Overview
- The federal cabinet has approved a Finance Ministry draft that makes electronic receipts the normal option from 2028 and replaces routine paper receipts with delivery by e‑mail, QR code or similar methods.
- The draft targets about 115,000 so‑called open cash registers that the ministry calls prone to manipulation and requires businesses with more than €100,000 in annual sales to move to modern electronic systems.
- Taxpayers with under €12,000 in annual cash receipts are exempt from the new cash‑register rules and further exceptions such as farm direct sales will be defined later by secondary regulations.
- The law still needs parliamentary approval and the government will issue Rechtsverordnungen to spell out technical standards, sectoral exemptions and the length of any transition periods.
- Trade groups and the digital association Bitkom back the anti‑fraud and digitalization goals but warn the switch will create upfront costs and call for clear, practice‑oriented rules and enough time for businesses to adapt.