Correcting or cancelling an invoice in Germany: how to do it right

Wrong address, missing date of service, an amount that's too high: mistakes on invoices happen. What matters is how you fix them. Once an invoice is sent, you may neither delete it nor change it afterwards. Under the German principles of proper bookkeeping (GoBD), every change has to stay traceable.

Option 1: correct the invoice

If a mandatory detail is missing or wrong, such as the client's address or the date of service, you can correct the invoice. You issue a document that clearly refers to the original invoice by its number and date and contains the missing or correct details. Often this is a complete new invoice noting that it corrects the original one.

Under certain conditions, a correction applies retroactively, so your client can keep the input VAT deduction for the original period.

Option 2: cancel and reissue

For fundamental mistakes, such as a wrong amount, the wrong client, or an invoice that should never have been issued, cancelling is the clean solution:

1. Issue a cancellation invoice (Stornorechnung). It gets its own new invoice number, refers to the number and date of the original invoice, and contains the same amounts with a negative sign.
2. Send the cancellation invoice to your client.
3. Then issue a new, correct invoice with a new invoice number.

Careful with the word “Gutschrift”

In everyday German, a cancellation invoice is often called a “Gutschrift” (credit note). For VAT purposes, though, a Gutschrift is something else: an invoice issued by the recipient of a service instead of the supplier (self-billing, § 14(2) UStG). Call your document a “Stornorechnung” or “Rechnungskorrektur” to avoid confusion.

What you should never do

• Delete a sent invoice or overwrite its file
• Use an invoice number a second time
• Change the amount of an invoice that has already been booked without a document of its own

Correcting e-invoices

The same rules apply to e-invoices. Where the e-invoicing mandate applies, issue corrections and cancellation invoices to business clients in a structured format too, such as ZUGFeRD or XRechnung.

This article is a general overview (as of October 2026) and is not tax advice.