BMF presents draft for the changeover to mandatory e-invoicing as of 2025

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BMF changeover to mandatory e-invoicing as of 2025

After the EU Commission presented a draft for an amended VAT Directive on 8 December 2022 within the framework of the project "VAT in the Digital Age" (ViDA), which is intended to digitalise the invoicing and reporting obligations, the BMF is following suit. A draft for discussion on the new e-invoicing has been presented to the various stakeholders.

The tax authorities are planning for electronic invoicing to become mandatory as early as 1 January 2025, subject to the following conditions:

  • The supply for which the invoice is issued is provided by one taxable person to another for the latter's business purposes.
  • The supply is VAT taxable in Germany.
  • The supply is either not VAT exempt or VAT exempt according to § 4 No. 1-7 UStG (German VAT Code).
  • The supplier is resident in Germany. Whether fixed establishments also lead to residency in this sense is not clear from the draft.

The electronic invoice must comply with the European e-invoicing standard and the list of corresponding syntaxes in accordance with Directive 2014/55/EU of 16 April 2014.

In all other cases, paper invoices or electronic invoices in other formats (so-called 'other invoices') remain permissible.

The deadline for issuing electronic invoices remains six months from the date of performance.

Companies should begin dealing with the issue now and also plan for the corresponding resources. However, the current draft of the Federal Ministry of Finance is not the last word; changes are to be expected after consultation with the stakeholders. There may be a differentiation, for example, by company size or invoice amount, as well as exceptions, e.g., for small-value invoices.

Dated: 23 May 2023

Author

Nadia Schulte
+49 211 83 99 330

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