Paper Invoices for Germany?

Ralf Lemster wrote:

if they are submitted using a publicly-recognised authentication process.

megane_wang wrote:

... is the same as yours, even though some of them accept electronic invoices if you just insist a little bit more.

Ruth @ MW

Hello Ralf, many thanks for your reply. Please could you explain what you mean by a "publicly-recognised authentication process"?

(1) Rechnung ist jedes Dokument, mit dem über eine Lieferung oder sonstige Leistung abgerechnet wird, gleichgültig, wie dieses Dokument im Geschäftsverkehr bezeichnet wird. Rechnungen sind auf Papier oder vorbehaltlich der Zustimmung des Empfängers auf elektronischem Weg zu übermitteln.

...

(3) Bei einer auf elektronischem Weg übermittelten Rechnung müssen die Echtheit der Herkunft und die Unversehrtheit des Inhalts gewährleistet sein durch

1. eine qualifizierte elektronische Signatur oder eine qualifizierte elektronische Signatur mit Anbieter-Akkreditierung nach dem Signaturgesetz vom 16. Mai 2001 (BGBl. I S. 876), das durch Artikel 2 des Gesetzes vom 16. Mai 2001 (BGBl. I S. 876) geändert worden ist, in der jeweils geltenden Fassung, oder

2. elektronischen Datenaustausch (EDI) nach Artikel 2 der Empfehlung 94/820/EG der Kommission vom 19. Oktober 1994 über die rechtlichen Aspekte des elektronischen Datenaustausches (ABl. EG Nr. L 338 S. 98), wenn in der Vereinbarung über diesen Datenaustausch der Einsatz von Verfahren vorgesehen ist, die die Echtheit der Herkunft und die Unversehrtheit der Daten gewährleisten, und zusätzlich eine zusammenfassende Rechnung auf Papier oder unter den Voraussetzungen der Nummer 1 auf elektronischem Weg übermittelt wird.

Ralf Lemster wrote:
Of course electronic invoices are being accepted in practice; this may be due to buyers being simply unaware of the legal requirements, or they are prepared to take the risk of having to obtain paper invoices in the event of a later tax audit.

Ralf Lemster wrote:

Of course electronic invoices are being accepted in practice; this may be due to buyers being simply unaware of the legal requirements, or they are prepared to take the risk of having to obtain paper invoices in the event of a later tax audit.

Technically and legally you are right of course, Ralf. It is also worth noting that under the legislation, electronic invoicing requires the recipient's consent, so there are at least two reasons why customers should not be pressured into accepting it.

However, the scenario you describe of "having to obtain paper invoices in the event of a later tax audit" is not very realistic.

An electronic invoice, whether "legitimate" or not, will almost certainly be printed out and presented to the auditors in paper form anyway. In this form, the invoice as seen by the auditors is not any different to a) a conventional paper invoice or b) a "legitimate" electronic invoice that has been printed out.

(Incidentally, I receive my telephone bills as electronic invoices and print them out, and I have been audited since I have been doing so, and I was not asked to produce the electronic copies - though obviously this hardly proves anything since even the audit only involves random checking).

The only interest the tax authorities can have is that of establishing whether the payer's and payee's invoices correspond to each other and to the amount actually paid. If they do, no one has an interest in proving that the invoice is formally invalid. This would be like the tax authorities hunting for invoices with typing errors in the recipient's name and then declaring them invalid - a pointless exercise.

Mats Wiman wrote: A document having been sent via eMail and then printed on paper is a document on paper.
If the recipient accepts it and use it to pay the supplier, all legal requirements for a legal business transaction are fulfilled and no legal rest is left.

If I send a document by:

By eMail
By courier
By post
By air freight
By elephant
By errand boy

is immatrial

These regulations are, we've been told, a nullity (if both parties agree).

Hilary Davies wrote: I usually send my invoices via email, but I keep running into German clients who insist on paper ones.