Bewirtungsbeleg, Eigenbeleg and retention periods in Germany + templates

What has to go on a Bewirtungsbeleg (a business-meal receipt) in Germany for the tax office (Finanzamt) to accept it? Under the Income Tax Act, five details — place, date, participants, occasion and the amount of the expenses — signed by you; 70% of the meal then counts as a business expense. Then: self-made receipts, small invoices and how long to keep them, with templates, as of 2026.

What is a document — and do you have to send it to the tax office?

A document (Beleg) is anything that proves a business transaction, and you don’t send it to the tax office: you keep it and show it only when the tax office asks for it. No document, no entry. How documents get into your books and what else belongs there is in the overview Bookkeeping.

The GoBD (the tax administration’s rules for electronic books and records), issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance, list these among the documents:

• invoices and till receipts
• business bank statements and payment records
• delivery notes, orders and order confirmations
• contracts and self-billed invoices (Gutschrift)
• notices assessing taxes or fees

If there is no third-party document, you write one yourself: the Eigenbeleg (more on it below).

Documents used to be attached to the tax return; today the rule is the Belegvorhaltepflicht (the duty to keep documents ready rather than send them in). The Finanzamt NRW sums it up: documents are „in der Regel nur dann erforderlich, wenn Sie vom Finanzamt direkt dazu aufgefordert werden“ (as a rule only needed when the tax office asks you for them directly). If the tax office asks, you send them online through ELSTER (the tax office’s online portal), or you photograph them with the MeinELSTER+ app.

Whether you file by date, type of expense or document number is up to you — no one prescribes it. You only have to be able to find every document again.

These duties are the same whether you work in a liberal profession or run a Gewerbe (a registered trade) — a Kleingewerbe (a small trade below the Kaufmann’s books — not a tax status) too: if you work out your profit with the EÜR (the cash-basis profit statement for the tax office), you have to keep records under § 147 AO just the same. Only input VAT differs: under the Kleinunternehmerregelung, you deduct none.

What goes on a Bewirtungsbeleg?

A Bewirtungsbeleg carries five details — place, date, participants, occasion and the amount of the expenses — written down promptly and signed by you. In a restaurant, the occasion and the participants are enough if you attach the restaurant’s invoice; place, date and amount are then on the invoice.

That is what § 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 2 EStG says. There is no official form: the Bewirtungsbeleg is an informal document you draw up yourself — an Eigenbeleg. The Federal Ministry of Finance requires you to write it promptly and sign it.

The occasion names the business reason for the meal — for example the project you discussed, or the conversation about a new order.

For business meals from 1 January 2025, the BMF letter of 19 November 2025 applies. It replaces the letter of 30 June 2021, which now applies only to business meals up to 31 December 2024. Many pages online still quote the old letter.

The restaurant’s invoice: till, over €250, tip

If the restaurant has an electronic till, then under the BMF letter of 19 November 2025 only an invoice counts that is machine-generated, recorded electronically and secured by a certified technical security device (TSE, technische Sicherheitseinrichtung). You recognise it by a transaction number, the serial number of the till or of the security module — or by a QR code that contains these details. Over €250, the restaurant’s tax number (Steuernummer) or USt-IdNr. (the EU VAT number, issued by the BZSt), an invoice number and your name as the host are added.

„Speisen und Getränke“ (food and drinks) with one total is not enough; the invoice names what was served. Labels such as „Menü 1“, „Tagesgericht 2“ or „Lunch-Buffet“ are fine. The till prints the date of the meal — a handwritten addition or a date stamp doesn’t count. For your name over €250: the requirement is met if the invoice is properly made out to you, with your name and address.

A handwritten invoice, or one that is only machine-generated with no TSE, from a restaurant with a till costs you not 30% but the deduction of the whole meal.

Tip

The tip can be on the invoice. If it isn’t, you have to prove it — for example by having the server sign for it on the invoice.

Without a till receipt: invoice later, card payment, till failure

If you get the invoice later and pay by card or bank transfer, for example at a private event, you don’t need a till receipt. You then attach the payment record, unless the non-cash payment is already shown on the invoice. If the TSE fails and the restaurant notes this on the document, the deduction is in principle kept.

Abroad

The rules apply to a business meal abroad just the same. A handwritten foreign invoice is accepted only as an exception: you have to show credibly that the country has no duty to issue machine-generated receipts.

Over €250 as an e-invoice

Over €250, the restaurant may first give you a till receipt and later correct it with an e-invoice (a structured invoice to EN 16931; a PDF is not one). To a business, under § 27 Abs. 38 UStG, it may still issue an invoice on paper or, if you agree, as a PDF for business meals up to 31 December 2026. In 2027 it may do so only if its total turnover in the previous year was no more than €800,000; from 2028 the e-invoice is the rule. You keep an e-invoice in its structured part (more below, under paper or digital).

