| Indirect tax | VAT (Umsatzsteuer, USt), standard rate 19%Standard rate 19% with a 7% reduced rate (food, books and, since 2026, restaurant food); advance VAT returns (UStVA) are filed monthly or quarterly via ELSTER. Small businesses under the Kleinunternehmer scheme (prior-year turnover up to €25,000) charge no VAT and are exempt from issuing e-invoices but must still be able to receive them. |
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| E-invoicing | Phasing in · XRechnung / ZUGFeRD (EN 16931); XRechnung via Peppol or state portals for B2GSince 1 Jan 2025 every German business must be able to receive structured EN 16931 e-invoices (XRechnung or ZUGFeRD) for domestic B2B supplies; issuing becomes mandatory from 1 Jan 2027 for businesses with prior-year turnover above €800,000 and for all businesses from 1 Jan 2028, with paper or PDF (PDF only with recipient consent) allowed until then. B2G e-invoicing has been mandatory for federal suppliers since 2020. |
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| Data protection | GDPR plus the Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz, BDSG)GDPR applies directly, supplemented by the Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz, BDSG) and supervised by the federal BfDI and the 16 state data protection authorities; B2B buyers expect an Art. 28 data processing agreement, a sub-processor list and, in practice, EU/EEA hosting or SCC-covered transfers. |
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| AI rules | The EU AI Act applies directly: prohibited AI practices have been banned since 2 Feb 2025, general-purpose AI model rules apply since 2 Aug 2025 and transparency duties (e.g. chatbot disclosure, AI-content labelling) since 2 Aug 2026, while the Digital Omnibus on AI (in force 27 Jul 2026) moved stand-alone high-risk (Annex III) obligations to 2 Dec 2027 and product-embedded high-risk (Annex I) obligations to 2 Aug 2028; Germany is designating the Bundesnetzagentur as its main AI market-surveillance authority through a national implementing law. |
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| Systems we migrate from or connect to | DATEV, Lexware, sevDesk, SAP Business One, Sage, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, OdooMasters, ledgers, stock and open balances move across and are reconciled before cutover. |
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| Payment rails for web apps and SaaS | SEPA Direct Debit (Lastschrift), PayPal, Klarna, Stripe, Adyen, Mollie |
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| Also worth knowing | Records must meet GoBD rules for tamper-proof, auditable digital bookkeeping (accounting vouchers kept 8 years, books and annual accounts 10 years). Electronic cash registers need a certified TSE security module under KassenSichV and must be registered with the tax office via ELSTER. |
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