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Ureta  /  Invoice currency and rate  /  Germany

Germany  ·  read from the statute, not from a summary of it

Which currency, and which exchange rate, a German invoice has to use.

Germany says nothing about the currency of the document. It names a rate instead: the finance ministry's monthly averages - and must accept the ECB rate as well.

The short answer

Germany (DE). National currency: euro. Each answer cites the provision it comes from.

Currency of the document Any currency art. 230 of Directive 2006/112/EC; s. 14 Abs. 4 UStG is silent
Currency of the VAT amount Euro art. 230 of the Directive
Which rate The Federal Finance Ministry's monthly average rates, or the ECB rate s. 16 Abs. 6 UStG; art. 91(2) of the Directive
Which month The month the supply is made (or the payment received, if you account on receipts) s. 16 Abs. 6 UStG

The provision

Germany legislates the arithmetic, not the document.

The German invoice particulars do not mention currency. The rule sits in the section on calculating the tax: foreign-currency values are converted to euro at the average rates the Federal Ministry of Finance publishes for the month the supply is made, and the tax office may allow the day's rate proven by a bank statement. Article 91(2) of the Directive obliges Germany to accept the ECB rate instead, so a German business has two lawful rates.

«Werte in fremder Währung sind zur Berechnung der Steuer und der abziehbaren Vorsteuerbeträge auf Euro nach den Durchschnittskursen umzurechnen, die das Bundesministerium der Finanzen für den Monat öffentlich bekanntgibt, in dem die Leistung ausgeführt ... wird.»

Foreign-currency values are converted to euro, to calculate the tax and the deductible input tax, at the average rates the Federal Ministry of Finance publishes for the month in which the supply is made.

S. 16 Abs. 6, Umsatzsteuergesetz

Why the ECB rate is safe in every member state. The second subparagraph of article 91(2) of the VAT Directive, inserted by Directive 2010/45/EU, says member states shall accept the use of the latest exchange rate published by the European Central Bank at the time the tax becomes chargeable, and that conversion between two currencies other than the euro goes through the euro rate of each. It is an obligation on the state, not an option for the taxpayer. The same sentence lets a member state require you to notify it that you use the ECB rate; ask your accountant whether Germany does.

When it reaches you

If you sell through the stores, this bites in one case.

Article 230 constrains the amount of VAT payable or to be adjusted. An app developer's ordinary invoice to a store or an ad network carries no VAT amount at all: it is a reverse-charge supply to another member state, or a supply outside the scope entirely. Where there is no tax line, there is nothing for the currency rule to bind. The rule reaches you on a supply that actually charges Germany VAT.

What Ureta does about it

The rate is pinned when the month is, and it is kept with the document.

  • The ECB reference rate, for every EU tenant. It is the rate article 91(2) obliges every member state to accept. A currency other than the euro is converted through the euro, as the same article says.
  • The rate is pinned per month and stored, so a document issued last March still reports the rate it carried in March rather than a number recomputed today.
  • Nothing is guessed. Where no rate from a defensible authority is available for a currency, the engine refuses to issue rather than putting a plausible wrong number on a legal document.
  • Germany, said plainly. Ureta converts at the ECB rate, one of the two lawful rates. It does not produce the ministry's monthly averages.

How this page was read

Every sentence above came from the text, and here is which text and when.

The Act Umsatzsteuergesetz s. 16 Abs. 6, read 1 October 2026 at gesetze-im-internet.de. Source.
The Directive Directive 2006/112/EC arts. 91 and 230, consolidated to 1 January 2025, read 25 August 2026 from the Publications Office. Source.

You sold. The rest is handled.

Ureta is income-reporting software for app creators. It fetches every store and ad network, converts at a rate your own authority must accept, and has the month's documents ready before the deadline.

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