German VAT Registration: The Complete Guide

Steuernummer vs USt-IdNr: the two numbers you need

This is the distinction most pages get wrong. Germany gives a VAT-registered business two separate identifiers:

• The Steuernummer is issued by your local Finanzamt and is used for your domestic dealings with the tax office, including your VAT advance returns.
• The USt-IdNr (VAT identification number, formatted as DE followed by 9 digits) is issued by the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt) and identifies your business for intra-EU (B2B) trade.

The order matters: the BZSt assigns the USt-IdNr only after you have registered for VAT at the Finanzamt and your data has been transferred to the BZSt. To apply, you must be an entrepreneur under §2 UStG; a new business simply ticks the relevant field in the Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung (the tax-registration questionnaire). The number is then communicated exclusively by post.

Steuernummer vs USt-IdNr

When is VAT registration mandatory?

If you make taxable supplies in Germany, you must register for VAT. The rule that surprises foreign businesses is this: non-resident (foreign) companies have no registration threshold at all. A foreign company must register from its first taxable supply in Germany, for example selling or storing goods here, regardless of turnover. There is no small-business grace period for non-resident businesses.

Domestic businesses register as part of their general tax registration, and may then qualify for the Kleinunternehmer small-business option set out below. Forming the company is the prerequisite step; see company formation in Germany for that stage, after which VAT registration follows.

The Kleinunternehmer small-business scheme (2025 limits)

The small-business scheme under §19 UStG lets qualifying businesses stay outside the VAT system. Following the 2025 reform, you can use it if your net turnover was ≤ €25,000 in the previous calendar year and is ≤ €100,000 in the current calendar year. These figures replace the old €22,000 / €50,000 limits, so any guide still quoting the old numbers is out of date.

Two important consequences of the reform. First, the scheme is now structured as a genuine VAT exemption rather than a mere simplification, which means a Kleinunternehmer cannot deduct input VAT on its own purchases. Second, the new §19a UStG allows the exemption to be claimed cross-border within the EU.

On a mid-year overrun, the actual turnover figure counts (not a forecast): the moment current-year turnover exceeds €100,000, you switch immediately to standard taxation. The transaction that breaches the limit must already be invoiced with VAT; turnover up to that point stays VAT-free. The €100,000 figure is a net amount.

Filing VAT returns: how often and how (ELSTER)

Once you are in the VAT system, you file a periodic Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung (VAT advance return), due by the 10th of the following month and transmitted electronically, authenticated via ELSTER. How often you file depends on your prior-year VAT.

Filing frequency by prior-year VAT

These thresholds apply from 2025 (the monthly trigger rose from the old €7,500, and the waiver line from €1,000). If you need more time, you can apply for a Dauerfristverlängerung, a permanent one-month extension; monthly filers using it must pay a Sondervorauszahlung of 1/11 of the prior year's advance payments. Managing this recurring cadence accurately is part of ongoing accounting and bookkeeping services.

Selling cross-border: reverse charge (§13b) and OSS/IOSS

Cross-border trade brings two mechanisms that change who accounts for the VAT.

Reverse charge (§13b UStG). For many B2B supplies, VAT liability shifts to the recipient. This covers, in particular, most services supplied by a business based abroad to a German business customer: the foreign supplier invoices without VAT, marking the invoice "Reverse charge / Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers (§13b UStG)", and the German customer accounts for the VAT. Reverse charge does not generally cover ordinary deliveries of goods, so a foreign company selling goods into Germany still has to register.

OSS / IOSS. For B2C distance sales within the EU, a single EU-wide threshold of €10,000 applies. Above it, you charge destination-country VAT. Rather than register in every member state, you can use the One-Stop-Shop (OSS): one quarterly EU return filed via the BZSt Online-Portal (BOP), with payment to the Bundeskasse Trier. The Import One-Stop-Shop (IOSS) covers imported consignments valued at ≤ €150.

Foreign and non-EU companies: special cases

For non-resident businesses, the nil threshold applies (register from the first taxable supply). EU-established businesses generally register directly with the German authorities. Many non-EU businesses without an EU establishment may need a fiscal representative (Fiskalvertreter), but this is activity-dependent and must be confirmed case by case rather than assumed.

On invoicing, compliant invoices must show the VAT rate(s) and amount, and, for cross-border B2B supplies, both parties' USt-IdNr; reverse-charge invoices omit the VAT and cite §13b. The detailed invoice rules are in §14 and §14a UStG.

How we help (in English)

We are an English-speaking firm in Germany that coordinates your German VAT registration and ongoing returns in plain English, working with a licensed German Steuerberater who handles the registration and files the returns. Under the StBerG, only a licensed Steuerberater (or another person authorised under §3 StBerG) may file VAT returns on your behalf or give reserved advice. We run the engagement, the correspondence and the translation; the Steuerberater carries the licensed work. We do not file returns as a Steuerberater or hold ourselves out as a law firm. For the reserved advice itself, that runs through our English-speaking tax advisor relationship.

Author: Anna Müller, Legal Consultant.