Anyone can offer clarity on e-invoicing rules?

[booksnthings]

Hi there, everyone. I'm starting to hear more about this new required e-invoicing thing. Rather than stress out unnecessarily, I would like to learn more so I can hopefully get it right. I googled a bit but felt unsure about what I read. Here's my understanding:

As freiberuflich/freelance, I'm not obligated to start sending e-invoices until 2027. Is that correct?

I will have to pay for some kind of service to issue e-invoices. Is there some way to do this for free? Is there a cheap e-invoice system that works well? I am hoping not to have to spend a ton of money to you know, get paid.

The e-invoicing rules only apply to invoices which include VAT? So for example, my clients are primarily in the US, but I have a few in Germany. I will need to e-invoice my German clients, but can continue sending PDF invoices to the US ones?

Would appreciate any and all input. Thank you so much.

[PandaMunich]

As freiberuflich/freelance, I'm not obligated to start sending e-invoices until 2027. Is that correct?

If your yearly turnover isn't over 800,000€, you even have until 2028, as long as the recipient of the invoice agrees to still get a non-e-invoice.

Sources:

• overview written by a Frank Rösner, who is a Steuerberater (nice guy who also knows English, if anyone is looking for a Steuerberater): https://www-stb--roesner-de.translate.g ... r_pto=wapp
  He often travels to the US and has written travel guides: https://www.amazon.de/stores/Frank-R%C3 ... B0778Z53KN

• Haufe article (Haufe articles resist translation by GoogleTranslate, just paste the text into DeepL.com to translate it to English): https://www.haufe.de/steuern/gesetzgebu ... 05558.html

• BMF-Schreiben (a new version will be published at the end of 2024): https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/ ... onFile&v=6

I will have to pay for some kind of service to issue e-invoices. Is there some way to do this for free? Is there a cheap e-invoice system that works well? I am hoping not to have to spend a ton of money to you know, get paid.

Buhl has a free web site to create e-invoices: https://erechnung.meinbuero.de/
And the state will most probably also offer a free portal.

The e-invoicing rules only apply to invoices which include VAT? So for example, my clients are primarily in the US, but I have a few in Germany. I will need to e-invoice my German clients, but can continue sending PDF invoices to the US ones?

Yes.

[booksnthings]

Thank you Panda!! This all makes a lot more sense now. I'm bookmarking the free e-invoice service you listed and am also quite relieved I have some time before needing to fully delve into this. At a tiny fraction of 800K € annual turnover, I'll just check in with my few clients here as this gets going and see how soon they will only accept the e-invoices.