Invoice as a small business

In short: Small businesses show no VAT and put a note about the exemption on the invoice, for example “No VAT is charged pursuant to § 19 UStG.”

In more detail: The other mandatory invoice details still apply: name and address, tax number or VAT ID, invoice date, consecutive number, description of the service, time of supply, amount. Small businesses are exempt from issuing e-invoices but must be able to receive them.

In detail

• Note: “No VAT shown pursuant to § 19 UStG.” or similar.
• Invoice number: consecutive, unique, without gaps.
• Small-amount invoice: up to 250 euros simplified details apply.
• Retention: outgoing invoices 8 years.
• Wrongly shown tax: anyone who shows VAT anyway owes it to the tax office.
• Templates: the invoice tool on this site creates invoices with the small-business note.

See also: Writing an invoice (mandatory details under § 14 UStG), E-invoice