Stripe Billing e‑invoicing for Germany: every subscription charge becomes a valid invoice

Two paths, one connection

Rechnungskit can work with Stripe Billing in two ways. Both start with the same Stripe connection, and you can begin with path A and switch to path B later.

Path B builds on path A. First Rechnungskit takes over invoicing, then the subscriptions switch at the end of their period. You can also mix the two: some subscriptions stay in Stripe Billing while the rest move, all through the same connection.

Path A: keep Stripe Billing, invoices from Rechnungskit

Stripe Billing is good at managing subscriptions and collecting money. What it lacks is the German invoicing side: an e-invoice under EN 16931, a GoBD-compliant archive and a DATEV export for your tax advisor (Steuerkanzlei).

On path A, Stripe stays in charge of subscriptions and payments, and Rechnungskit handles the invoicing behind them. There is no cut-over date and nothing to export. Stripe Billing issues an invoice for every subscription period with line items, tax rates and billing period; Rechnungskit reads that data and creates the invoice that counts for tax purposes:

• Your own number range. Every charge gets an invoice number from your sequential range, independent of Stripe's own numbering.
• Line items and tax rates. The Stripe line items come over with their tax rate, and the VAT is checked against your tax matrix per country and product category.
• Service period. The billing period appears on the invoice and as structured data in the e-invoice (ZUGFeRD BG-14); prorated line items after an upgrade or downgrade come over as separate line items.
• Cancellation invoice from the refund. A refund in Stripe automatically creates the matching cancellation invoice (Storno), to the cent for partial refunds too.
• Fees and payouts. Every payout is split into payments, refunds and Stripe fees; the DATEV export books them through the transit account (Geldtransitkonto), with fees as a separate expense.
• Missing address. Many Stripe customers only have an email address on file. Up to 250 euros gross, Rechnungskit then automatically creates a small-amount invoice (Kleinbetragsrechnung) without an address (§ 33 UStDV), as long as the buyer's country is known. If the country is missing, the amount is higher, or a business elsewhere in the EU buys under reverse charge, Rechnungskit holds the invoice. You then request the address from the buyer with a data request link, and they add it without logging in.

You connect with the same restricted Stripe key as for regular Stripe payments. Which permissions it needs for subscriptions and how to check the sales source "Stripe subscriptions (Billing)" is in the guide Switching from Stripe Billing.

There is one thing you do in Stripe yourself: turn off the sending of Stripe's own invoice emails. Otherwise your customers get two documents for the same purchase, and the one that counts for tax purposes is the Rechnungskit invoice. Rechnungskit reminds you right on the connection, with a direct link to the right place in the Stripe Dashboard, and again at go-live. The same setting covers one-off invoices you create by hand in Stripe; how that works is under Stripe Invoicing.

Deferred revenue for annual plans in the DATEV export

If the service period runs past the invoice month, as with an annual plan, the DATEV export books the deferred revenue (pRAP under § 250 Abs. 2 HGB) automatically: the deferral in the invoice month and the release in each following month, monthly or to the day, across year end too. This requires that you prepare a balance sheet and that the pRAP account is set in the DATEV settings (SKR03 0990 or SKR04 3900, preset as the default). Under cash-basis accounting (EÜR), revenue counts when the money arrives (§ 11 Abs. 1 EStG), so there is no deferral and the period appears on the invoice for information only. Background: deferred revenue for subscriptions. This applies on both paths.

Path B: move the subscriptions to Rechnungskit

If you want subscription management and invoicing in one system, move the subscriptions to Rechnungskit. This works because cards and SEPA mandates belong to the Stripe account, not to the Stripe Billing product. They stay valid for charges through the same account, whichever system runs the billing. After that you no longer need Stripe Billing.

Good to know: no customer has to sign up for their subscription again. At Stripe, the card and the SEPA Direct Debit mandate belong to the customer, not to the subscription in Stripe Billing. Rechnungskit creates the new subscription for the same Stripe customer and charges the payment method already stored there. Your customers do not re-enter a card, do not give a new mandate and do not have to confirm anything.

A wizard reads your Stripe subscriptions, you map each Stripe price to a plan, and Rechnungskit ends each Stripe subscription at the end of its period. Stripe still bills the current period, and Rechnungskit collects from the first period after that, with no gap and no double charge. From then on, new customers sign up directly through a Rechnungskit subscription link.

Subscriptions with several line items, usage-based prices, intervals other than monthly or yearly, or no saved payment method cannot be moved. They stay in Stripe Billing and keep getting their invoices through path A. You can also exclude individual subscriptions on purpose.

After the takeover, every period produces an e-invoice with service period, archive entry and DATEV export, and your customers get the cancellation and withdrawal portal that needs no login. Requirements, the walkthrough with a screenshot and the checklist are in the guide Switching from Stripe Billing.