German VAT ID (USt-IdNr.): how to apply for it, find it and check it

As of September 2026.

What is the VAT identification number?

The Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer (USt-IdNr.) is a separate identifier that uniquely identifies a business in the movement of goods and services within the European Union for VAT purposes. The legal basis is § 27a UStG.

It does exactly one job: it proves to a business partner in another EU country that you are a business. That determines whether a supply stays exempt and whether the liability for the tax passes to the recipient.

The VAT ID is issued exclusively by the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, BZSt), and only on application. Your local tax office does not issue it.

Who needs a VAT ID?

You need one as soon as you take part in intra-EU business. The typical cases:

• You supply goods to a business in another EU member state.
• You supply services to a business in another EU country where the place of supply shifts there under § 3a (2) UStG.
• You buy services from a business in another EU country, such as advertising, software or cloud services.

Small businesses under § 19 UStG can also apply for a VAT ID and do need one as soon as they deal with businesses across borders. If they buy a service from abroad, they owe the German VAT themselves under § 13b UStG without being able to deduct it as input VAT. See the small-business scheme guide for details.

If you sell only domestically and only to private customers, you do not need a VAT ID.

How do I apply for a VAT ID?

Applying is free of charge. The BZSt charges no fee either for issuing the number or for later confirmation queries. There are three routes:

1. Online at the BZSt. You complete the application in the federal forms system and submit it electronically.
2. When registering the business. In the Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung that you submit to your tax office, you tick the box applying for a VAT ID. The tax office forwards the data to the BZSt.
3. In writing. An informal application stating your name, address, competent tax office and tax number, sent to BZSt, Dienstsitz Saarlouis, 66738 Saarlouis.

The number is communicated by post only. Disclosure by email or telephone is not possible for legal reasons.

The BZSt publishes no fixed processing time. If you apply through the tax registration questionnaire, allow for the fact that the transfer from the tax office to the BZSt alone can take several weeks. Apply before you close your first EU deal, not afterwards.

Where do I find my VAT ID?

Three places, in this order:

• The BZSt notice of issue. The number was sent to you by post; that letter is the original proof.
• Your own invoices and your website imprint. Once you have recorded it there, it appears on every document.
• Request a fresh notification from the BZSt. If you have lost the number, complete the same application form again. You receive a copy of the original notice, again by post.

Do not confuse the VAT ID with the personal tax identification number: the latter has its own re-notification service, whereas the VAT ID goes through the BZSt form.

How is a VAT ID structured?

Every VAT ID starts with a two-letter country code followed by the national identifier. The German VAT ID consists of DE plus nine digits, eleven characters in total.

The length differs from country to country because many member states simply use the national tax number with the country code in front:

Structure of the VAT ID in selected EU states per the BZSt information sheet, as of September 2026.

How do I check a customer's VAT ID?

Checking is not a formality but a condition of the exemption. Under § 6a (1) sentence 1 no. 4 UStG the customer must use a valid VAT ID issued by another member state for an intra-Community supply to remain exempt. In addition, the exemption falls away under § 4 no. 1 letter b UStG if the EC Sales List is missing or incorrect.

There are two routes:

• BZSt confirmation procedure (§ 18e UStG). The BZSt confirms the validity of a foreign VAT ID. The simple query only tells you whether the number is valid. The qualified query additionally checks whether the company name including legal form, town, postcode and street match the data registered in that EU country. Note: a simple query is a mandatory prerequisite for a qualified one.
• The European Commission's VIES check. The European portal also confirms whether a number is valid. For data protection reasons the national authorities do not release the name and address there; they only confirm whether the details you supply match the number.

For evidence towards the tax office the qualified BZSt query is the safer route: keep the data record or printout you receive. Under § 6a (3) UStG you must be able to prove that the conditions for the exemption were met.

You can produce invoices with VAT IDs, a reverse-charge note and all mandatory fields free of charge as a PDF with the invoice generator from Mein MwSt-Rechner, including fields for your own and the foreign VAT ID.

VAT ID, Steuernummer and Steuer-ID: the difference

Three numbers, three authorities, three purposes:

Comparison of the three numbers, as of September 2026.

The personal tax identification number never belongs on an invoice. It identifies you as a private individual, not your business.

Does the VAT ID have to appear on the invoice?

Normally you have a choice. § 14 (4) sentence 1 no. 2 UStG requires either the tax number issued by the tax office or the VAT ID issued by the BZSt. One of the two is enough.

Stating both numbers, yours and the customer's, becomes mandatory in three cases:

• Intra-Community supply of goods (§ 14a (3) sentence 2 UStG)
• Services under § 3a (2) UStG in another member state where the recipient owes the tax there (§ 14a (1) sentence 3 UStG)
• Intra-Community triangular transactions (§ 14a (7) sentence 2 UStG)

In these cases the invoice must also be issued by the 15th day of the month following the month of supply.

For a purely domestic reverse-charge case under § 13b UStG, by contrast, the note "Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers" is enough; § 14a (5) UStG does not require both VAT IDs there. More on this in the reverse charge guide.

In a website imprint the VAT ID must be stated if you have one (§ 5 (1) DDG). If you do not have one, you need not name one.

Example: an invoice to a business in Austria

You are a designer in Cologne and provide a service worth 2.000,00 € to a business in Vienna. Compared with a domestic invoice, this changes:

1. The place of supply is Austria (§ 3a (2) UStG), because the recipient runs their business there.
2. No German VAT. The invoice shows 2.000,00 € net, no tax rate and no tax amount.
3. Both VAT IDs belong on the invoice, your German one and the customer's Austrian one (§ 14a (1) sentence 3 UStG).
4. Mandatory note: "Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers".
5. EC Sales List. You report the service to the BZSt quarterly, by the 25th day after the end of the quarter (§ 18a (2) UStG). Small businesses are exempt from the EC Sales List (§ 18a (4) UStG).

Check the Austrian VAT ID before issuing the invoice and keep the evidence.

Sources

• § 27a UStG – VAT identification number
• § 18e UStG – confirmation procedure
• § 6a UStG – intra-Community supply
• § 14 UStG – issuing invoices
• § 14a UStG – additional obligations for cross-border supplies
• § 18a UStG – EC Sales List
• BZSt – VAT identification number
• BZSt – confirming a foreign VAT ID
• European Commission – VIES VAT number validation