Germany imposes 2 separate filing obligations under e-invoicing. The earliest is E-Rechnung — Empfang, due In force since 1 January 2025. Checked against the authority on 4 October 2026.
Receiving has been compulsory since January 2025. Issuing starts 2027 — and uniquely, there is no portal and no accreditation.
Germany also has obligations under Pillar Two. See the Pillar Two page →
None — no portal, no accreditation
Germany deliberately built no central platform. The BMF states the law prescribes no particular channel: email, an electronic interface, shared storage or a portal all qualify. The lightest regime in Europe to connect to.
| Charge | Local name | In force from |
|---|---|---|
| Receive | E-Rechnung (Empfangspflicht) | 1 January 2025 — all domestic businesses |
| Issue | E-Rechnung (Ausstellungspflicht) | 1 January 2027 if prior-year turnover above EUR 800,000; 1 January 2028 for the rest |
Also: receiving obligation
Ability to receive a structured electronic invoice from any domestic supplier.
Also: issuing obligation
Issue domestic B2B invoices in a structured format compliant with EN 16931.
Up to EUR 5,000 as an administrative offence under § 26a(2) UStG for failure to issue correctly or on time; up to EUR 1,000 for retention breaches. Commercially the larger exposure is input-VAT recovery on non-compliant invoices.
2 separate obligations: E-Rechnung — Empfang; E-Rechnung — Ausstellung.
In force since 1 January 2025. Filed by: Every domestic business (inländische Unternehmer). An email inbox is sufficient.. Channel: Any — no prescribed route.
1 January 2027 (turnover above EUR 800,000); 1 January 2028 (all others). Filed by: Businesses with prior-year turnover above EUR 800,000 from 2027; all others from 2028. Invoices under EUR 250 and B2C are out of scope.. Channel: XRechnung or ZUGFeRD 2.0.1+ (excluding MINIMUM and BASIC-WL). EDI permitted transitionally to end-2027..
None — no portal, no accreditation. Germany deliberately built no central platform. The BMF states the law prescribes no particular channel: email, an electronic interface, shared storage or a portal all qualify. The lightest regime in Europe to connect to.
Up to EUR 5,000 as an administrative offence under § 26a(2) UStG for failure to issue correctly or on time; up to EUR 1,000 for retention breaches. Commercially the larger exposure is input-VAT recovery on non-compliant invoices.
Every row on this page was checked against the authority's own published page on 4 October 2026. Verified against the BMF FAQ and the BMF-Schreiben of 15 October 2025.
Saurabh Satija, “Germany e-invoicing filing obligations”, https://saurabhsatija.com/e-invoicing-germany, accessed [date].
Quotation and citation with attribution and a link are welcome. The underlying data is open as JSON and as plain text.
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