How much of the meal counts: 70% and input VAT

70% of an appropriate, documented business meal is a business expense, 30% is not. If you charge VAT, you still deduct the input VAT in full. Under the Kleinunternehmerregelung (the small-business VAT exemption) of § 19 UStG, you deduct no input VAT under § 15 Abs. 2 UStG; you take the 70% from the invoice’s total.

The 70% is in § 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 2 EStG, the full input VAT in § 15 Abs. 1a UStG: the 30% lost for income tax doesn’t reduce the input VAT. The guide to the Anlage EÜR 2026 says the same.

Since 1 January 2026, under § 12 UStG and the BMF letter of 22 December 2025, food in a restaurant carries 7% VAT, drinks still 19%. A restaurant invoice therefore usually shows both rates. An example:

The same invoice, worked out twice:

The invoice is under €250, so it is a simplified invoice (more on it below). The same business meal appears as a filled-in example in the template below.

Record the costs of business meals individually and separately from your other business expenses — otherwise, under § 4 Abs. 7 EStG, they aren’t deductible at all. Such a formal error alone doesn’t cost you the input VAT.

What else you can deduct is in What the self-employed can deduct.

Bewirtungsbeleg template to fill in

There is no official template — the Bewirtungsbeleg is an informal document. This template has every detail: you print it, fill it in, sign it and attach the restaurant’s invoice. The form is in German, so each field below gives its German label first.

The template to download, a German form: Bewirtungsbeleg as a PDF (fillable, in German) · Bewirtungsbeleg as a Word file (DOCX, in German)

Print it, fill it in, sign it by hand, attach the restaurant’s invoice. A filled-in file with no signature doesn’t count. If you keep the Bewirtungsbeleg only in digital form, rules of its own apply: more below, under “Keeping the Bewirtungsbeleg digitally”.

Eigenbeleg: when it is allowed and what goes on it

An Eigenbeleg is allowed when there is no third-party document — at a parking machine that gives no receipt, for example, or when the document has been lost. It needs the same minimum details as any document. You don’t deduct input VAT from it, and it doesn’t replace a missing restaurant invoice.

The GoBD put it briefly: „Ist kein Fremdbeleg vorhanden, muss ein Eigenbeleg erstellt werden.“ (If there is no third-party document, an Eigenbeleg must be drawn up.) The Eigenbeleg is the exception for when there is no third-party document — not a second route alongside the invoice.

A document’s minimum details under the GoBD (Rz. 77):

• a unique document number
• the document’s issuer and recipient, where customary in the trade
• the amount
• the currency, with the exchange rate for a foreign currency
• a sufficient explanation of the business transaction
• the document date
• the responsible issuer, where there is one

To deduct input VAT, you need an invoice under §§ 14, 14a UStG, issued by the supplier. An Eigenbeleg is not such an invoice, so you deduct no input VAT from it.

An Eigenbeleg doesn’t replace the restaurant’s invoice. What applies without it is above, under the restaurant’s invoice.

Who signs?

You sign the Bewirtungsbeleg — even though it is an Eigenbeleg — as the host; the Federal Ministry of Finance requires it. For any other Eigenbeleg, the GoBD’s list names no signature and no field for the reason there is no third-party document. Both are still good practice: sign the Eigenbeleg with place and date, and write down why there is no third-party document.

Eigenbeleg template to fill in

The template holds the GoBD’s required details — document number, date, amount with currency, what the money was spent on, and you as the issuer — and three recommended fields: whom you paid, why there is no third-party document, and your signature. The form is in German, so each field below gives its German label first.

The template to download, a German form: Eigenbeleg as a PDF (fillable, in German) · Eigenbeleg as a Word file (DOCX, in German)

Write the Eigenbeleg the same day and file it with the month’s documents. Later you won’t remember what the €4.50 was for.

Simplified invoice (Kleinbetragsrechnung): what is enough up to €250 gross

An invoice whose total including VAT does not exceed €250 needs only four details: the supplier’s full name and address, the date of issue, the quantity and type of the supply, and the gross amount with the VAT rate or a note on the VAT exemption. It may always come on paper or, if the recipient agrees, as a PDF; an e-invoice is never required for it.

The four details under § 33 UStDV:

1. the supplier’s full name and full address
2. the date of issue
3. the quantity and type of the goods supplied, or the scope and type of the service
4. the amount including VAT as one sum, and the VAT rate — or a note that a VAT exemption applies

If a small invoice lists supplies at different VAT rates, under the Umsatzsteuer-Anwendungserlass it gives a total per rate — like the restaurant invoice above, with €107.00 at 7% and €35.70 at 19%. The relief doesn’t apply to supplies under §§ 3c, 6a and 13b UStG — distance sales, intra-Community supplies and the reverse-charge procedure.

