# German VAT Calculator

> Add or remove German Umsatzsteuer at the standard 19% rate, the reduced 7% rate, or the 0% rate on domestic solar. Includes the reduced rate on restaurant food that took effect on 1 January 2026, with drinks still at 19%.

Use it: https://tessalor.com/en/country/german-vat

This tool runs entirely in the browser. Nothing entered into it is uploaded.

## Formula

```
Adding VAT to a netto price:
  vat    = round(netto x rate / 100)
  brutto = netto + vat

Removing VAT from a brutto price:
  vat   = round(brutto x rate / (100 + rate))
  netto = brutto - vat

German bands and their VAT fractions:
  standard   19%   19/119   does not reduce
  reduced     7%    7/107   does not reduce
  solar       0%    no tax

round = to the nearest cent, half up. There is no
        round-down option, because German invoicing
        grants no equivalent of the British concession.

Only the VAT is rounded. The third figure is derived from
the other two, so netto + vat = brutto to the cent, always.
```

## Assumptions

- The three bands are the rates in force under section 12 of the Umsatzsteuergesetz. Which band a supply falls in is a published list in the annex to that Act, not a judgement about whether something is essential, so this tool applies a rate rather than classifying goods.
- Rounding is half up to the cent, always, and there is no option. German invoicing gives no equivalent of the British concession that lets an invoice trader round the tax down, so offering the choice would be inventing a rule.
- The 7% rate on restaurant and catering services from January 2026 is a reclassification rather than a new rate — the supply moved into the existing reduced band. Beverages were deliberately left out of it, so a single bill can carry two rates.
- Historic rates are not held here. The standard rate was 16% until 1 January 2007 and 16% again temporarily between July and December 2020, and both go in the "Another rate" field, which starts on 16.
- Figures are in euros because German VAT is denominated in euros. Nothing is converted and no exchange rate is applied anywhere.

## Inputs

| Name | Label | Type | Default | Range |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `amount` | Amount | currency | 250 | 0 to 1000000000 |
| `direction` | What to do with it | select | add |  |
| `band` | Rate band | select | standard |  |
| `rate` | Another rate | percent | 16 | 0 to 100 |

## Outputs

- `vatAmount` — VAT (currency), primary
- `netAmount` — Netto (currency)
- `grossAmount` — Brutto (currency)
- `rateApplied` — Rate applied (percent)
- `fraction` — VAT fraction (text)

## Questions

### What are the German VAT rates?

The standard rate is 19% and has been since 1 January 2007, when it rose from 16%. The reduced rate is 7% and has been since 1 July 1983, which makes it the longest-unchanged rate in the system. There is also a genuine 0% rate, added in 2023, on solar modules and storage supplied for residential and public buildings — unusual in a country that otherwise has no zero-rated supplies at all.

### What gets the reduced 7% rate?

A published list rather than a principle: most staple food, books, newspapers and periodicals, cultural admissions, short-distance public transport, and since January 2026 restaurant and catering services. Because it is a list, a category that sounds similar is often standard-rated instead, so check the annex to the Umsatzsteuergesetz rather than reasoning by analogy from something that looks comparable.

### What changed for restaurants in 2026?

From 1 January 2026, restaurant and catering services are taxed at 7% under section 12(2) number 15 of the Umsatzsteuergesetz, with the supply of beverages excluded. It removes the long-standing gap where the same dish was 7% taken away and 19% eaten in. Unlike the 2020 to 2023 reduction, which was temporary and expired, this one is written into the Act with no end date.

### Is it Umsatzsteuer or Mehrwertsteuer?

Umsatzsteuer is the statutory term and the one on the invoice and the return; Mehrwertsteuer is the everyday word and what appears on price tags and receipts. They are the same tax at the same rate, so nothing about the arithmetic changes. An invoice must state the tax amount and the rate whichever of the two words is printed beside it.

### Why is there no round-down option here?

Because it is a British concession. HMRC allows a trader issuing invoices to round VAT down to a whole penny on the grounds that it is tax-neutral, and German invoicing has no equivalent to point at. Adding the switch because a sibling tool has one would be inventing a rule, so this tool rounds half up to the cent and offers no choice at all.

### Do I charge 19% to a customer in another EU country?

For a business customer with a valid VAT identification number, no — the supply reverse-charges to the buyer and you invoice without German tax. For a consumer, the destination country's rate applies once you pass the EU-wide 10,000 threshold for cross-border distance sales and digital services, which is what the One Stop Shop return exists to file. This tool computes a German rate; whether German rules apply is the prior question.

## Sources

- [§ 12 Umsatzsteuergesetz — Steuersätze, including paragraph 2 number 15 and paragraph 3](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ustg_1980/__12.html) — Bundesministerium der Justiz, via Gesetze im Internet, applies to 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-31.
- [Umsatzsteuer — the federal finance ministry's overview of the tax](https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Web/DE/Themen/Steuern/Steuerarten/Umsatzsteuer/umsatzsteuer.html) — Bundesministerium der Finanzen, applies to 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-31.
- [100 Jahre Umsatzsteuer in Deutschland — the rate history](https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Monatsberichte/2019/12/Inhalte/Kapitel-3-Analysen/3-4-100-jahre-umsatzsteuer.html) — Bundesministerium der Finanzen. Retrieved 2026-07-31.
- [VAT rates applied in the Member States](https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/taxation/vat/vat-directive/vat-rates_en) — European Commission, Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, applies to 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-31.

## Variants

- [How much is 19% German VAT on a net price?](https://tessalor.com/en/country/german-vat/add-19-percent-to-a-net-price)
- [What VAT applies to restaurant food in Germany from 2026?](https://tessalor.com/en/country/german-vat/restaurant-vat-at-7-percent)

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Machine-readable catalogue: https://tessalor.com/api/tools.json