Instead of paper receipts, digital receipts are set to become the standard in Germany from 2028. The Federal Cabinet on Wednesday approved new rules for cash register receipts. The draft law presented by Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) provides that receipts will generally no longer be printed from 2028, but instead provided electronically, for example by email or as a QR code. The Federal Ministry of Finance says the aim is to reduce bureaucracy and combat tax and financial crime.
The law implements an agreement in the coalition agreement between the SPD and the CDU/CSU to abolish the paper receipt requirement that has been in place since 2020. Instead, digital receipts are now set to become the “standard”, as Klingbeil announced. “This means less bureaucracy for everyone, both for citizens and for businesses.”
Digital cash register systems, which are required to issue electronic receipts, also record all transactions. “This prevents tax evasion and creates fair competitive conditions,” Klingbeil said. “I want honest people not to be the fools.”
According to the Federal Ministry of Finance, modern electronic cash register systems are already widely used in Germany. However, there are still around 115,000 so-called open cash registers. “Their cash register transactions are vulnerable to misuse because there are no records or only handwritten records,” the ministry explains. “This can facilitate tax evasion.”
For this reason, businesses with annual revenue of more than €100,000 will have to replace these open cash registers with electronic cash register systems from 2028. Taxpayers who have less than €12,000 in cash sales per year will be exempt from the cash register requirement. According to the ministry, further exemptions can be regulated through an ordinance after the law has been passed. Possible examples include trust-based cash boxes at self-picking fields or direct sales by agricultural businesses.
The digital association Bitkom said the law would help combat tax evasion and strengthen fair competition. “When sales are recorded electronically as a mandatory requirement, they are harder to manipulate,” said Bitkom Managing Director Bernhard Rohleder. “At the same time, the transition can advance digitalisation in retail: For consumers, it means less paper, and receipts can be stored and found more easily.”
For many businesses, the transition would initially create additional work. “To keep the effort involved in the transition as low as possible, the requirements in the law must be clear and practical, and businesses must be given sufficient time to implement them,” Rohleder said. Bitkom believes further adjustments are still needed. “It must be unambiguously regulated exactly who is subject to the cash register requirement and what technical requirements must be met,” Rohleder said.
Watch our video to learn what Germany’s new digital receipt rules mean for businesses and consumers from 2028.
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