Gross, not net: the €250 is the invoice’s total, VAT included. § 33 UStDV requires the net amount and the tax „in einer Summe“ (as one sum).

When you receive one

If you charge VAT, you deduct input VAT from a simplified invoice: under § 35 UStDV you split the invoice amount into the net amount and the VAT yourself — at €107.00 and 7%, that is €100.00 and €7.00. Under the Kleinunternehmerregelung, you deduct no input VAT here either.

When you issue one

Up to €250 gross, the same four details are enough for you, and you may always send the invoice on paper or, if the recipient agrees, as a PDF, including to a business. Under the Kleinunternehmerregelung, the fourth detail is the note on the VAT exemption, because your sales are exempt.

Retention periods: how long do you have to keep invoices and documents?

Under § 147 AO you keep invoices and other accounting documents for 8 years, books and records for 10 years, business letters for 6 years — counted from the end of the calendar year in which the document was created.

The periods are in § 147 Abs. 3 AO, for invoices also in § 14b UStG. § 257 HGB sets the same periods for a Kaufmann (a merchant under the Commercial Code, with books and a Handelsregister entry); the AO applies to everyone, including if you work in a liberal profession, run a Kleingewerbe or use the Kleinunternehmerregelung.

When the period starts

The period starts, under § 147 Abs. 4 AO, at the end of the calendar year in which the document was created, the invoice issued or the letter received or sent. So an invoice dated 15 March 2026 is kept not until March 2034 but until 31 December 2034.

What you can throw out in 2026

The rule stays the same: 8 years from the end of the year. As of 2026, that means you may destroy accounting documents up to and including 2017, and you keep those from 2018 until 31 December 2026. Of books and records (10 years), you keep those from 2016 on; of business letters (6 years), those from 2020 on. Every 1 January the line moves on by a year.

Why some pages still say 10 years: until the end of 2024, accounting documents were kept for 10 years. Since 1 January 2025 it has been 8 years, and the shorter period applies under Art. 97 § 19a EGAO to every document whose old period had not yet run out at the end of 2024. Only banks, insurers and investment firms still keep accounting documents for 10 years. Anyone who tells you 10 years for invoices is out of date.

The period can run longer. It doesn’t end while the records still matter for a tax whose assessment period under § 169 AO is still running (usually four years). The IHK Frankfurt (Frankfurt’s chamber of commerce) lists typical cases: a tax audit (Außenprüfung) that has begun, a provisional tax assessment, and an objection that is pending or expected.

Paper or digital: can you scan documents and throw the paper away?

Yes — a photo or scan may replace the paper if it matches the original visually, stays readable and unchanged for the whole period, and you briefly record how you scan. What arrives by email, you keep digitally, in the format it arrived in.

§ 147 Abs. 2 AO allows documents to be kept as an image or a file, and the GoBD expressly name the smartphone as a device for it. Once a document is captured, you may destroy the paper if no rule requires the original. The conditions:

• Visually identical: the image shows the document as it looked on paper.
• Readable and available: you can make the file readable on screen for the whole period; a printout alone is not enough.
• Unalterable: no change may hide the original content.
• Procedure documented: a short instruction records who captures what and when, and how you check readability and completeness.

For a small business, this documentation (Verfahrensdokumentation) can be short; its scope depends on your business. If it is missing, that alone is no reason to reject your bookkeeping, as long as everything stays traceable. For tax purposes, a scan needs no electronic signature or time stamp.

Thermal paper fades

Many till receipts are printed on thermal paper. On them, the print can „nach einigen Monaten oder Jahren verblassen“ (fade after a few months or years), writes the IHK zu Essen, and many don’t stay readable for 8 years. Yet invoices have to stay readable for the whole period. If the tax office can no longer check the details, the input VAT deduction is at risk.

The tax administration therefore requires a document on thermal paper to be copied onto paper that stays readable for the whole period; you then don’t have to keep the thermal paper itself. According to the IHK zu Essen, a scan is also allowed if it meets the conditions above.

Copy or photograph the receipt as soon as you get it — not when you sort the year’s documents.

In BravoLisa, you photograph a till receipt or forward an invoice by email, and it becomes an expense. You can keep the scan there alongside your paper — unlike thermal paper, the photo doesn’t fade. Whether the scan replaces the paper depends on the conditions above.

What arrives by email

An invoice that arrives as a PDF by email, you keep digitally, in the format it arrived in; keeping only a printout is not enough. For an e-invoice, the structured part is enough, according to the second amendment to the GoBD. You also need the readable part only if it contains further details that matter for tax.

