Reverse charge invoices for creators: brand or agency abroad.

That the brand in Paris owes the VAT is not only in German law. The VAT Directive places a service to a taxable person at that person's seat (Art. 44) and makes them liable for the VAT if the supplier is not established in their member state (Art. 196). Its English version requires the mention "Reverse charge" on these invoices (Art. 226 point 11a). Germany implements this in § 3a Abs. 2 and § 14a Abs. 1 UStG. No official text says expressly that a video or a post is such a service; that is a conclusion drawn from the law, not an explicit rule for creators. Have your tax adviser confirm it.

This is what the invoice to a brand elsewhere in the EU looks like: all mandatory details under § 14 Abs. 4 UStG, so names and addresses, invoice number, issue date, the service and its date (the calendar month is enough, § 31 Abs. 4 UStDV) and the fee, but no VAT rate and no VAT amount. Plus your VAT id and the brand's (§ 14a Abs. 1 Satz 3 UStG) and the words „Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers“ or "Reverse charge" (§ 14a Abs. 1 Satz 1 UStG; Abschnitt 14a.1 Abs. 6 Satz 2 UStAE). You must issue it by the 15th of the following month (§ 14a Abs. 1 Satz 2 UStG). If the brand bills by Gutschrift, your duty to issue an invoice with the note falls away (§ 14a Abs. 1 Satz 1 UStG); check that document all the more closely for VAT shown, because if you do not object without delay, you owe it (§ 14c Abs. 2 Satz 2 Nr. 2 UStG).

The Zusammenfassende Meldung goes to the Federal Central Tax Office by the 25th day after the quarter in which you supplied the service (§ 18a Abs. 2 Satz 1 und Abs. 8 Satz 2 UStG). It names each brand's VAT id and the sum of the fees (§ 18a Abs. 7 Satz 1 Nr. 3 UStG); without the brand's number the supply cannot be reported. For a quarter without such services you file no ZM (Abschnitt 18a.1 Abs. 1 Satz 6 UStAE); it is filed electronically via ELSTER or the BZSt (Abschnitt 18a.1 Abs. 4 UStAE). If you notice a mistake later, you correct it within one month (§ 18a Abs. 10 UStG). In the advance VAT return you declare the same supplies separately (§ 18b Satz 1 Nr. 2 UStG). If you billed in dollars or pounds, you convert for both reports at the average rates the Federal Ministry of Finance publishes for the month of the service (§ 16 Abs. 6 UStG, via § 18a Abs. 7 Satz 2 und § 18b Satz 4 UStG). Which currency the invoice itself is in, § 14 Abs. 4 UStG does not prescribe.

If your client is in the USA, the UK or Switzerland, the place of supply is likewise with them (§ 3a Abs. 2 UStG), and the supply is not taxable in Germany (§ 1 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 UStG). The invoice carries no German VAT; § 14a Abs. 1 UStG requires a reverse charge note only for other member states, not for third countries, and the ZM covers only the rest of the EU (§ 18a Abs. 2 UStG). That your customer is a business you prove for example with a certificate from its tax authority; if that is not possible, how you prove it is up to you (Abschnitt 3a.2 Abs. 11 UStAE). If the customer in the third country is not a business, a service that serves advertising is still supplied at their residence or seat (§ 3a Abs. 4 Satz 1 und Satz 2 Nr. 2 UStG); whether your video falls under that, settle with your tax adviser. What the customer's country itself requires of you is governed by its law, not German law. A short line on the invoice saying why no VAT is charged is not required, but saves questions.

As a Kleinunternehmer you are exempt only for supplies within Germany (§ 19 Abs. 1 Satz 1 UStG). Your service to the brand in Paris, however, is not taxable in Germany but in France, where the brand owes the VAT. The law exempts you from showing both VAT ids (§ 19 Abs. 1 Satz 2 in connection with § 14a Abs. 1 Satz 3 UStG), from the advance return and the annual return (§ 18 Abs. 1 bis 4 UStG) and from the Zusammenfassende Meldung (§ 18a Abs. 4 UStG). The duty to write „Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers“ from § 14a Abs. 1 Satz 1 UStG is not on that list of exceptions; by the wording it applies to you too. The Kleinunternehmer note under § 34a UStDV, on the other hand, does not fit this invoice: the rule is written for supplies exempt under § 19 Abs. 1 UStG, and your service is not exempt but not taxable in Germany at all. That is a conclusion drawn from the law, not an explicit rule: have it checked. As a business you get a VAT id on application from the Federal Central Tax Office (§ 27a Abs. 1 Satz 1 UStG); whether you apply for one, for example because the brand asks for it, is a decision for you and your tax adviser. The supply does not count towards the Kleinunternehmer limit, because only supplies taxable in Germany count there (§ 19 Abs. 2 Satz 1 UStG); more in the guide on the limit.

Affliq writes the invoice from the deal and derives the tax case from your partner's seat and VAT id: domestic, Kleinunternehmer, reverse charge in the EU or third country, each with the matching note, as PDF and e-invoice. If an agency books you, the invoice goes to the agency, with the tax case from its seat. Affliq prepares the advance VAT return from your invoices. You confirm the brand's VAT id yourself with the Federal Central Tax Office and file the Zusammenfassende Meldung yourself; Affliq only knows what you have recorded there.

Affliq records and does the maths, it does not advise. How things are taxed is your tax adviser's call.