000 € is the limit for that year.

Instead of VAT, the invoice carries a note. In English: VAT exempt under section 19 of the German VAT Act (UStG), small business exemption. A common German version: Gemäß § 19 UStG wird keine Umsatzsteuer berechnet.

Simplified rules apply to these invoices (section 34a UStDV): they still need your tax number or VAT ID, while an invoice number is not strictly required but good practice. If you show VAT anyway, you owe it. You may opt out and charge VAT, for example to reclaim VAT on your costs; the choice binds you for five calendar years. If you read German, see our guide to invoicing as a Kleinunternehmer.

Example: a freelance invoice from Berlin.

Here is a complete invoice from a freelance web developer in Berlin to a company in Hamburg, with two line items at 19 % VAT. It contains every detail from the checklist above, plus payment terms and bank details, which the law does not require but your client needs.

INVOICE

[Alex Morgan] – Web Development
[Musterstraße 12, 10115 Berlin, Germany]
[alex@example.com]
Tax number (Steuernummer): [12/345/67890]
VAT ID (USt-IdNr.): [DE123456789]

Bill to:
[Client Company GmbH]
[Accounts Payable]
[Beispielweg 5, 20095 Hamburg, Germany]

Invoice number: 2026-014
Invoice date: 2 October 2026
Service period: 1–30 September 2026

1. Development of the customer portal (React, Node.js)
   40 hours × 90.00 € = 3,600.00 €
2. Maintenance and support, September 2026 (flat fee)
   1 × 250.00 € = 250.00 €

Net amount: 3,850.00 €
VAT 19 %: 731.50 €
Total amount due: 4,581.50 €

Payment terms: 14 days. Please pay by 16 October 2026.
Bank: [Bank name]
IBAN: [DE00 0000 0000 0000 0000 00]
BIC: [XXXXDEXXXXX]
Reference: 2026-014

Thank you for your business.

How to invoice clients outside Germany.

For most freelance services, the VAT depends on whether your client is a business and where it is based. Business clients in other EU countries get an invoice without German VAT and with a reverse charge note. Business clients outside the EU get no German VAT, because the service is not taxable in Germany.

Business clients in other EU countries: reverse charge

A service for a business in another EU country is taxed in the client’s country, and the client accounts for the VAT (reverse charge). Your invoice shows no German VAT, both VAT IDs and the note “Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers”, which may also be in English, for example “Reverse charge: VAT liability of the recipient”.

Check the client’s VAT ID in the EU’s VIES service first, issue the invoice by the 15th day of the month after the service, and report the sale in your VAT return and EC Sales List (Zusammenfassende Meldung). Kleinunternehmer do not file the EC Sales List. Some services, such as work on property or admission to events, follow other rules.

INVOICE

[Alex Morgan] – Web Development
[Musterstraße 12, 10115 Berlin, Germany]
VAT ID: [DE123456789]

Bill to:
[Client B.V.]
[Voorbeeldstraat 1, 1011 AB Amsterdam, Netherlands]
VAT ID: [NL123456789B01]

Invoice number: 2026-015
Invoice date: 2 October 2026
Service period: 1–30 September 2026

1. Frontend development for the booking app
   20 hours × 90.00 € = 1,800.00 €

Net amount: 1,800.00 €
VAT: 0.00 € (reverse charge, see note)
Total amount due: 1,800.00 €

Reverse charge: VAT liability of the recipient (Art. 196 EU VAT Directive).
Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers.

Our guide to reverse charge invoice wording explains the note in more detail.

Business clients outside the EU

Services for businesses outside the EU, such as in the UK, the US or Switzerland, are generally not taxable in Germany, so you charge no German VAT. No note is required, but “Not taxable in Germany” (Nicht im Inland steuerbare Leistung) is usual. Keep proof that the client is a business, such as its company registration.

Private clients abroad

For private clients, it depends on the service and the client’s country. Typical freelance work for private clients in other EU countries usually carries German VAT, while digital products sold automatically online, and some services for private clients outside the EU, follow other rules. Ask a tax adviser before invoicing private clients abroad.

Invoice numbers, language, currency and payment terms.

