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Shopify VAT Germany: setup, rates and compliant invoices

Last updated 3 September 2026

Selling into Germany from Shopify involves two jobs that are easy to confuse. The first is charging the right VAT, which Shopify can largely do once it is configured. The second is issuing an invoice that German law accepts — and that one Shopify does not do for you. This guide covers both, in the order you actually hit them.

German VAT rates

Germany has one standard rate and one reduced rate. Which applies is decided by what you sell, not by who buys it:

When you have to register

Registration depends on where your business is established and where your goods sit — not on where your customers are.

• Established in Germany. You register with your local Finanzamt when you start trading and receive a Steuernummer; you request a USt-IdNr (VAT identification number) separately, and you need one for cross-border EU trade. The Kleinunternehmer scheme (§19 UStG) lets very small businesses skip charging VAT — the current thresholds are €25,000 turnover in the previous year and €100,000 in the current one. If you use it, you charge no VAT, reclaim none, and must state the exemption on your invoices.
• Established outside Germany, storing goods in Germany. There is effectively no threshold. Holding stock in a German warehouse — a fulfilment centre, a 3PL, Amazon FBA — creates a taxable presence, and you register before the first sale ships from it.
• Shipping to German consumers from elsewhere in the EU. The EU-wide distance-selling threshold is €10,000 across all member states combined. Below it you may keep charging your home country's VAT; above it you charge German VAT on German B2C sales and normally report it through the One Stop Shop (OSS) rather than registering in Germany.
• Shipping from outside the EU. Consignments up to €150 can go through IOSS, with import VAT collected at checkout; above that, VAT and duty are handled at import.

The Shopify tax settings that matter

In Settings → Taxes and duties → European Union, Shopify wants your VAT registrations and then applies rates from them. Four settings do most of the damage when they are wrong:

1. Your registrations. Add your German registration, or your OSS registration if you report through One Stop Shop. This is what tells Shopify to charge 19% on a German order rather than your home rate.
2. Tax-inclusive pricing. German storefront prices are quoted gross for consumers, so “All prices include tax” is normally on. Remember what this implies: your listed price is the gross amount and net + VAT are derived from it. That derivation is where cent-level rounding differences appear later on the invoice.
3. Product tax overrides. Shopify defaults everything to the standard rate. Books, food and the rest of the 7% list need an override, applied to a collection.
4. B2B / tax exemption. For B2B customers Shopify supports company profiles and tax exemptions, but a zero-rated intra-Community supply is only defensible if you have the buyer's valid VAT identification number. Collect it, validate it against VIES, and store it — it has to appear on the invoice.

Set up this way, Shopify will usually charge the right amount. What it will not do is turn that order into a legal invoice.

What a German invoice must contain (§14 UStG)

German invoice requirements are specific, and they are the reason an order confirmation is not an invoice. §14 Abs. 4 UStG requires all of the following:

• The full name and address of the supplier and of the customer.
• The supplier's Steuernummer or USt-IdNr.
• The date of issue.
• A unique, sequential invoice number (fortlaufende Rechnungsnummer).
• The quantity and normal description of the goods, or the type and extent of the service.
• The date of supply — the delivery or performance date, which is often not the invoice date.
• The net amount, broken down by tax rate, plus any agreed discount not already deducted.
• The tax rate applied and the VAT amount — or, where no VAT is due, a reference to the reason.

A few extras attach themselves in practice. Cross-border B2B needs the customer's USt-IdNr and the right legal note: “Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers” for reverse charge, or “innergemeinschaftliche Lieferung” for a zero-rated intra-Community supply. Invoices up to €250 may use the simplified Kleinbetragsrechnung format (§33 UStDV), which drops the customer's details and the separate VAT amount. And invoices must be retained for 8 years — shortened from ten with effect from 2025 — in a form that preserves them unaltered.

The overlap you cannot ignore: e-invoicing from 2025–2028

Germany has redefined what an invoice is for domestic B2B. Since 1 January 2025, an “e-invoice” in German law means a structured electronic format conforming to the European standard EN 16931 — in practice XRechnung (pure XML) or ZUGFeRD (a PDF with the XML embedded). A plain PDF is explicitly not an e-invoice; it is now an “other invoice”.

Two details catch merchants out. First, this covers domestic B2B — sales between businesses both established in Germany. B2C orders stay outside it. Second, buyer consent is no longer required for a compliant e-invoice: your business customer has to accept one whether they like the format or not, which is why they will increasingly ask you for it before 2027 arrives.

The wider EU picture — and where Peppol fits as a delivery channel — is covered in the Germany 2027 mandate guide and the EU B2B hub.

Getting the VAT numbers right, to the cent

This is the part that decides whether a structured invoice is accepted rather than merely sent. EN 16931 invoices are validated arithmetically, and a German B2B invoice generated from a Shopify order has four recurring failure modes:

• Gross-to-net derivation. A €119.00 tax-inclusive price is €100.00 net + €19.00 VAT. With odd prices and multiple quantities, the net figure has to be derived and rounded consistently, or the totals stop reconciling.
• Line versus document rounding. Rounding each line and rounding the document total can differ by a cent. EN 16931 checks that net + VAT equals gross exactly; one cent is a rejection.
• Mixed rates. A cart with 19% and 7% items needs a separate tax subtotal per rate — a single blended figure is not a valid breakdown.
• Reverse charge applied wrongly. Zero-rating a cross-border B2B sale without a VIES-valid customer VAT number, or without the required legal note, puts the zero rate itself at risk.

The mechanics of those rules are unpacked in EN 16931 explained.

A German-market setup checklist

• Are you registered where you need to be — German registration, OSS, or both?
• Are your 7% products overridden in Shopify, by collection?
• Is tax-inclusive pricing set the way your storefront prices are quoted?
• Do you collect and VIES-validate business customers' VAT numbers at checkout?
• Does something issue a real §14-compliant invoice with a sequential number, a supply date and a per-rate breakdown?
• Can you receive XRechnung and ZUGFeRD invoices today, as required since 2025?
• Will you be able to issue them before your 2027 or 2028 date?

Go deeper

• Germany's 2027 B2B e-invoicing mandate — dates, XRechnung vs ZUGFeRD, and what Shopify merchants must do.
• EN 16931 explained — the standard behind XRechnung, ZUGFeRD and UBL, and the rules that reject invoices.
• EU B2B e-invoicing on Shopify — the country-by-country hub.
• A focused Sufio alternative — how a compliance-first tool differs from an invoice-design app.

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information for Shopify merchants, not legal or tax advice. German VAT rates, thresholds and invoicing rules change, and edge cases exist — confirm your own obligations with a qualified German tax adviser (Steuerberater).