VAT Transition Timer

The small business scheme under Section 19 of the German VAT Act is a gift: you charge no VAT, skip advance returns and dodge a heap of accounting bureaucracy. The catch is that it hangs on revenue thresholds - and since the 2025 reform there are two of them you have to watch at the same time.

The first is the prior-year threshold of EUR 25,000 (previously EUR 22,000). If you turned over more last year, you are automatically VAT liable this year - from January 1st, no ifs or buts. The timer checks your prior-year revenue and tells you immediately whether you can still be a small business this year at all.

The second is new and unforgiving: EUR 100,000 in the current year. The moment your revenue crosses that mark, the scheme ends IMMEDIATELY - from the invoice that breaks the threshold, you must charge VAT. Not next year, but mid-operation. Earlier invoices stay untouched, but from then on the clock is ticking.

That is exactly what the timer is for. You enter your monthly revenue or give an average, and the tool projects forward: forecast annual revenue, budget remaining until the threshold, your monthly average and the trend. It shows you to the month when your current pace would push you over EUR 100,000 - and flags that month red in the timeline.

A traffic-light system makes the situation clear at a glance: green below 70 percent of the threshold, amber from 70 percent, red from 90 percent. Two progress bars round it off - one for the current-year EUR 100,000 cap and one for the EUR 25,000 threshold that decides your eligibility next year.

When it gets serious you get a checklist of concrete steps: apply for a VAT ID at the BZSt (Section 27a), set up advance returns in ELSTER (Section 18), switch invoice templates to 19% and 7% (Section 14), start claiming input tax (Section 15) and review contracts for net/gross clauses. Each item is sorted by priority and tagged with the relevant section.

Everything runs in your browser, your revenue never leaves your device. The timer is no substitute for tax advice - it just makes your position transparent so you can plan the switch instead of sleeping through it.