Cancel an invoice in Germany: Storno and correction

Anyone who has used US invoicing software knows the „void“ button. Wrong amount, wrong client, click, gone, start again with the same number. That habit causes trouble in Germany. Here, a sent invoice is an accounting voucher. It stays in the books for eight years, and a second version with the same number makes it unclear which one counts, for you, for your client and for the tax office.

German VAT law offers two clean routes. Which one fits depends on how big the mistake is.

Correct or cancel?

§ 31(5) UStDV allows a correction when mandatory details are missing or wrong. You only send the missing or corrected information, in a document that refers specifically and unambiguously to the original invoice. That document must meet the same form and content requirements as the invoice itself.

The second route is cancellation. You cancel the old invoice entirely with a cancellation invoice (Stornorechnung) that repeats all amounts as negatives, then issue a new invoice with a new number. The law does not spell this out, but it is standard practice and the easiest for any accounts department to follow.

1. Detail missingDate of supply, VAT ID or a required note forgotten: correction document.
2. Small typoHouse number, spelling of a name: correction is enough.
3. Wrong customerDifferent company or legal form: cancel and reissue.
4. Wrong amount or VAT rateUsually cancel and reissue, so totals stay unambiguous.
5. Service never providedCancel without a new invoice.

Price reductions after the fact are a separate case. According to the Finance Ministry’s second letter on e-invoicing from October 2025, discounts, early-payment deductions and reductions for defects do not require an invoice correction. If the scope of the service changes, say 80 hours were worked instead of 100, the invoice has to be corrected.

Sample: cancellation and new invoice

Invented example: a design studio sent invoice 2026-0142 on 2 September 2026 to „Bergmann Bau GmbH“. The client was actually Bergmann Bau UG, a different company. Wrong customer, so cancel.

Concept design, as per invoice 2026-0142

−€1,000.00

VAT 19 %

−€190.00

Text on the document

We hereby cancel invoice 2026-0142 of 02 Sep 2026 in full.

Cancellation amount

−€1,190.00

Fictional example. Header identical to the original, including the same wrong customer. The new invoice 2026-0151 then goes to the correct company.

The cancellation goes to the same recipient as the original, even if that recipient was wrong. Only then do the entries cancel out in their books. The new invoice goes to the UG, with a new number, a new date and the same service period. The date of supply does not change because of a correction.

Sample correction document

When only a detail is missing, a correction is quicker than a cancellation. Here is an example for a forgotten date of supply, in German with the English meaning below:

Berichtigung zur Rechnung 2026-0139 vom 28.08.2026

Unsere oben genannte Rechnung wird wie folgt ergänzt: Die abgerechneten Leistungen wurden vom 4. bis 22. August 2026 erbracht. Alle übrigen Angaben bleiben unverändert.

In English: our invoice is supplemented as follows, the services were provided from 4 to 22 August 2026, all other details remain unchanged. The document carries both names and addresses, a date and ideally its own reference number. Your client files it with the original. Nothing else changes for them as long as the amounts stay the same. If amounts change, your client also has to adjust their input VAT, which is why cancelling and reissuing is usually clearer whenever money is involved.

Does the correction apply retroactively?

For your client, this is the real question. Can they keep the input VAT in the original month, or only from the month of the correction? Since the EU Court of Justice’s Senatex judgment (C-518/14, September 2016) and the follow-up ruling of Germany’s Federal Fiscal Court of 20 October 2016 (V R 26/15), a correction takes effect from the date of the original invoice.

That only works if the original had a minimum content: details of the issuer, the recipient, the service, the price and the separately stated VAT. If the invoice lacked one of these, the correction only works going forward, which may cost your client interest on input VAT that gets reversed.

For you as the issuer, the practical lesson is to correct early. The sooner the corrected invoice reaches your client, the smaller the chance that a later audit picks out that very invoice and the debate about minimum content begins.

Too much VAT, or VAT you were not allowed to charge

Here § 14c UStG applies, with two cases.

If you charged too much, say 19 % instead of 7 %, you owe the excess until you correct the invoice towards your client. The VAT is then adjusted for the period of the correction.

If you charged VAT you were not entitled to charge at all, it gets harder. The correction then requires a written application and the tax office’s approval. Approval only comes once it is clear that your client has not deducted the VAT or has paid it back.

Typical § 14c cases: small businesses charging 19 % out of habit, see Kleinunternehmer invoice, or German VAT on invoices to EU clients who owe it under reverse charge, see reverse charge invoice.

Partial cancellations

Not every correction concerns the whole invoice. If a client returns two of ten monitors, you cancel only those two lines. The partial cancellation names the original invoice, the returned items with negative amounts and the VAT on them. The original stays valid for the other eight.

What not to do

Delete the original. It is an accounting voucher and stays in the archive for eight years, along with the cancellation and the new invoice. The periods are in how long to keep invoices.

Reuse the number. Issuing the corrected invoice under the old number breaks the uniqueness rule. How to set up clean ranges for invoices and cancellations is in the article on the invoice number.

Ask the client to fix it themselves. Recipients must not alter an invoice, not even by hand. Only the issuer can.

Avoid calling a cancellation a „Gutschrift“. Germans often do, but in VAT law the word means something else, and the English „credit note“ adds to the confusion. The article on Gutschrift versus credit note untangles it. If you generate invoices from your own platform, build cancellation and correction in from day one. OnlineBuilders helps with that kind of billing feature.

Before the new invoice goes out, run it through the invoice checker. One mistake per transaction is enough.

Check an invoice for mandatory details: Tick what your invoice contains.

Questions people ask

Can I just void the invoice in my software, like in QuickBooks?

Not once the client has received it. In Germany a sent invoice is an accounting voucher that must be kept for eight years. Many tools offer „void“ for drafts only. For sent invoices, use the cancellation function, which creates a separate document.

Does a cancellation invoice need its own number?

It is common and sensible. Many tools use a separate number range, such as S-2026-001. What matters is that the cancellation states the number and date of the original invoice.

Does my client have to agree to the correction?

No. Correcting is the issuer's job. Your client can demand it if they would otherwise lose their input VAT deduction, and they must not change the invoice themselves.

How do I correct an e-invoice?

The correction must meet the same form requirements as the invoice. Once you are under the e-invoicing mandate, the correction or cancellation must also be an e-invoice. XRechnung and ZUGFeRD have separate document types for this.