What must be on a German invoice?

Every German invoice needs nine things: your name and address, your client's name and address, your tax number, a unique invoice number, the invoice date, the service date, a description of what you did, the net amount with the VAT rate and amount shown separately, and any legal note that applies (such as the reverse charge or §19 Kleinunternehmer note).

What law lists the mandatory invoice fields?

The list comes from §14 (4) UStG (Umsatzsteuergesetz, the German VAT Act). It applies to every invoice issued by a business in Germany, including freelancers. Invoices for small amounts (under €250) follow a shorter list in §33 UStDV.

What happens if a field is missing?

An invoice missing required fields is not legally valid. Your client may not be able to deduct the VAT, and the tax office can ask you to correct and reissue the invoice. In an audit, repeated mistakes can lead to back-payment demands. Fixing one missing field after the fact is usually simple — issuing a corrected version is the standard process.

Do simplified invoices under €250 follow the same rules?

No. If the total (including VAT) is €250 or less, you may issue a Kleinbetragsrechnung with a shorter list: your name and address, the date, the description, and the total with the VAT rate. The invoice number, the client's details, and the service date are not required. Reverse charge invoices cannot use this simplified form.

Can I issue an invoice while I'm still waiting for my Steuernummer?

If you have registered with the Finanzamt but the number has not arrived, the safest option is to wait. If you cannot, you may issue the invoice with a note like 'Steuernummer beantragt' (tax number applied for), then reissue the corrected version once the number arrives. Do not invent a number or leave the field blank.

What needs to be on a German invoice? A plain-English checklist for freelancers

You are about to send your first invoice from Germany. Or maybe your tenth, and you noticed your last one was missing something. Either way, the question is the same: what exactly needs to be on it for the German tax office to consider it valid?

It is an intimidating moment, especially if half the rules have names like Pflichtangaben ("mandatory information") and Umsatzsteueridentifikationsnummer, and you only moved here a few months ago. The good news: the list is short — nine fields — and it all comes from one law, §14 (4) UStG (the German VAT Act). This guide walks through each field with a real example, then covers the small exceptions where the rules bend.

Short answer

Every German invoice needs:

Your name and address
Your client's name and address
Your Steuernummer or USt-IdNr
A unique invoice number
The invoice date
The service date (when you did the work)
A description of what you provided
The amounts — net, VAT rate, VAT amount, total
A legal note if one applies (reverse charge, §19 Kleinunternehmer, etc.)

If any of these is missing, the invoice is not legally complete. Your client may have trouble deducting the VAT, and you may be asked to reissue it.

One thing before the list: label the document "Rechnung"

§14 UStG does not literally require the word "Rechnung" on the page, but a valid invoice has to be clearly identifiable as an invoice. Putting "Rechnung" — or "Invoice", or both — at the top of the document is the cleanest way to make that obvious. It also distinguishes it from a quote (Angebot), an order confirmation (Auftragsbestätigung), or a payment reminder (Mahnung), all of which look superficially similar.

For invoices to foreign clients, "Rechnung / Invoice" at the top covers both audiences.

Walking through the nine fields

Here is what each one looks like in practice. We will use Sophie, a freelance illustrator in Berlin, invoicing a publishing house in Munich for a cookbook cover.

1. Your name and address

Your full legal name and the address you registered with the Finanzamt. Not a P.O. box. If you work under a brand name, your legal name still has to appear somewhere on the invoice.

Sophie Carter
Schliemannstraße 12
10437 Berlin

2. Your client's name and address

The full company name (or person's name) and their billing address. Get this from the client — do not guess from their website. Small differences (GmbH vs. UG — two different German company forms; abbreviated street names) can cause problems later.

Verlag Müller GmbH
Maximilianstraße 12
80539 München

3. Your tax number

This is the one most people get wrong. You need either your Steuernummer (issued by your local Finanzamt) or your USt-IdNr (issued by the BZSt, used for EU business). For most domestic invoices, the Steuernummer is enough. For invoices to EU business clients, you need the USt-IdNr instead.

Steuernummer: 22/123/45678

Your Steuer-ID (the 11-digit personal one) does not go on invoices. It is for income tax, not business. If you are not sure which number is which, the tax-numbers guide covers all three.

Still waiting on your Steuernummer? Newcomers often hit this — you registered with the Finanzamt last month, and the number has not arrived. The cleanest option is to wait if your client can hold the invoice for a few weeks. If they cannot, issue it with a note that your Steuernummer is pending (the German wording: Steuernummer beantragt), and reissue once the number arrives. Do not invent a number or leave the field blank.

4. A unique invoice number

A number that no other invoice of yours has. The law says it must be unique and follow a system you can explain — that is the only real rule. You can use simple counting (1, 2, 3…) or include the year (2026-001, 2026-002…). Most freelancers prefix with something memorable.

Invoice number: 2026-014

The number does not have to be sequential without gaps — gaps are fine. What matters is that no two invoices share a number, and that you can show the logic of your numbering if asked.

5. The invoice date

The date you issue the invoice. Usually today, sometimes the last day of the month for work that finished earlier. Format does not matter, but stay consistent — 17.05.2026 and 17 May 2026 are both fine.

Invoice date: 17 May 2026

6. The service date

When you actually did the work (or finished it). This is a separate field from the invoice date, and people forget it often. If the two dates are the same, you can write "Service date: see invoice date" or repeat it.

Service date: April 2026

For ongoing work, a month is enough ("April 2026"). For a one-off delivery, use the day you handed it over. The point is that the tax office can see when the work happened, which matters for VAT timing.

7. A description of what you did

Plain language. Specific enough that someone could tell what was delivered. "Consulting" is too vague. "Brand consulting, April 2026" is fine. "Logo design and brand guidelines for cookbook project" is better.

