receipt of a proper invoice. Under § 14 UStG11, a business providing services to 11 “(1) An invoice is any document with which a supply of goods or services is settled, irrespective for a supply to a legal person who is not a taxable person; for a taxable work delivery (§ 3 paragraph 4 sentence 1) or for a supply of service in connection with immovable property to a recipient other than those specified in number 1 or 2. As taxable person resident in Germany or in one of the territories specified in § 1 paragraph 3 is regarded a taxable person who has his registered office, his place of management, a fixed establishment involved in the transaction or, in absence of a registered office, his domicile or habitual residence in one of these territories. § 14a remains unaffected. Notwithstanding the obligations under sentence 2, an invoice for the supply of goods or services may be issued by a recipient referred to in sentence 2 number 1 or 2, provided this was agreed to in advance (self billing invoice). A self billing invoice shall no longer be valid as an invoice where the addressee of the self billing invoice objects to the document submitted to him. An invoice may be issued by a third party in the name and for the account of the taxable person or of one of the recipients referred to in sentence 2 number 1 or 2. (3) The authenticity of the origin of the invoice, the integrity of its content and its readability must be guaranteed. Authenticity of origin means the security of the identity of the issuer of the invoice. Integrity of content means that the information required, based on this Act, has not changed. Every taxable person is responsible for ensuring the authenticity of the origin, the integrity of the content and the readability of the invoices. This can be achieved by any internal control mechanisms, which can provide a reliable audit trail between invoices and goods or services supplied. Without prejudice to other procedures, the authenticity of the origin and the integrity of the content are guaranteed in an electronic invoice by means of a qualified electronic signature, or the electronic interchange of data (EDI), in accordance with Article 2 of the Commission Recommendation 94/820/EC of 19 October 1994 relating to the legal aspects of electronic data interchange (OJ L 338, 28 December 1994, p. 98), if an application method for the data interchange is stipulated in the agreement, which guarantees the authenticity of the origin and the completeness of the data. (4) An invoice must contain the following information: 1. the full name and address of the supplying taxable person and of the recipient; 2. the tax number issued by the tax authority to the supplying taxable person or the VAT identification number issued to him by the Federal Central Tax Office; 3. the date of issue; 4. a consecutive number with one or several unique sequences of numbers allocated by the issuer of the invoice for the purposes of identifying the invoice (invoice number); 5. the quantity and type (standard commercial description) of the supplied goods or the amount and type of provided services; 6. the date of the supply of goods or services; in the cases referred to in paragraph 5 sentence 1, the date on which the consideration or a part of the consideration was received, provided that the date of receipt is known and is not identical to the issue date of the invoice; 6a. the indication ‘taxation according to the consideration received’ if the supplier calculates the tax in accordance with § 20; 7. the consideration for the supply of goods or services broken down by VAT rates and individual VAT exemptions (§ 10), as well as any reductions of the consideration agreed upon in advance, if such have not already been included in the consideration; 8. the applicable VAT rate and the amount of VAT attributable to the consideration or, in the case of a VAT exemption, a reference indicating that the supply of goods or services is VAT exempt, and 9. in the cases referred to in § 14b paragraph 1 sentence 5, a reference to the recipient’s obligation to retain records, and 10. in cases where the invoice is issued by the recipient or by a third party engaged by him according to paragraph 2 sentence 5, the statement “self billing invoice”. In the cases referred to in § 10 paragraph 5, numbers 7 and 8 are to be applied under the condition that the taxable amount for the supply (§ 10 paragraph 4) and the VAT amount attributable to it are specified. However, a taxable person who applies § 24 paragraph 1 to 3 is entitled, in such cases, to only state the consideration and the VAT attributable to it. The correction of an invoice by amending missing or incorrect statements is not regarded as an event with retrospective effect within the meaning of § 175 paragraph 1 sentence 1 number 2 and § 233a paragraph 2a of the Fiscal Code. (5) Paragraphs 1 to 4 shall apply accordingly in the event that the taxable person receives the consideration or a partial amount thereof for a supply of goods or services that has yet to be carried out. If a final invoice is issued, the partial XXXV
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