Overview
- The Bundesrat, driven by initiatives from Lower Saxony and Hamburg, endorsed a resolution in the 2025 tax law process to require restaurants and cafés to offer at least one digital payment option.
- Coalition plans also set a cash-register obligation from January 1, 2027 for businesses with more than €100,000 in annual turnover to ensure auditable sales records.
- A new Allensbach survey finds 47% paid their last purchase by card versus 41% with cash, with mobile payments used by 25% overall and preferred by 42% of under‑30s.
- Public opinion is split: roughly half favor a legal card-acceptance requirement, the hospitality association warns of added costs, and the tax union says wider digital payments would curb tax evasion.
- Cash access and privacy pressures are rising as ATMs fell 3% in 2024 to about 49,750 and serial-number reading enables banknote tracking, while the Bundesbank will end in-country check clearing by late 2027.