Germany imposes Value Added Tax (VAT) at different rates as follows for various goods and services:
The standard VAT is applicable in Germany to all taxable goods and services, except when a specific measure allows for a reduced rate.
Some foodstuffs; hotels; water (excl. bottled water); welfare; some domestic passenger transport; intra-community and international passenger transport certain road, rail and water transportation; newspapers and books - electronic.
Financial services; public postal; transactions involving immovable property.
Source: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ustg_1980/__12.html https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ustg_1980/__4.html
In Germany, employers must pay per diem allowances to employees to cover meals during business travel.
For a one-day trip the following rates apply:
| Timeframe | Domestic | Foreign |
| Business trip under 8 hours | €0 | €0 |
| Business trip between 8 and 24 hours | €14 per day | Partial per diem |
For a multi-day trip the following rates apply:
| Timeframe | Domestic | Foreign |
| Full day | €28 per day | Full country rate |
| Day of arrival/departure | €14 per day | Partial country rate |
| Overnight stay | €20 | Private overnight |
Where employees embark on a long flight, they should receive the daily rate applicable for Austria.
For days travelled without embarkation or disembarkation, the daily allowances applicable in Luxembourg are to be applied if the ship is owned by a foreign shipping company.
If an employee begins a business trip on one day and ends it the following day without an overnight stay, the times are added together. If the absence is longer than 8 hours, the employee receives a meal allowance for the day on which they were mostly absent.
During a multi-day trip if an employee spends the night in one country but travels to a different country to work and then returns, they should receive the per diem applicable to the country they last worked in.
Professional drivers receive an additional €9 for sleeping in their vehicle in the course of a multi-day trip.
The overnight flat rate is subject to the following conditions:
It is still possible to provide evidence of higher actual costs for overnight stays in the vehicle at parking and rest areas. The employer has a choice. If he decides on the new overnight flat rate of €9, he is bound to this for the entire calendar year. He must decide uniformly for all travel days in a calendar year whether to use the flat rate or the individual proof.
Meal deductions are always calculated from the full per diem amount, even in the case of half-day compensations.
| Meal | Domestic deduction | Foreign deduction |
| Breakfast | 20% | 20% |
| Lunch | 40% | 40% |
| Dinner | 40% | 40% |
The three-month rule (“Dreimonatsfrist” in German) begins once an employee has worked in the same place for at least three days in any given week and according to the following conditions:
Once the three-month rule comes to an end, the per diem becomes taxable.
The three-month rule does not apply to professional activities on mobile, non-stationary facilities, e.g.:
Certain meals provided by the company are considered a “benefit in kind” as follows:
If the meal exceeds €60 (incl. VAT) per attendee and no third-party is involved, then the value becomes taxable per employee in the following conditions:
| Meal | Taxable benefit deduction |
| Breakfast | €2,30 |
| Lunch | €4,40 |
| Dinner | €4,40 |
Employees travelling for business in Germany with their private vehicle may be entitled to a tax-free mileage allowance, the rates of which are as follows:
| Engine | Rate |
| Own car or other motor vehicle (KFZ) | €0,30 per km |
| Motorcycle, scooter, moped | €0,20 per km |
When keeping books in electronic or paper form and other required records in electronic or paper form within the meaning of paragraphs 3 to 5, the following requirements must be observed:
Principle of traceability and verifiability (see 3.1),
Principles of truth, clarity and continuous recording (see 3.2):
Completeness (see 3.2.1),
Individual recording obligation (see 3.2.1),
Accuracy (see 3.2.2),
timely bookings and records (see 3.2.3),
Order (see 3.2.4),
Immutability (see 3.2.5).
Paper documents are converted into electronic documents by means of image capture (see paragraph 130). The process must be documented. The taxpayer should therefore create an organizational instruction that regulates, among other things:
The specific design of this procedural documentation depends on the complexity and diversification of the business activity and the organizational structure as well as the IT system used.
Immediate data access (Z1) - The tax authorities have the right to access the IT system directly in such a way that they can view the data that must be recorded and retained in the form of read-only access and use the hardware and software used by the taxpayer or a commissioned third party to check the stored data, including the relevant metadata, master data and transaction data, as well as the corresponding links (e.g. between the tables of a relational database).
It may only access the electronically stored data using this hardware and software. This excludes remote queries (online access) by the tax authorities to the taxpayer's IT system.
Read-only access includes reading and analyzing the data using the evaluation options available in the IT system (e.g. filtering and sorting).
Indirect data access (Z2) - The tax authorities can also require the taxpayer to carry out a machine evaluation of the data that must be recorded and retained in accordance with their instructions or to have it evaluated by a commissioned third party in order to then be able to carry out read-only access. Only a machine evaluation using the evaluation options available in the IT system of the taxpayer or the commissioned third party can be required.
Data media transfer (Z3) - The tax authority can also request that the data that is required to be recorded and retained, including the relevant metadata, master data and transaction data as well as the internal and external links (e.g. between the tables of a relational database), and electronic documents and records be provided to it on a machine-readable and analyzable data medium for evaluation. The tax authority is not entitled to download data from the IT system itself or to make copies of existing data backups.
Taxable persons must retain invoices for 10 years.
An electronic signature or time stamp is not required for tax purposes.