Having passed the first stage with the parliament (Bundestag) voting to adopt the law on 17.11.2023, the subsequent second stage in the Bundesrat (representing the 16 states) was put on hold and passed on to a “mediation council” 24.11.2023. The Bundesrat requested clarification on financing of topics not related to the B2B mandate.
Resolution of such political disputes between the government and Bundestag on the one hand and the Bundesrat on the other side is relatively common but an exception process. As such, there is no fixed schedule with a regular meetings in place and we’ll have to be patient for the political negotiation currently under way in Working groups and between party bodies on federal and state level to come to a conclusion.
It is also thinkable that the “B2B electronic invoicing mandate” may be carved out into a separate bundle, possibly combined with other topics, where there are no concerns about public financing of the desired changes.
Therefore it is prudent and safest to continue the preparation process under the assumption that the currently published time schedule is going to come into effect.
The Invoicing Hub will publish updates as they become available.
