German VAT Changes 2026: What Foreign Sellers Need to Know

Vaytax Editorial Team

Licensed tax advisor · files with the Finanzamt

Vaytax is operated by FRADECO GmbH tax advisory firm, a Franco-German tax advisory firm specialising in cross-border German VAT compliance for international businesses. Every return we prepare is reviewed and filed by a licensed German tax advisor.

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If you searched for what changes for German VAT in 2026, here is the honest summary: less than the headlines suggest. The rates that matter to product sellers are untouched, the filing calendar works exactly as before, and the two genuinely new items, the restaurant rate cut and the end of the EU’s €150 customs exemption, affect specific business models rather than everyone. This guide walks through each change, what it means if you are a foreign company registered for VAT in Germany, and just as important, what stays the same.

What Actually Changes in 2026?

Four things are worth your attention: the permanent 7% rate for restaurant and catering food (from 1 January), the abolition of the €150 customs duty exemption for parcels entering the EU (from 1 July), the approach of Germany’s e-invoicing issuing mandate (2027 and 2028), and the higher filing-frequency thresholds that have applied since 2025 but still surprise sellers whose registrations predate them. Everything else in your German VAT routine, rates on goods, deadlines, OSS thresholds, the registration process, carries over unchanged from 2025.

Restaurant VAT Drops to 7% (1 January 2026)

Germany cut the VAT rate on restaurant and catering food services from 19% back to 7% on 1 January 2026, and this time the reduction is permanent, not a temporary measure. It covers prepared meals served by restaurants, bakeries, butcher shops, caterers, and institutional dining such as school and hospital meals. Beverages are excluded and remain at 19%; for combined menu deals, the tax authorities accept a simplification that treats 30% of the bundle price as the beverage share.

For most foreign e-commerce sellers this changes nothing: grocery-type food products already carried the 7% reduced rate, and non-food goods stay at 19%. It matters if you run a food-service or catering operation in Germany, or sell prepared-meal offerings where the service component previously pushed you to 19%. If you are unsure which rate your product carries, our German VAT rates overview covers the standard cases.

The €150 Customs Exemption Ended on 1 July 2026

This is the change with the most direct impact on non-EU sellers. Until 30 June 2026, parcels with a value up to €150 entered the EU free of customs duty (import VAT was still due). Since 1 July 2026 that exemption is gone. The EU brought the abolition forward from the original 2028 customs-reform timetable, and member states agreed a transitional arrangement: a flat customs duty of €3 per item on sub-€150 e-commerce parcels, in force until 1 July 2028, when the EU Customs Data Hub is expected to go live and normal tariff-based duties take over.

Who feels this: sellers shipping direct-to-consumer from outside the EU (from China, the UK, the US, or anywhere else) into Germany and the rest of the EU. Each sub-€150 parcel now carries €3 of duty on top of the import VAT that was already due, which compresses margins on low-ticket items and makes bulk import into EU fulfilment (with a proper German VAT registration) relatively more attractive.

Two things this change does not do: it does not touch import VAT, which has been due on all commercial imports regardless of value since July 2021, and it does not change the IOSS system through which marketplaces often collect VAT on sub-€150 consignments (IOSS is a VAT collection scheme, separate from customs duty; we explain it for context and do not offer IOSS services). If you import your own stock into Germany, you will also need an EU EORI number; see Importing into Germany: VAT and EORI explained.

E-Invoicing: What Foreign Sellers Actually Have to Do

Germany’s B2B e-invoicing mandate causes more anxiety among foreign sellers than it should, because the obligation to issue e-invoices applies to businesses established in Germany: a German seat, management, or a fixed establishment for VAT purposes. A foreign company that is merely VAT-registered in Germany, with no establishment there, is not required to issue XRechnung or ZUGFeRD invoices.

The phase-in that the 2026 headlines refer to concerns Germany-established businesses: from 1 January 2027, those with prior-year turnover above €800,000 must issue e-invoices for domestic B2B transactions, and from 1 January 2028 the obligation covers all Germany-established businesses. What already applies since January 2025, and does affect you in practice, is the receiving side: German business customers and suppliers may send structured e-invoices, and you should be able to receive, read, and archive them.

Already in Force Since 2025 (and Easy to Miss)

• Filing-frequency thresholds went up on 1 January 2025. Monthly preliminary returns (USt-Voranmeldung) apply when prior-year German VAT exceeded €9,000 (previously €7,500); between €2,000 and €9,000 the default is quarterly; at or below €2,000 the Finanzamt can waive preliminary returns entirely. Most foreign sellers with German warehouse stock still file monthly. Full calendar: German VAT return deadlines 2026.
• The EU small-business scheme opened cross-border. Since 2025, an EU-established company can use Germany’s small-business exemption (Kleinunternehmerregelung) through its home country’s EX procedure if EU-wide turnover stays within €100,000. Non-EU companies remain excluded, and the exemption rarely fits sellers with German warehouse stock, but for very small EU sellers it is worth knowing.

What Does NOT Change in 2026

The confirmations matter as much as the changes:

• VAT rates on goods: 19% standard, 7% reduced, unchanged since 2007.
• Filing deadlines: preliminary returns stay due the 10th of the following month (one month later with Dauerfristverlängerung), the ZM the 25th; the 2025 annual return is due 31 July 2026, or 1 March 2027 via a tax advisor. Every 2026 date: printable calendar.
• OSS distance-selling threshold: still €10,000 EU-wide for B2C cross-border sales.
• No fiscal representative requirement: Germany still does not require foreign companies to appoint a fiscal representative for standard VAT compliance; a licensed Steuerberater is sufficient.
• The two-number system: Steuernummer from the Finanzamt, USt-IdNr from the BZSt, both unchanged.
• Registration mechanics: the Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung, country-based Finanzamt routing, and the typical 4 to 8 week processing window all carry over.

Coming Later: ViDA (2028 to 2030)

The EU’s VAT in the Digital Age package, adopted in March 2025, is the structural change on the horizon, but none of it bites in 2026. From 1 July 2028, an expanded One-Stop-Shop is set to cover movements of own stock between EU warehouses, which today force Pan-EU sellers into multiple local registrations; from 2030, intra-EU B2B transactions move to digital reporting built on e-invoices. We track the German implementation and will update our Pan-EU FBA guide as concrete guidance lands.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did German VAT rates change in 2026?

The general rates did not change: 19% standard and 7% reduced continue to apply. The one rate change is sector-specific: restaurant and catering food services dropped to 7% on 1 January 2026, permanently, while beverages stay at 19%. For product sellers, nothing moves.

Does the e-invoicing mandate apply to foreign companies with a German VAT number?

The issuing obligation applies to businesses established in Germany. If your company is only VAT-registered, with no German establishment, you are not required to issue e-invoices. You should still be able to receive and archive XRechnung or ZUGFeRD files from German suppliers.

What replaced the €150 customs exemption?

A transitional flat customs duty of €3 per item on sub-€150 parcels, effective 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028, after which normal tariff-based duties apply via the EU Customs Data Hub. Import VAT is unaffected: it was already due on all commercial imports.

Do German VAT filing deadlines change in 2026?

No. The 10th-of-the-following-month rhythm, the ZM’s 25th, and the annual-return dates all work exactly as before. What changed, already in 2025, are the frequency thresholds (€9,000 / €2,000). See every 2026 deadline.

Does ViDA remove the need for a German VAT registration?

Not in 2026, and not before mid-2028 at the earliest. Storing goods in a German warehouse still triggers a German VAT registration from the first unit. The 2028 OSS expansion should reduce registrations needed for stock movements; we will update our guides as Germany publishes implementation detail.