Germany
Posted to the books your accountant uses
Coded expenses post to Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage or NetSuite with the receipt attached and the VAT in its own account. If your tax adviser works in DATEV, expenses export to Excel or CSV.
Smartbills takes the VAT from each receipt line, 7% on food and 19% on drinks, and keeps the receipt with the entry.
VAT read from the receipt, line by line
Every line keeps the rate it was charged, 19% or 7%, with the supplier's VAT ID when the receipt shows it. The input VAT is built from the receipts rather than a rate applied to the total.
- VAT kept per line at 19% and 7%
- Restaurant food and drinks recorded at their own rates
- Supplier VAT ID kept with the receipt
Receipts that arrive on their own
Receipts that arrive by email are pulled from a connected Gmail, Outlook or Zoho mailbox, and merchants on the Smartbills network send the itemized receipt at checkout. The month doesn't end with a receipt hunt, and nobody photographs a crumpled receipt on the train.
- Emailed receipts and invoices pulled from the mailbox
- Digital receipts from merchants on the network
- Matched to the card or bank line when it clears
Why teams switch
The tax is on the receipt, not the card statement.
Restaurant bills now mix 7% and 19%, and we still book them at one rate.
VAT comes from each line of the receipt, so food and drinks are recorded at the rates they were charged.
Receipts over €250 need a full invoice, and a card slip isn't one.
The receipt or invoice comes from the mailbox or the merchant, with the supplier's details attached.
Business meal receipts come back without the details the tax office asks for.
Each meal keeps its receipt and line detail. The occasion and attendees are added once, on the expense.
Before and after
What changes on a German receipt.
Restaurant bills now mix 7% on food and 19% on drinks. Booking the total at 19% overstates the input tax.
| Capability | Card statement and photos | With Smartbills |
|---|---|---|
| VAT on a restaurant bill | 19% of the total | 7% on food, 19% on drinks |
| Receipts over €250 | A card slip | The full invoice |
| Supplier VAT ID | Only if someone kept the paper | Kept with the receipt |
| Getting receipts in | Photos at month end | From the mailbox or the merchant |
Integrations
Works with the tools you already use.
Your accounting software, bank feeds and card program, with data syncing in both directions.
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- Sage
- FreshBooks
- Wave
- MYOB
- Zoho Books
- NetSuite
- SAP
- Oracle
- Dynamics 365
- Square
- Shopify
- Clover
- Toast
- Lightspeed
- WooCommerce
- Stripe
- PayPal
- Adyen
- Wise
- Plaid
- Chase
- Bank of America
- Wells Fargo
- RBC
- TD
- BMO
- Scotiabank
- Desjardins
- Brex
- Ramp
- Float
- Mercury
- Gusto
- ADP
- Deel
- Rippling
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- OneDrive
- Box
- Gmail
- Outlook
- Google Analytics
- Snowflake
- Looker
- Databricks
- Google Cloud
- Metabase
- Slack
- Microsoft Teams
- Notion
- Zapier
- Airtable
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
The products that do the work.
Each product works on its own, and when you run two, the same record carries from the receipt to the ledger entry.
Expense management
Capture receipts, categorize expenses and check policy compliance as expenses are submitted.
Expense reports
Expense report software that attaches the receipts for you, works out mileage, routes the approval and shows each employee when they'll be paid back.
Email receipt capture
Connect Gmail, Outlook, Zoho Mail or IMAP. Automatically collect receipts and invoices from the folders you choose, including Archive and Spam.
Accounting automation
Accounting automation software that codes each transaction and posts the journal entry to your accounting software the day it happens.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What people ask us before they sign up.
19% standard rate and 7% reduced rate. Since January 1, 2026, food served in restaurants, including takeaway and delivery, carries 7%, while drinks stay at 19%.
Up to €250 including VAT, a small-amount invoice with the supplier's name and address, the date, the quantity and description, and the gross amount with the VAT rate. Above €250, a full invoice with the supplier's tax number or VAT ID and the net amount and VAT shown separately.
Since January 2025, German businesses must be able to receive structured e-invoices from other businesses. Smartbills isn't an e-invoicing platform. It handles receipts and expenses, and the invoices it pulls from the mailbox are kept with the entry.
Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage and NetSuite, with two-way sync. If your tax adviser works in DATEV, coded expenses export to Excel or CSV.
Yes. You invite your accountant with their own access, and a firm that manages many clients sees them all from one login, entities included.
Your data is stored in Canada, which the European Union recognizes as providing adequate data protection, and we don't sell it. Access is limited to the people you invite.
Get started
Bring a month of German receipts.
Connect a mailbox and a card. Food and drinks come in at their own rates, and anything over €250 arrives with the full invoice.