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You invoice with German VAT

Filing and paying German VAT

First check whether the small-business scheme exempts you from VAT, convert between net and gross at the right rate, work out your advance-return period and the special prepayment, then file the advance returns and the annual return: 10 steps from the turnover threshold to the return.

Start here: German VAT rates: the standard rate and the reduced rate

Understand: rates, small-business scheme, advance returns

  1. Step 1 of 10
    CoursePaid individually43 min

    German VAT rates: the standard rate and the reduced rate

    19 percent as the rule, 7 percent only for the supplies that § 12(2) UStG lists exhaustively: how Annex 2 is built and what it excludes among foods and drinks, books and e-books, passenger transport up to 50 kilometres, culture and accommodation. The second module covers food in restaurants at 7 percent since 1 January 2026, drinks still at 19 percent, hotel breakfast, the rate fixed by the day of supply even for prepayments, and the consequences of a wrong VAT amount on the invoice under § 14c UStG.
  2. Step 2 of 10
    CoursePaid individually39 min

    Using the German small business VAT rule

    The two limits of § 19 UStG — 25,000 € for the preceding year, 100,000 € for the current one — and the Gesamtumsatz, computed on amounts received and leaving capital assets out. Then the price of the exemption: no input tax deduction, the invoice under § 34a UStDV, and a tax liability created by one wrong line. Two modules with case studies worked on the statute itself.
  3. Step 3 of 10
    CoursePaid individually39 min

    Filing the German VAT advance return

    The advance return period follows from the previous year's tax, not from turnover: more than 9,000 € forces monthly filing, up to 2,000 € the tax office may exempt you — may, not must. Plus the founder exception that expires with the 2026 assessment period. The second module covers the two applications that change every future deadline: the permanent extension, which must be granted, and cash accounting with its three routes in. Two modules with case studies worked on the statute itself.

Compute: turnover threshold, VAT amount, advance-return period and special prepayment

  1. Step 4 of 10
    CalculatorFree result

    German small business VAT exemption — check the turnover limits

    The small business exemption applies only if BOTH limits are met: total turnover of at most EUR 25,000 in the previous year and at most EUR 100,000 in the current calendar year. In the year the business is started, only the EUR 25,000 limit applies.
  2. Step 5 of 10
    CalculatorFree result

    German VAT calculator — net, gross and tax amount

    German VAT is charged on the net amount, never on the gross: 19 % as a rule, 7 % for the transactions exhaustively listed in UStG s. 12(2).
  3. Step 6 of 10
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    German VAT return period and special advance payment

    The special advance payment is one ELEVENTH, not one twelfth — the deferred month is never paid in advance, so eleven months must carry twelve. And the QUARTERLY filer gets the same one-month extension with no advance payment at all.
  4. Step 7 of 10
    CalculatorFree result

    Permanent VAT filing extension — how large is the special prepayment?

    The special prepayment is one ELEVENTH, not one twelfth, of last year's prepayments — and only monthly filers owe it at all.

File: permanent extension, advance VAT return and annual VAT return

  1. Step 8 of 10
    FormFree15 min

    German VAT: permanent extension of the filing deadline

    One extra month for filing AND payment, and the tax office has to grant it. Monthly filers pay one eleventh of last year's instalments as a special advance payment; quarterly filers pay nothing. Guide, deadlines and a worked calculation.
  2. Step 9 of 10
    FormFree20 min

    German preliminary VAT return (Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung)

    File and pay by the tenth day after the period ends: who files monthly and who quarterly, how the permanent extension buys one more month and what the special advance payment costs — guide, deadlines and worked example.
  3. Step 10 of 10
    FormFree45 min

    German annual VAT return (Umsatzsteuererklärung)

    The yearly VAT settlement: why it is a self-assessment, when the balancing payment falls due — one month after RECEIPT, not after filing — and what applies when the business closes mid-year. Guide, deadlines and worked example.

The other paths

A different procedure, the same principle: the three pillars in order.

Read in German