Germany raises the Kleinunternehmer VAT thresholds to EUR 25,000 and EUR 100,000 from 2025

What changed in detail

The Jahressteuergesetz 2024 of 2 December 2024 was published on 5 December 2024 as BGBl. I 2024 Nr. 387. It rewrote § 19 UStG (Besteuerung der Kleinunternehmer) with effect from 1 January 2025.

Under the new § 19 Abs. 1, a supply by a business established in Germany is exempt where total turnover:

• did not exceed EUR 25,000 in the previous calendar year (previously EUR 22,000); and
• does not exceed EUR 100,000 in the current calendar year (previously EUR 50,000).

Two things changed besides the figures. The current-year limit is now a ceiling on actual turnover, measured during the year, where the old EUR 50,000 was a forecast made at the start of the year. And the relief is now a true exemption (“ist steuerfrei”) rather than VAT that is simply not collected.

The same Act implemented the EU SME scheme (Directive (EU) 2020/285). Under the new § 19a UStG, a German small business can use the small-business exemption of another Member State through a special notification procedure with the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern. It receives a Kleinunternehmer-Identifikationsnummer, provided its EU-wide annual turnover stays within EUR 100,000. In the other direction, § 19 Abs. 4 lets small businesses established in other Member States use the German exemption, if their EU-wide turnover stays within EUR 100,000 and their home state has issued them a Kleinunternehmer-Identifikationsnummer.

What it means

These thresholds are still in force. The consolidated § 19 UStG (last amended 29 June 2026) carries EUR 25,000 and EUR 100,000 unchanged, and the Jahressteuergesetz 2026 bill (Bundestag-Drucksache 21/8283) does not amend them.

The trap is the current-year ceiling. Under the pre-2025 rules a business could stay exempt for the whole year if its forecast was reasonable. Now the exemption depends on current-year turnover not exceeding EUR 100,000, so a business that crosses that line part-way through the year loses it from that point rather than at year end, and has to start invoicing with VAT. The cross-border scheme only helps a business whose EU-wide turnover stays within EUR 100,000.