Subcontractor Invoice in Germany: Template

A subcontractor invoice for construction work in Germany needs the standard invoice fields, and it triggers two extra checks before the contractor pays it. First, the 15 percent construction withholding tax: unless the subcontractor has handed over a valid exemption certificate (Freistellungsbescheinigung) or the year's payments to them are expected to stay at or below €5,000, the contractor withholds 15 percent and pays it to the subcontractor's tax office. Second, reverse charge: if the contractor itself regularly provides construction services, it owes the VAT, so the invoice shows no VAT and carries the note "Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers". Below you'll find a template for the invoice, a checklist for the certificate and the official online check.

This is not legal or tax advice. Everything here is taken from the German statutes and the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt), as of November 2026, and applies to work done in Germany. The overview of what AI employees can take over in a contractor's office is in AI Construction Estimating: What It Can Do.

Subcontractor invoice template for Germany

Section 14(4) of the German VAT Act lists what every invoice must contain. For a subcontractor working for another construction business, a reverse-charge invoice looks like this:

Subcontractor:     full name and full address
Tax number:        Steuernummer or VAT ID (USt-IdNr.)
Invoice to:        contractor's full name and full address
Invoice date:      ...
Invoice number:    unique, sequential
Work performed:    type and scope of the construction work, site address
Date of service:   when the work was performed
Net amount:        EUR 18,400.00
VAT:               not shown

Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers

The last line is required by section 14a(5) UStG, word for word in German, whenever the recipient owes the VAT. If reverse charge doesn't apply, for example because the contractor doesn't regularly provide construction services itself, the invoice shows the VAT rate and the VAT amount instead, and the note is left out. Which case applies is a question for the contractor's tax advisor. A template with all the general fields is in Free German Invoice Template, and since January 1, 2025 every German business has to be able to receive e-invoices, see German E-Invoicing Mandate: Dates, Exemptions. A final invoice that credits all progress payments is in Contractor Invoice: Template, Final Invoice.

When reverse charge applies to construction work

Under section 13b(2) no. 4 and (5) UStG, the recipient owes the VAT for construction services, excluding planning and supervision, if it is a business "der nachhaltig entsprechende Leistungen erbringt", one that regularly provides such services itself. That is presumed when its tax office has issued it a certificate to that effect, limited to three years at most.

That certificate belongs to the contractor and concerns VAT. Don't mix it up with the exemption certificate, which belongs to the subcontractor and concerns withholding tax. A single invoice can involve both.

The 15 percent withholding tax and the exemption certificate

Section 48(1) of the Income Tax Act obliges a business or public body that receives construction work in Germany to withhold 15 percent of the consideration for the account of the subcontractor. The consideration is the net amount plus VAT. According to the BZSt information leaflet, this applies to every payment, including advance and progress payments, not only the final one.

There's no withholding if, at the time of payment, the subcontractor has presented a valid exemption certificate under section 48b EStG, or if the payments to them in the calendar year are not expected to exceed €5,000 (€15,000 if the recipient only makes certain tax-exempt rental supplies). If the contractor has to withhold, it files the amount electronically by the tenth day after the end of the month of payment and pays it to the subcontractor's tax office (section 48a EStG). The reason to check carefully is liability: the contractor is liable for tax not withheld, unless it held a certificate at the time of payment that it could rely on.

How to check an exemption certificate

The BZSt describes the check on its page on construction withholding tax and in its English information leaflet:

A search by name only or tax number only isn't possible. If the online result doesn't match or the query fails, ask the tax office that issued the certificate. If the subcontractor doesn't hand over a certificate at all, the BZSt says to assume they don't have a valid one, which means withholding.

What an AI employee can prepare

For receipts I have Peter. He has been running in my business since August 19, 2026, follows a written process description and works in my bookkeeping interface in the browser: he screens receipts, sets the receipt type and matches the credit card statement line by line. In his first run he screened 116 receipts and flagged two as open instead of forcing them to match. He doesn't book entries; final approval stays with me and my accountant.

Peter takes on the checks on this page: he checks whether the subcontractor's exemption certificate is on file and still valid and whether the reverse-charge note is on the invoice, fills in the checklist above with the values from certificate and invoice, and lists certificates that expire in the coming weeks as a draft request to the subcontractor. He learns new steps like a new hire: watch and read first, then document the workflow with rules and exceptions, test it on real cases and run it after your sign-off. Frieda can pre-sort the invoice emails beforehand; she doesn't book them and makes no tax judgment about an invoice. Whether to withhold, the filing and the payment stay with you and your tax advisor. We'll look at how to set this up in your business together.

How receipts are filed so an outsider can follow them is in Digital Receipt Filing in Germany: GoBD Rules, what AI does in bookkeeping today in AI Bookkeeping: What Actually Works Today, and how checked records reach a German accountant in DATEV Integration: 3 Routes, Costs and Setup. How progress invoices are calculated is in Progress Billing Explained, With a Template. Which construction software exists and what the vendors say it does is in Construction Invoicing Software Compared.

Frequently asked questions

What should a subcontractor invoice include?

In Germany: both parties' full names and addresses, the subcontractor's tax number or VAT ID, invoice date and number, type and scope of the work, date of service, the net amount, and either the VAT or, under reverse charge, the note "Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers" without VAT.

How long is a German exemption certificate valid?

At most three years from the date of issue. The tax office can issue it for a shorter period or for one project only, and it can revoke it. What counts is whether it's valid on the day you pay.

Does the withholding tax apply to progress payments?

Yes. Every payment to the subcontractor counts, including advance and progress payments. That's why the check belongs before each payment, not only before the final invoice.

Can a foreign subcontractor get an exemption certificate?

Yes, from the competent German tax office; for businesses based abroad, certain tax offices have central jurisdiction depending on the country. The BZSt's English information leaflet lists them.

How to keep going

List every subcontractor you've paid this year with two columns: certificate valid until, and date of the last online confirmation. Every empty cell is a task for this week. If you want to look at the workflow together, book a strategy session: in 20 minutes we look at the one workflow in your business that depends on you the most. How others hand recurring office work to AI employees is what we discuss in my community AI Employee Framework. More industries are on AI by industry.