After every purchase, Shopify sends an order confirmation. It confirms the order, but it is not meant to be an invoice with every detail German VAT law requires. If you want to create invoices in Shopify, you need a separate way to do it. This guide covers the options, what a German invoice must contain and how to create invoices in Shopify automatically.

General overview, not tax or legal advice. Check individual cases with your accountant.

Do you need an invoice for every order?

If you sell to a business, you must issue an invoice: generally within six months (§ 14(2) UStG, the German VAT Act), and for tax-exempt supplies to businesses in other EU countries by the 15th of the following month (§ 14a(3) UStG). For sales to consumers, German law usually does not require an invoice. Most shops issue one anyway: customers expect it, business customers need it to reclaim input VAT, and your bookkeeping gets a document for every sale.

If your business is based in another EU country, your national rules apply. They follow the EU VAT Directive, so they are similar, but details differ.

Four ways to create an invoice in Shopify

Option How it works What to watch
Shopify VAT invoice Can be switched on under Settings › Taxes and duties. According to Shopify, it is created when the order is placed, for orders shipping to the EU or the UK, and appears on the order status page. According to Shopify, not for orders with duties, orders outside Shopify checkout or orders shipping to Portugal. The help page says nothing about number ranges, credit notes or e-invoices.
Shopify Order Printer Shopify’s free app: select orders and print documents from templates, one at a time or up to 50 at once. You customize the templates with HTML, CSS and Liquid. Required details only appear if your template contains them.
Invoicing app Creates invoices from Shopify orders, often automatically on payment. Features, e-invoicing and prices differ widely.
Accounting software Apps for tools such as sevdesk or Lexware Office create the invoice in the accounting software. You need a separate account there.

Apps side by side: Shopify invoicing apps compared and Kurswacht Invoice vs. Shopify Order Printer.

Required details: what goes on a German invoice

Under § 14(4) UStG, an invoice must show:

  • the full name and address of you and your customer,
  • your tax number or VAT ID,
  • the date of issue,
  • a sequential invoice number that is used only once,
  • the quantity and usual trade description of the goods,
  • the date of supply,
  • the net amount broken down by VAT rate, plus any reductions agreed in advance, such as early-payment discounts, unless already included,
  • the VAT rate and VAT amount – or a note on the exemption, for example for a tax-exempt supply to a business in another EU country.

Small-amount invoices: for invoices up to €250 gross, fewer details are enough (§ 33 UStDV): your business name and address, the date of issue, quantity and type of goods, the amount and VAT in one sum, and the VAT rate or, for an exempt supply, a note on the exemption. The customer’s name and address, an invoice number and your tax number are not required. This does not apply to tax-exempt supplies to businesses in other EU countries, to reverse charge cases or to distance sales to consumers in other EU countries that are taxed there.

Sequential numbers and credit notes

The Shopify order number counts orders, not invoices. A separate number range for invoices is therefore clearer. How number ranges work in the app is explained in invoice numbers and payment term.

When you refund money, you do not change the issued invoice. Instead, a separate document that references the original invoice records the refund, usually called a credit note. More in credit notes for refunds.

E-invoicing: required for business customers from 2027

Since 2025, all businesses in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices. Invoices to other domestic businesses must generally be issued as e-invoices, such as ZUGFeRD or XRechnung, from 2027 (with more than €800,000 prior-year turnover) or from 2028. Invoices to consumers are not affected. Deadlines and exceptions: Germany’s e-invoicing mandate.

Create invoices in Shopify automatically with Kurswacht Invoice

Kurswacht Invoice turns your Shopify orders into invoices and credit notes as PDF/A-3 files with an embedded e-invoice, by default ZUGFeRD/Factur-X in the EN 16931 profile. Here is how to set it up:

  1. Add company details and number ranges. Under Settings › Company and tax details you enter company name, address, country and tax number or VAT ID. Under Settings › Invoice numbers and payment term you set prefixes such as RE- and GS-; when switching tools, you continue your previous sequence. Details: company and tax, numbering.
  2. Check a first invoice by hand. Under Invoices you load a paid order. The preview shows lines, VAT rates and totals, still without an invoice number. See getting started.
  3. Turn on automation with a start date. Under Settings › Automatic documents, the invoice is created as soon as Shopify reports the payment – for orders from your start date. Optionally it is created only once the order is fully fulfilled. For pay by invoice, it can be created when the order is placed. See automation.
  4. Credit notes on refund. Every attributable refund against an invoice from the app gets its own credit note with its own number range. Unclear cases are shown for review. See credit notes.
  5. Get invoices to customers. Customers find their documents in the new customer accounts. For the link in the order confirmation, copy the code block under Templates › How customers get their invoice, paste it into Settings › Notifications › Order confirmation in Shopify and check it with a test order. Optionally, the app emails the documents through your own mailbox. See customer access.
  6. Export every month. The PDF/XML package and the CSV go to your accountant; sellers based in Germany with documents in euro also get a DATEV export. See export and archive.

The app takes VAT rates from Shopify. If details are missing or a tax case is unclear, it stops before an invoice number is assigned and shows you why.

Install Kurswacht Invoice

Kurswacht Invoice is available on the Shopify App Store. The Free plan includes 25 documents a month, and every plan has all features. Questions about your shop? Write to us – you get an answer from the app’s developer.

Sources

Information about Shopify according to Shopify Help, retrieved on 8 October 2026.