Federal Council (Bundesrat) approved VAT changes as part of Annual Tax Act The German Bundesrat has approved the Ministry of Finance’s Jahressteuergesetz 2024 (Annual Tax Act) on 22 November 2024. The Bill will shortly be gazetted and largely comes into effect from 1 January 2025.
Annual guidance from Ministry of Finance on technical Value Added Tax issues The Federal Ministry of Finance has published the annual VAT book, this one covering 2023. There is a separate Finance Ministry 2024/25 VAT Issues publication of the most important VAT regulations and regulations Topics
Updated publication of common German ZUGFerd and French Factur-X standard In October, the respective national e-invoicing standards for Germany and France will simultaneously updated. German e-invoicing is to be mandated between 2025 and 2028. There is also a French e-invoicing mandate starting in September 2026.
Oct 2024: EC grants Germany VAT Directive emissions trading derogation extension The Council of the EU has permitted Germany to extend the domestic reverse charge on carbon emission trading to prevent suspected VAT fraud. This includes missing trader fraud where criminals claim to be selling
Federal Government: Jan 2025 obligations may be covered by dedicated e-mail box for suppliers’ structured electronic invoices The first phase of German e-invoicing mandate starts on 1 January 2025. All German resident taxpayers must be able to receive structured, or machine readable, electronic invoices. Following
Switch from 19% standard to 7% reduced VAT rates January 2025 The Value Added Tax rate on the sales of art work in German will fall from 19% to 7% from 1 January 2025. This is a return to the reduced rate reverses the hike
Government initial proposal for excise levy on meat products The German government has produced potential legislation ideas (“Animal Welfare Cent”) for the imposition of a tax or levy on meat products. This could start with pork products and edible offal, and then be extended to
VAT compliance and reporting rules in Germany 2024 Below is summary of the major rules provided under German VAT rules (2005 VAT Act; Umsatzsteuer-Anwendungserlass, UStAE (Application Decree;); and Umsatzsteuer-Durchführungsverordnung, UStDV), plus adoption of EU VAT Directive provisions. Check our country VAT guides for other jurisdictions. VAT Calc’s single
1-year delay for single-use plastics levy The annual levy on the use of single-use plastics in Germany is being delaye by one year to 1 January 2025. Germany’s EWKFondG is based on the EU’s Single-Use Plastics Directive The Germany levy is charged on the use
