Invoice Requirements Germany 2026: All 14 Mandatory Fields Under §14 UStG

The Invoice Mistake That Costs German Freelancers Thousands

A freelance developer in Berlin invoices a Munich agency for €8,500 of work. The invoice looks fine — amount, date, bank details. But it is missing the Lieferdatum (supply date) and uses a Steuernummer where a USt-IdNr. is required for a cross-border client. The agency's accounting software rejects the document automatically. Three emails and 34 days later, the invoice is finally paid — minus a dispute over whether late payment interest applies.

That scenario plays out hundreds of times every week in Germany. The fix takes ten minutes: learn the 14 mandatory fields under §14 UStG and use them every time.

The Legal Basis: §14 UStG

German invoice requirements are codified in §14 Umsatzsteuergesetz (UStG) — the VAT Act. Any business registered for VAT in Germany is required to issue invoices that meet these standards for all B2B supplies above €250 net. For supplies below €250, a Kleinbetragsrechnung (small-amount invoice) applies with a reduced set of fields.

Failure to comply carries real consequences: the recipient cannot deduct the input VAT (Vorsteuerabzug), and the issuer may be assessed for VAT they failed to charge correctly.

All 14 Mandatory Invoice Fields Under §14 UStG

Kleinunternehmer must still include fields 1–9 and 12. They must not include a VAT rate or VAT amount, and they must add an explicit exemption statement (see below).

Steuernummer vs. Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer: Which Do You Use?

This is the most common point of confusion for freelancers in Germany.

Steuernummer (tax number)

• Issued by your local Finanzamt (tax office)
• Format varies by state: e.g. 123/456/78901 in Bavaria
• Used for domestic income tax returns and domestic VAT filings
• Sufficient on invoices issued to German clients

Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer (USt-IdNr. / VAT ID)

• Issued by the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt)
• Always starts with DE followed by 9 digits (e.g. DE123456789)
• Required for all intra-EU B2B transactions where reverse charge applies
• Required when buying from or selling to businesses in other EU member states
• Can also be used on domestic invoices as an alternative to the Steuernummer

Practical rule: If your client is outside Germany but within the EU, always use your USt-IdNr. If you only serve German clients, your Steuernummer is sufficient — but applying for a USt-IdNr. is free and removes ambiguity.

The Kleinunternehmer Exception Under §19 UStG

If your annual turnover did not exceed €22,000 in the previous calendar year and you do not expect to exceed €50,000 in the current year (threshold raised from €25,000 under the 2025 reform), you can operate as a Kleinunternehmer.

What this means for your invoices:

• You charge no VAT — your invoice shows only net amounts
• You must include the statutory notice: "Gemäß §19 UStG wird keine Umsatzsteuer berechnet." (No VAT charged pursuant to §19 UStG)
• You cannot claim input VAT back on your own purchases
• You do not need to include a VAT rate or VAT amount

When Kleinunternehmer status becomes a problem: If your clients are VAT-registered businesses, they receive no input VAT to reclaim from your invoices. This is largely irrelevant for B2C clients but can make you less price-competitive against VAT-registered suppliers when bidding for corporate work.

Payment Terms on German Invoices

German law does not mandate specific payment terms, but §271a BGB and the EU Late Payment Directive (2011/7/EU) apply by default:

• If no due date is specified, payment is due immediately
• For B2B invoices, statutory late payment interest is the ECB base rate plus 9 percentage points (higher than the EU minimum of 8 pp)
• You are entitled to a flat €40 recovery fee per overdue invoice

Best practice: state terms explicitly — e.g. "Zahlbar innerhalb von 14 Tagen ohne Abzug" (payable within 14 days without deduction).

E-Invoicing Mandate 2025: ZUGFeRD and XRechnung

Germany has moved faster than most EU countries on structured e-invoicing. Here is the current timeline:

The two accepted formats:

• XRechnung — a pure XML format, mandatory for invoices to German public authorities since 2020
• ZUGFeRD — a hybrid format embedding XML data inside a human-readable PDF, widely used in the private sector

PDFs sent by email remain valid for B2C transactions, cross-border invoices, and domestic B2B transactions until your mandatory transition date.

Aufbewahrungspflicht: The 10-Year Retention Obligation

Under §147 Abgabenordnung (AO), all invoices — issued and received — must be kept for 10 years. The clock starts at the end of the calendar year in which the invoice was issued.

Key compliance points:

• Digital storage is permitted and widely used
• Electronic copies must be tamper-evident — a simple folder of PDFs is generally acceptable if unaltered
• The Finanzamt has the right to demand access during any tax audit within the retention period
• Deleting invoices before 10 years is a criminal offence (§370 AO — tax evasion by omission)

Use a consistent file naming system: YYYY-MM-DD_InvoiceNumber_Client.pdf. Twelve seconds per invoice now prevents a catastrophic audit later.

Reverse Charge on German Invoices: When and How

The reverse charge mechanism (Umkehrung der Steuerschuldnerschaft) applies in two main scenarios:

1. Services to VAT-registered clients in other EU countries (§3a UStG) You do not charge German VAT. The client accounts for VAT in their country.

Required invoice additions:

• Your USt-IdNr.
• The client's USt-IdNr.
• The notice: "Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers" (tax liability of the recipient) or the English equivalent "Reverse charge — VAT to be accounted for by the recipient"

2. Certain domestic supplies (§13b UStG) Reverse charge also applies domestically for specific supplies such as construction services, where the recipient is themselves a construction business. In these cases, you issue a net invoice with the §13b notice.

The audit risk of getting this wrong: Incorrectly charging German VAT on a cross-border invoice creates a double-liability problem. You owe the VAT to the German Finanzamt, but your client's authority may also assess them for VAT — and the client will come back to you for a corrected invoice and a refund.

Kleinbetragsrechnung: Simplified Invoice Under €250

For supplies with a gross value of €250 or less, German law allows a simplified invoice format (§33 UStDV) with fewer required fields:

• Full name and address of the supplier
• Invoice date
• Description of goods or services
• Gross amount
• VAT rate (or statement of exemption)

The recipient's details, sequential invoice number, and itemised VAT amount are not required at this threshold.

Generate a Compliant German Invoice Instantly

Manually verifying 14 fields on every invoice takes time — and one missed field can cost you 30+ days on a payment. Use the free invoice generator on this site: it prompts for every §14 UStG field, applies the correct German VAT rate (19% standard / 7% reduced), and lets you toggle the Kleinunternehmer exemption notice with one click.

Legal basis: §14, §14a, §19 Umsatzsteuergesetz (UStG); §147 Abgabenordnung (AO); §33 Umsatzsteuer-Durchführungsverordnung (UStDV); EU VAT Directive 2006/112/EC. E-invoicing timeline per Wachstumschancengesetz (Growth Opportunities Act), BGBl. 2024 I Nr. 108.