Keeping the Bewirtungsbeleg digitally

The Bewirtungsbeleg can be digital too. You then authorise it with an electronic signature or an electronic approval. It must not be possible to change it afterwards without trace, and it must be possible to link it to the invoice; the times of creation and of signature or approval are recorded electronically. That is different from the scan, which needs no time stamp. The four conditions above also apply, the procedure documentation included. You may also add the details digitally to the scanned or digital invoice itself. If no Bewirtungsbeleg can be linked to an invoice, the business meal is not deductible.

Frequently asked questions

What must a Bewirtungsbeleg show?

Five details: place, date, participants, occasion and the amount of the expenses. You write them down promptly and sign as the host. In a restaurant, the occasion and the participants are enough on your document if you attach the restaurant's invoice — place, date and amount are then on the invoice.

What applies to a Bewirtungsbeleg over €250?

Over €250, the restaurant's invoice must also carry its tax number (Steuernummer) or USt-IdNr., a sequential invoice number and your name as the host. Like every restaurant invoice, it is machine-generated; if the restaurant has a till, it is secured by a certified TSE. A handwritten invoice from a restaurant with a till costs you the deduction of the whole meal.

Is an Eigenbeleg allowed?

Yes, if there is no third-party document — at a parking machine that gives no receipt, for example. It needs the minimum details of any document: number, date, amount with currency, explanation, issuer. You don't deduct input VAT from an Eigenbeleg, and it doesn't replace a missing restaurant invoice: without that invoice, the whole meal is not deductible.

Who has to sign the Eigenbeleg?

You sign the Bewirtungsbeleg as the host; the Federal Ministry of Finance requires it. For any other Eigenbeleg, the GoBD name no signature among the required details. Sign anyway, with place and date, and note why there is no third-party document: that shows who issued the document and why.

Is the limit for a simplified invoice (Kleinbetragsrechnung) gross or net?

Gross. A simplified invoice is an invoice whose total including VAT does not exceed €250. It needs only four details: the supplier's name and address, the date of issue, the quantity and type of the supply, and the gross amount with the VAT rate or a note on the VAT exemption.

How long do you have to keep invoices?

8 years, since 2025 — before that it was 10. The period starts at the end of the calendar year in which the invoice was issued: an invoice from 2026 is kept until 31 December 2034. While a tax assessment is still open, for example during a tax audit or an objection, the period runs longer.

A document is a note to yourself eight years from now — write it today, while you still know what it was about.
💜💙 Your BravoLisa Team

This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. Every situation is different — consult a qualified professional (tax adviser, accountant, or lawyer) for advice specific to your circumstances. BravoLisa does not accept liability for decisions made based on this information.

Last updated: October 2026. Amounts and limits can change: always check them with the Federal Ministry of Finance, your tax office or on gesetze-im-internet.de.

Sources (23)

Verified on 8 October 2026

1. Bayerisches Landesamt für Steuern — BMF-Schreiben vom 28. November 2019, GoBD
2. Bundesfinanzministerium — GoBD, 2. Änderung vom 14. Juli 2025
3. Finanzamt NRW — Belege zur Steuererklärung
4. Bundesfinanzministerium — BMF-Schreiben vom 19. November 2025, Bewirtungskosten als Betriebsausgaben
5. gesetze-im-internet.de — Einkommensteuergesetz, § 4
6. gesetze-im-internet.de — Einkommensteuergesetz, § 9b
7. gesetze-im-internet.de — Umsatzsteuergesetz, § 12
8. Bundesfinanzministerium — BMF-Schreiben vom 22. Dezember 2025, ermäßigter Steuersatz auf Restaurant- und Verpflegungsdienstleistungen
9. gesetze-im-internet.de — Umsatzsteuergesetz, § 15
10. gesetze-im-internet.de — Umsatzsteuergesetz, § 19
11. Bundesfinanzministerium — Anleitung zur Anlage EÜR 2026
12. Bundesfinanzministerium — Umsatzsteuer-Anwendungserlass (Stand 2. Juni 2026)
13. gesetze-im-internet.de — Umsatzsteuer-Durchführungsverordnung, § 33
14. gesetze-im-internet.de — Umsatzsteuer-Durchführungsverordnung, § 35
15. gesetze-im-internet.de — Umsatzsteuergesetz, § 27
16. gesetze-im-internet.de — Abgabenordnung, § 147
17. gesetze-im-internet.de — Abgabenordnung, § 169
18. gesetze-im-internet.de — Einführungsgesetz zur Abgabenordnung, Art. 97 § 19a
19. gesetze-im-internet.de — Umsatzsteuergesetz, § 14b
20. gesetze-im-internet.de — Handelsgesetzbuch, § 257
21. gesetze-im-internet.de — Einführungsgesetz zum Handelsgesetzbuche, Art. 95
22. IHK Frankfurt am Main — Aufbewahrung von Geschäftsunterlagen
23. IHK zu Essen — Umsatzsteuer und Thermopapier