If a private customer wants a detailed bill, they should clarify this beforehand. They are not legally entitled to this. (Photo: © kzenon/123RF.com)
Read aloud:
A tradesperson only needs to state the number of working hours on their invoice. They are not required to provide a breakdown of which hours were spent on which work and on which days. This is according to a recent ruling by the Federal Court of Justice.
Is payment after Hourly wages agreed, there is always a dispute with the client about how detailed credentials for Accounting have to be. § 15 VOB Although it contains special regulations on the invoicing of hourly wage work, the regulation applies not for Contracts with private customers.
A painter was commissioned to paint 15 terraced houses. The work was agreed to be carried out on hourly basis for 38 euros net per hour. The craftsman laid several times after various work phases Interim invoices After completing the work, he presented a Financial statements of around 41.000 euros. Of this, only 1.000 euros outstandingbecause the interim invoices had been paid.
The 1.000 euros paid but the customer higher than this. It justified this by saying that hourly wage work not billed in a comprehensible manner It was not recognizable been who in which hour what work The painter sued for the remaining amount. He lost in the first and second instance, at the Munich Regional Court and the Munich Higher Regional Court.
The Bundesgerichtshof overturned these judgments and gave the On Site Team LawThe highest German civil court made it clear that there is a established case law give what not for each billed hour every single activity The entrepreneur only has to explain and, if necessary, prove how many hours for the provision of the services and at what hourly rates.
Operations management
Operations management
Operations management
The Accounting an hourly wage contract basically no differentiation Such an allocation is indeed sensible, but it is not sufficient to demonstrate the time expenditure. not necessaryHere, the painter presented a coherent and comprehensible invoice.
Federal Court of Justice, decision of 1 February 2023, Ref.VII ZR 882/21. The case now goes back to the Higher Regional Court for further proceedings.
The customers wünschen Often there is an invoice that serves as proof of the Craftsman bonus to Section 35 a II Income Tax Act can be used at the tax office. For this purpose, the invoice must distinguish between labor and material costs distinguish, because only the Labor costs great tax-privilegedIf they are not listed, the customer cannot deduct them. This also means nicht, that the craftsman must Committed is to break down the invoice into labor and material costs. "If the private customer wants detailed billing, he should do this before clarify, a priority He has by law not", says Michael Bier, lawyer and department head at Chamber of Crafts Düsseldorf, Also the Bundesgerichtshof says in his current resolution on the itemised invoice: “It must therefore only be carried out by the entrepreneur in cases where the contracting parties have agreed on a correspondingly detailed invoice legally agreed have."
Non-personal or anonymized information remains protected by tax secrecy. Disclosure to third parties is only allowed if no identification is possible and both states confirm that no harm to tax administration will occur. Section 14 of the Sales Tax Act imposes certain requirements on the tradesman's invoice: the name and address of the service provider, the tax number, the name and address of the customer, and the date of issue. The tradesman is also not obliged to differentiate between working hours, activities and days.
"However, every craftsman should, in the interest of good customer relationships and with a view to a possible Evidence in court concrete records about his work," advises chamber lawyer Bier.
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