I've noticed that most restaurants don't issue a receipt and the ones that do ofter don't have a tax number in. This can't be legal can't it?

by aleksandri_reddit

15 comments

  1. Because you don’t have to pay taxes without a tax number wink wink

  5. Tax number is not necessary below 250€. What’s more concerning: Why isn’t there a TSE code?

  6. “Ich glaube, du bist da was ganz Großem auf der Spur!”

    I mean … honestly, if **most** restaurants don’t give out receipts and those which do, don’t put tax numbers on the receipts **and** non of all those restaurants have been closed up, nor any of their chefs have been arrested yet […] couldn’t you — by that — guess the answer to your question if that is illegal?

  7. The tax number in there is of the buyer, not the seller

    Did you provide them with a tax number to attach to the invoice?

    This is for you to justify your own expense and claim back the VAT you paid.

    So long as there is a valid invoice from the seller, especially registered in their cashier machine, then the income is declared and they will have to pay tax on it, if there is profit, and resend the VAT collected to Finanzamt.

    It is impractical to ask for tax number to every customer, and not everyone will need an invoice with their tax number, that’s why in most countries invoices up to a certain threshold can be issued with a “generic customer” as customer, without a tax number. As said in other comments, the limit for Germany seems to be 250€.

  8. Unfortunately, only the bottom half is printed. Therefore, check to see if the word “Zwischenrechnung” appears anywhere on the receipt. Then it’s not a proper receipt, and the restaurant owner has evaded the tax. This is illegal, but perfectly normal and common, especially in the restaurant industry in Germany.

  9. OP, I think you are overthinking this.

    You paid by card.

    You got a receipt with the different VAT-rates.

    The amount is registered in the electronic system.

    There is no indication of any tax evasion.

  10. As owner of a small business, there are times when eating out is indeed part of dealing with my clients. In those cases, I ask at the time of ordering for a special receipt.

    That receipt comes with spaces for me to write in the names of those who were present, each item is detailed and there is the VAT number for the restaurant also included. This also happens when the total receipt is only for 5 beers and a soda. So yes, for less than 250 Euro. But only for the specially-requested receipt ahead of time.

  13. Es steht da ganz gross tse, wekche unsichtbar gemacht wurde

  15. 26% tax?

    In Ontario, Canada, sales tax is 13%, what is still one of the highest in Northern America. Only some cities have effective 14-15% due to several taxes at the same time.

    I would say German sales tax is about 2x too high.

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