Every invoice needs a unique number from a system you can explain, such as 2026-001, 2026-002. You may write the invoice in English and bill in US dollars or pounds, with any German VAT also shown in euros. Give a clear due date: business clients who pay late owe interest and a 40 € flat fee.

Invoice numbers

The law asks for a consecutive number (fortlaufende Rechnungsnummer) from one or more series, and each number may be used only once. Gaps are allowed if you can explain them. Letters and prefixes are fine, for example 2026-001 with a new series each year, INV-2026-0042, or ACME-01 for a series per client.

Never reuse a number: a duplicate makes the second invoice formally incorrect, so replace it with a corrected invoice under a new number, or cancel and reissue it. Invoices up to 250 € and Kleinunternehmer invoices do not strictly need a number.

Invoicing in English

German VAT law prescribes no language, so an English invoice with every required detail is valid. The tax office can ask for a translation (section 87(2) of the Fiscal Code, Abgabenordnung).

Invoicing in US dollars or pounds

Any currency is allowed, but if the invoice shows German VAT, state the VAT amount in euros too, converted at a rate allowed under section 16(6) UStG, such as the monthly average rate published by the Federal Ministry of Finance: “VAT 19 %: 190.00 USD (= [amount] € at the official rate for [month])”.

Payment terms and late payment

The law does not require a payment term on the invoice, and without an agreed term, payment is due immediately (section 271 BGB); still, a term and a date avoid doubt: “Payment terms: 14 days. Please pay by 16 October 2026.”

A business client is in default automatically if it has not paid within 30 days of the due date and receipt of the invoice (section 286(3) BGB); a reminder after the due date, or a payment date fixed in the contract, can trigger default earlier. Private clients fall under the 30-day rule only if the invoice points it out.

Once in default, business clients owe statutory interest of 9 percentage points above the base rate, 10.52 % a year as of 1 July 2026, plus a flat fee of 40 € (section 288 BGB); private clients owe 5 points above, 6.52 %. The base rate changes every 1 January and 1 July. The late payment interest calculator works out the amount, and our guide on how to write an overdue invoice email helps with the first reminder.

E-invoicing in Germany and how long to keep invoices.

Since 1 January 2025, every business in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices; an email inbox is enough. Sending them becomes mandatory in 2027 for invoices to business clients in Germany if your previous year’s turnover was above 800,000 €, and for everyone in 2028. Kleinunternehmer and invoices up to 250 € are exempt.

• 2025 and 2026: paper or PDF is still allowed for business clients in Germany (a PDF with the client’s agreement, which can be informal).
• 2027: paper or PDF only if your 2026 turnover was 800,000 € or less.
• From 1 January 2028: e-invoices for all invoices to business clients in Germany, unless an exemption applies.

An e-invoice is a structured file in the European standard EN 16931, such as XRechnung, or ZUGFeRD from version 2.0.1 (not its MINIMUM and BASIC-WL profiles); a PDF is not one. The rules cover only invoices between businesses based in Germany, so private clients and clients abroad can keep getting PDFs (timeline as of October 2026).

How long to keep invoices

Keep every invoice you send and receive for eight years from the end of the year it was issued (ten years until 2024), so keep an invoice from October 2026 until the end of 2034. Store e-invoices in their original electronic format.

Creating these invoices with Dunlio.

Dunlio creates PDF invoices in English, German or six other languages, with line items, several VAT rates and the reverse charge or Kleinunternehmer note when you need it. It numbers invoices in sequence with your own prefix, emails them with the PDF attached, and follows up if a client does not pay.

Reminders go out in three stages, from a friendly reminder to a final notice (in German: Zahlungserinnerung, 1. Mahnung, letzte Mahnung). You pick one of four designs with your logo, shown in the free invoice templates. The free plan covers up to 5 open invoices with reminders sent by hand. Dunlio does not create e-invoices (XRechnung or ZUGFeRD) yet, does no bookkeeping and collects no payments. See how Dunlio works.

Frequently asked questions.

This guide is general information, not tax advice; for your own situation, ask a tax adviser (Steuerberater).