Postal availability of the invoice issuer

Although a pure letterbox address is also sufficient as the sender address of an invoice, the customer has the burden of establishing that the supplier can be contacted by post at this address at the time the invoice is issued.

In 2018, the Federal Fiscal Court ruled that the deduction of input VAT from an invoice does not require the economic activity of the supplier to be carried out at the address stated on the invoice. Any address is sufficient, including a letterbox address, as long as the business can be reached at this address. The Federal Ministry of Finance has now included a clarification of this case law in the VAT application decree. According to this, the time at which the invoice is issued is decisive for checking the address. The burden of establishing postal accessibility at this time lies with the recipient of the service who claims the input tax deduction. In addition, the identity of the invoice issuer and the supplier is required for the entitlement to deduct input VAT.