The proposed end of mandatory paper receipts would not end the recording of sales. The new bill combines a different way of making receipts available with an expansion of electronically protected cash-register data. That connection explains why a measure to reduce paper is also intended to strengthen tax controls.
According to the Bundestag's report of 3 November 2026, the German government wants an electronic receipt-availability obligation to replace the paper-receipt obligation from 2028. Businesses with total turnover of €100,000 or more would have to maintain an electronic cash register with a certified technical security system. These are proposals in an introduced bill, not duties brought into force by the report itself.
Receipts and records serve different purposes
A receipt makes an individual transaction traceable for the customer. The record, by contrast, provides the basis for retaining revenue information and examining it later. A different delivery method for the receipt therefore says little, by itself, about the security of the underlying data.
The existing section 146a of the Fiscal Code already separates these layers: businesses recording transactions with an electronic recording system must record them individually, completely, correctly, promptly and in an orderly manner. The system and its digital records must be protected by a certified technical security system. Subsection 2 separately governs issuing a receipt and making it available.
An important distinction follows. The existing provision sets requirements for the use of electronic systems. The new bill would, according to the parliamentary report, additionally require certain businesses to maintain such a register. Its proposed turnover threshold should therefore be considered separately from the technical duties already in place.
Digitalisation is intended to make checks easier
The government justifies the bill by pointing to the risk of incompletely declared turnover where open cash boxes are used. That is its rationale for intervention, rather than an effectiveness result demonstrated in the report.
Existing section 146b already permits unannounced cash-register inspections during normal business and working hours. Electronic records can be inspected or requested through the prescribed interface. Digitalisation and inspection therefore do not begin with the new proposal.
According to the Bundestag report, the bill also addresses jurisdiction: the tax office where a business operates would be authorised to carry out inspections. The government cites mobile traders at markets and trade fairs as examples. Analytically, this addresses two distinct constraints: the availability of examinable records and an authority able to access them efficiently on site.
What the proposal does not yet establish
Fewer printed receipts, more electronic registers and better enforcement are different objectives. Achieving them together depends on the eventual legislation and implementation. The proposed reduction in paper does not establish a particular saving for businesses or a quantified reduction in tax evasion.
This assessment draws on the parliamentary report about the bill and the currently published sections 146a and 146b. It distinguishes the reported reform plan from the existing legal framework. The central mechanism is a change of format alongside stronger protection of the data underlying transactions; the announcement alone does not demonstrate its future effects.