Description: Book cover illustration, "Berliner Frühstück" cookbook project

If you delivered several distinct things, list them as separate line items with amounts. One row, one thing.

8. The amounts — net, VAT rate, VAT amount, total

This is where the format matters most. The tax office wants to see the breakdown:

The net amount (before VAT)
The VAT rate that applies (19%, 7%, or 0% — see below)
The VAT amount in euros
The total the client pays

Net amount:    €1,800.00
VAT (19%):       €342.00
Total:         €2,142.00

If you have multiple line items at different VAT rates (this is rare for freelancers but happens), show each rate separately.

No VAT to charge? You still show the structure, but the VAT line becomes a note. Reverse charge invoices show only the net amount with the explanation note. Kleinunternehmer invoices show the total with the §19 note. Both are covered below.

9. A legal note (if one applies)

Three situations need a specific note on the invoice:

Reverse charge (EU business client): "Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers" (full guide here)
Kleinunternehmer (you are exempt under §19): "Gemäß §19 UStG wird keine Umsatzsteuer berechnet." (full guide here)
Tax-free export (non-EU client): "Steuerfreie Ausfuhrlieferung" or "Tax-free export"

For most freelance invoices, none of these apply and you can skip this field. If one of the three does apply, the exact German wording needs to be on the invoice — even if the rest of the invoice is in English. The English-invoice guide shows bilingual versions you can copy.

A complete example

Putting it all together — Sophie invoicing the publisher:

RECHNUNG / INVOICE 2026-014

From: Sophie Carter, Schliemannstraße 12, 10437 Berlin
Steuernummer: 22/123/45678

To: Verlag Müller GmbH, Maximilianstraße 12, 80539 München

Invoice date: 17 May 2026
Service date:  April 2026

Description: Book cover illustration, "Berliner Frühstück" cookbook project

Net amount:    €1,800.00
VAT (19%):       €342.00
Total:         €2,142.00

Payment due within 14 days to: DE12 3456 7890 1234 5678 90

Nine fields, one short page, fully valid. No legal note is needed because this is a domestic invoice between two German businesses charging standard VAT.

The small-invoice exception (under €250)

If the total including VAT is €250 or less, you may use a Kleinbetragsrechnung — a simplified invoice. The short list is:

Your name and address
The invoice date
A description of what you provided
The total amount and VAT rate

You can skip the client's details, the invoice number, the service date, and the separate breakdown. This is useful for small one-off jobs.

Two important limits: the simplified form cannot be used for reverse charge invoices or for any invoice that would normally need a special note. If §19 (the small-business VAT exemption) or reverse charge applies, use the full nine-field version regardless of the amount.

Common first-invoice mistakes

A few things trip up most freelancers on their first invoices. Worth scanning before you hit send:

Forgetting the service date (Leistungsdatum). It is a separate field from the invoice date, and it has to be there even if the two dates are the same.
Vague descriptions. "Consulting" or "design work" is too generic. Name the project or the deliverable.
No invoice number on invoice number one. Even your very first invoice needs a number written on it.
Using your Steuer-ID instead of your Steuernummer. The 11-digit personal one is for income tax, not for business invoices.
Charging German VAT to an EU business client. Reverse charge usually applies instead — see the reverse-charge guide. Charging by mistake creates a real cleanup later.
Forgetting the §19 note as a Kleinunternehmer. Without it, the invoice implies standard VAT and the Finanzamt may treat it that way — meaning you owe VAT you never collected.

None of these are catastrophes. Each is fixable with a corrected invoice. But catching them before you send saves the reissue.

What if I notice a missing field later?

The standard fix is to issue a corrected invoice — a Rechnungskorrektur (literally "invoice correction"). You reference the original invoice number, mark the new one clearly as a correction, and send both versions to the client. Most clients are familiar with this — it is a routine process, not a crisis.

A few practical notes:

If the client already paid: the corrected invoice does not change what they owe. It just replaces the document for their records.
If the original is wrong on the amount: that is a different process called a Stornorechnung (a cancellation invoice that voids the original), and we will cover it in a separate guide.
If you are deep into VAT season: correct it before you file your Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung (the preliminary VAT return you submit monthly or quarterly) for the period the invoice belongs to.

The takeaway: a missing field is fixable. It becomes a real problem only if you ignore it and the same mistake repeats across many invoices.

Official wording

For reference, here is the relevant law in the original German — preserved word-for-word, with the plain-English version above:

"Eine Rechnung muss folgende Angaben enthalten: 1. den vollständigen Namen und die vollständige Anschrift des leistenden Unternehmers und des Leistungsempfängers, 2. die [...] Steuernummer oder [...] Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer, 3. das Ausstellungsdatum, 4. eine fortlaufende Nummer mit einer oder mehreren Zahlenreihen, [...]"

— §14 (4) UStG

The law spells out the list and leaves room for sensible numbering and formatting. The Kleinbetragsrechnung exception is in §33 of the implementing regulation (UStDV).

What this means for you

That is a lot to keep in mind. At least nine fields per invoice, the right legal note when one applies, the invoice number incremented every time, the service date filled in even when it equals the invoice date — and that is before you think about translations or bilingual notes for foreign clients. Building a template helps, but the template does not check itself. Every new invoice still needs you to update the number, the dates, the description, and to verify whether a legal note belongs on this one.

A simpler way is to let a tool handle the rules. The right invoicing tool keeps the numbering in order, fills in the service date, detects when reverse charge or §19 applies and adds the correct note automatically, and produces a compliant e-invoice for the clients who need one. You write what you did and for whom — the rest is already correct.