Kleinunternehmerregelung — mid-year crossing of the €25k/€100k threshold in 2025
the new 2025 Kleinunternehmer rules (effective 1 Jan 2025) changed the thresholds to €25k prior year / €100k current year, and importantly they're strict thresholds now — crossing €100k mid-year means you lose the exemption immediately for the transaction that crosses, not from 1 Jan of the following year.
client hit €102k on an invoice in October. my reading of §19 UStG (as amended) is:
- the €102k invoice itself becomes standard-rated (they need to charge 19%)
- all subsequent invoices are standard-rated
- earlier 2025 invoices stay exempt (no retrospective adjustment)
is that right? i've seen conflicting interpretations from local Finanzämter.
3 replies
confirmed with a colleague at a Finanzamt Berlin. your reading is correct — the BMF-Schreiben vom 18. Dezember 2024 (III C 3 - S 7360/19/10002) is clear:
- invoices up to but not including the one that crosses €100k stay exempt
- the crossing invoice and everything after are standard-rated
- no retroactive adjustment for prior invoices in the same year
tell your client to issue a VAT-inclusive invoice for the October one. if the client has already issued it net (no VAT), they'll need to issue a corrected invoice with 19% added and collect from the recipient — which is awkward but required.
the italian regime forfettario has a similar "hard threshold" rule at €85k — cross it and you lose the regime for the transaction that crosses plus all subsequent ones. always surprises clients who assumed they'd get a full year to exit.
your approach of corrected invoice is the clean play. painful conversation with the end customer though.
en france on a une "tolérance" au-dessus du seuil de franchise qui permet de rester franchisé si on dépasse le seuil simple mais reste sous le seuil majoré. l'Allemagne a supprimé cette tolérance avec le seuil strict à €100k. plus simple à comprendre mais plus brutal.
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