German invoice requirements: the mandatory details

What a German invoice must contain under § 14 UStG, what a small-amount invoice up to EUR 250 may leave out, and how the small-business and reverse-charge notes work.

The mandatory details under § 14 (4) UStG

A German invoice is not a free-form letter. § 14 (4) of the German VAT Act lists what it must contain, and a missing entry can cost the recipient their input-VAT deduction. That loss falls on your customer, not on you, which is why an incomplete invoice comes back unpaid rather than being quietly accepted.

Check the list against a real document rather than against the template in your head. The time of supply and the invoice number are the two that go missing most often, because they survive unchanged when an old invoice is copied.

  • Full name and address of both the supplier and the recipient.
  • The supplier's tax number (Steuernummer) or VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.).
  • The date the invoice was issued.
  • A sequential invoice number, issued only once.
  • Quantity and commercial description of the goods, or the scope and type of the service.
  • The time of supply — for advance payments, when the payment was received.
  • The amount broken down by tax rate and by exemption, plus any reduction agreed in advance.
  • The applicable tax rate and tax amount — or, where the supply is exempt, a note saying so.

Invoice date and time of supply are two separate entries

The issue date says when you wrote the invoice. The time of supply says when the goods or services were actually delivered. Both belong on the document even when they fall in the same month, and naming the calendar month is enough for the time of supply.

Writing "invoice date = date of supply" is acceptable only when it is true. On a project that ran for weeks, the time of supply is when the work was completed, not the day you typed the invoice.

Small-amount invoices up to EUR 250

When the total including VAT stays at or below EUR 250, § 33 UStDV allows a shorter set of entries: the supplier's name and address, the issue date, the quantity and type of supply, the amount and tax as a single combined figure, and the tax rate or a note on the exemption.

The recipient's address, their tax number and a separate net-and-tax breakdown are not required in that case. The relief does not apply everywhere, though — it does not cover intra-Community distance selling or supplies where the tax liability shifts to the recipient. When in doubt, issue the full invoice; it is never wrong.

Small business, exemption and reverse charge

A business applying the small-business rule under § 19 UStG shows no VAT and adds a note referring to the rule instead. Tax shown anyway is tax owed — leaving the line in place because the template has one is an expensive habit.

Where the tax liability shifts to the recipient, the invoice carries the note "Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers" and shows no tax. Whether your supply is such a case depends on what was supplied and to whom; settle that with your tax adviser before sending, not by reading a template.

Check before sending

In QuoteBill you set the country and tax rate on the document before reviewing the preview. The German template fills in the structure and the labels; the details about your business and the supply are yours to enter. Treat the invoice as finished only once you have checked the following against the finished PDF.

  • Does the document show a current Steuernummer or USt-IdNr.?
  • Is the invoice number sequential and used only once in your numbering range?
  • Are the issue date and the time of supply both present?
  • Are amount, tax rate and tax shown separately for each rate?
  • Where an exemption, the small-business rule or reverse charge applies, is the matching note there?
  • Do the recipient's name and address match the order?

Sources

133 Free Invoice and Quotation Templates

  • German invoice template

    Invoice for Equipment assembly, Factory performance testing, Technical handover.

  • Free invoice generator

    Download the invoice as Excel or Word with the formulas working, no account needed. Sign in free to edit online, add your logo and tax settings, and save a PDF.

  • Free quotation generator

    Download the quotation as Excel or Word with the formulas working, no account needed. Sign in free to edit online and turn an accepted quote into an invoice.