Germany plans mandatory electronic tills from 2028: what the €100,000 line means for your shop
The cabinet has approved a bill that would require a certified electronic till from 1 January 2028 for businesses above €100,000 in annual turnover, and replace the paper receipt with a digital one. Parliament still has to vote.
What happened
The Federal Ministry of Finance announced the cabinet decision on 23 September 2026 in a press release and an explainer page. The bill does two things. First, from 1 January 2028 businesses with a total turnover above €100,000 must record cash sales with an electronic system that meets section 146a of the Fiscal Code, including a certified technical security device (TSE) and the standard export interface for tax audits (DSFinV-K). Businesses with less than €12,000 in cash sales a year are excluded. Further exemptions, for example honesty boxes, farm-gate sales or market stalls, can be added later by ordinance. Second, the current duty to hand out a paper receipt becomes a duty to make the receipt available digitally. Customers do not have to accept it. The ministry counts around 115,000 open tills still in use in Germany and argues they are easy to manipulate. Finance minister Lars Klingbeil: "Wir schaffen die Pflicht für Papierbons ab." The bill also creates a criminal offence for manipulation software and a fine for breaching the digital receipt duty. The crafts federation ZDH criticised the bill because the coalition had promised to scrap the receipt duty altogether; in its words, the duty is not abolished but turned into a duty to provide a digital receipt. The Bundestag still has to pass the law.
What this means for you
If you run a café, shop, salon or workshop in Germany and take cash, this sorts you into one of three groups. You still use an open till (a drawer, a cash box, a notebook) and your turnover is above €100,000: you will need to buy or lease a certified system before the end of 2027, and that cost lands in next year's budget. You already have a TSE till: the till itself is fine, the new job is the digital receipt. That usually means a QR code on the customer display, an email option or an app, and your till provider will need to support it. Your cash sales are under €12,000 a year: you are exempt from the till duty, but check the figure every year, because the ministry pages do not yet say which year's numbers count. None of this is law yet, and the thresholds can still move in parliament.
What you can do
Four steps:
- ✓Pull last year's total turnover and your cash sales and note where you sit against €100,000 and €12,000.
- ✓If you have a TSE till, ask your provider in writing whether and when it can issue digital receipts (QR code, email, app).
- ✓If you still use an open till and are above the line, get two or three quotes for a certified system now, but do not sign before the law is final.
- ✓Put the topic on the agenda with your tax adviser for the 2027 budget.
Open tills still in use in Germany
Source: Federal Ministry of Finance, 23 September 2026
Common questions
Do I have to buy a new till now?
No. The bill only passed cabinet on 23 September 2026 and parliament has not voted. If it passes as drafted, the duty starts on 1 January 2028. Use the time to get quotes and check whether your current system can be upgraded rather than replaced.
What if my turnover is under €100,000?
Then the planned till duty does not apply to you, and it also does not apply if your cash sales are under €12,000 a year. You can keep an open till, but the general record-keeping rules for cash still apply, so keep your daily cash report as before.
Do customers have to take the digital receipt?
No. The bill replaces the duty to print a receipt with a duty to make one available digitally. The ministry says explicitly that there is no obligation for the customer to accept it. In practice a QR code on the display or a printout on request covers most situations.
Luca Bonura started selling online at 17 and funded his first business with 4:30am shifts in a bakery. He built his own product brand, watched it fail, and rebuilt as a freelance performance marketer for everyone from small shops to HelloFresh. Seeing how hard growth is even for people inside the industry, he founded Adlarion. He writes The Small Business Digest in plain English: the news he wished he'd had when starting out.
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