Invoices in Germany: VAT, required details, e-invoices

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A German invoice from Rhinvoice carries 19 % or 7 % VAT (§ 12 UStG) on the date of supply, your tax number or VAT ID (§ 14 Abs. 4 Nr. 2 UStG), the date of supply, the legal notice for reverse charge, small businesses or tax-free supplies, a GiroCode (EPC QR code) and an embedded e-invoice (ZUGFeRD). For public authorities Rhinvoice also writes the XRechnung.

Which VAT rate applies?

Valid	Standard rate	Reduced rate
since 1 January 2021	19 %	7 %
1 July 2020 to 31 December 2020	16 %	5 %
1 January 2007 to 30 June 2020	19 %	7 %

Source: § 12 UStG; the 2020 rates come from the Zweites Corona-Steuerhilfegesetz.

The rate on the date of supply applies: the end of the service period, else its start, else the invoice date. When issuing, Rhinvoice freezes the rate of every line.

Required details under § 14 UStG

Rhinvoice checks before issuing what it can check and prints the rest from your data:

Tax number or VAT ID of your company (§ 14 Abs. 4 Nr. 2 UStG). Enter them under Settings → Company. Without either, Rhinvoice does not issue the invoice. The exception: small-amount invoices up to EUR 250 gross (§ 33 UStDV). The VAT ID has the form DE123456789.
Date of supply (§ 14 Abs. 4 Nr. 6 UStG). Without a service period, Rhinvoice prints the invoice date as the date of supply.
Sequential invoice number. Rhinvoice assigns it only when issuing, without gaps or duplicates.
Net amount and VAT per rate, your and the customer’s name and address, date and lines.

Small businesses state their tax number or VAT ID too (§ 34a UStDV).

Small business under § 19 UStG

Switch on Small business (§ 19 UStG) under Settings → Company. Your invoices then contain no VAT and this notice:

Gemäß § 19 UStG wird keine Umsatzsteuer berechnet (Kleinunternehmerregelung).

(English documents: “No VAT is charged (small business scheme).”) Since 2025 the invoice states that § 19 UStG applies; this text does. You can change it under Settings → Texts → Legal notices.

Reverse charge and supplies abroad

Rhinvoice decides the tax treatment from your country, the customer’s country, whether the customer is a business and whether it has a VAT ID. Goods and services are treated separately, on the same invoice too.

Case	VAT	Notice on German documents
Customer in Germany	yes	none
Service to a business in another EU country with a VAT ID	no	“Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers.” (§ 14a Abs. 5 UStG)
Goods to a business in another EU country with a VAT ID	no	“Steuerfreie innergemeinschaftliche Lieferung (§ 4 Nr. 1 Buchst. b i. V. m. § 6a UStG).”
Goods leaving the EU, private customers included	no	“Steuerfreie Ausfuhrlieferung (§ 4 Nr. 1 Buchst. a i. V. m. § 6 UStG).”
Service to a business outside the EU	no	“Nicht im Inland steuerbare Leistung.”
Private customer inside or outside the EU (service)	yes	none

Good to know:

No reverse charge without the customer’s VAT ID. An EU business without a VAT ID is charged German VAT. The editor points this out.
Intra-Community supply: the invoice states your VAT ID and the customer’s (§ 14a Abs. 3 UStG). Rhinvoice does not issue it without both, and reminds you of the proof of arrival (Gelangensbestätigung or proof of dispatch) and the EC Sales List (Zusammenfassende Meldung).
Domestic reverse charge under § 13b UStG (for example § 13b Abs. 2 Nr. 7 UStG) is chosen by hand in the editor. Rhinvoice logs every change of the tax treatment with a reason in the history.
Distance sales to private customers in the EU keep German VAT. Rhinvoice does not track the EU-wide threshold of EUR 10,000 a year (OSS).

GiroCode (EPC QR code)

Every invoice in EUR gets a GiroCode next to the payment terms, following the European Payments Council guidelines (EPC069-12). It holds your IBAN, the account holder, the amount and “Rechnung” with the invoice number as remittance text; your customer scans it with a banking app. You need an account in EUR under Settings → Bank accounts. Invoices in other currencies have no GiroCode, drafts a placeholder.

E-invoice: ZUGFeRD and XRechnung

Since 2025, businesses in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices (§ 14 UStG). They must issue them for domestic B2B invoices in stages (§ 27 Abs. 38 UStG):

From	Who
2027	businesses with a turnover above EUR 800,000 in the previous year
2028	all businesses

Small businesses are exempt (§ 34a UStDV).

Rhinvoice embeds a ZUGFeRD / Factur-X invoice (profile EN 16931) in the PDF of every issued invoice by default (switch: Settings → Print template). If a detail it needs is missing, the PDF is created without it. The PDF looks the same to your customers; their accounting software reads the data directly. Rhinvoice shows on the invoice whether the e-invoice is embedded. For public authorities you also download the XRechnung (XML), with the Leitweg-ID in the field Reference. Details and what it needs: e-invoice.

GoBD and keeping invoices

Keep invoices for ten years (§ 147 AO). Rhinvoice makes them immutable:

From issuing on, content and PDF are locked, directly in the database too.
The PDF is kept with its SHA-256 hash.
Corrections are made only by a cancellation invoice with its own number. Drafts can be deleted, issued invoices never.
Every change (issued, payment, cancellation, tax treatment) is in the history with a timestamp.

Protect the data with a backup. Try everything in the demo at de.rhinvoice.com.

Your company’s country is missing? Rhinvoice can be extended: Adding more countries.

Questions

Which VAT rates does Rhinvoice charge in Germany?

19 % and 7 % (§ 12 UStG). For supplies from 1 July to 31 December 2020 Rhinvoice uses 16 % and 5 %. The rate on the date of supply applies.

Must the tax number or the VAT ID be on the invoice?

One of the two (§ 14 Abs. 4 Nr. 2 UStG). Rhinvoice does not issue an invoice without either. Small-amount invoices up to EUR 250 gross are the exception (§ 33 UStDV).

Which notice does Rhinvoice print for small businesses?

German documents carry the notice "Gemäß § 19 UStG wird keine Umsatzsteuer berechnet (Kleinunternehmerregelung)." You can change the wording under Settings → Texts → Legal notices.

From when must German companies issue e-invoices?

Businesses must be able to receive them since 2025. They must issue them for domestic B2B invoices from 2027 if their turnover in the previous year was above EUR 800,000, and from 2028 all of them (§ 27 Abs. 38 UStG). Small businesses are exempt. Rhinvoice embeds the e-invoice (ZUGFeRD) in the PDF of every issued invoice, as long as the details it needs are complete.

Does Rhinvoice meet the GoBD?

Rhinvoice implements the immutability. Issued invoices are locked with their PDF, in the database too, the PDF is kept with its SHA-256, and corrections are made only by a cancellation invoice with its own number. Whether your bookkeeping as a whole meets the GoBD is something to settle with your tax adviser.