Create an invoice – free, built for transport & courier

Create an invoice in four steps

The generator walks you through every mandatory field under § 14 UStG and calculates net, VAT and gross automatically.

1. 1

   Enter issuer and recipient

   Name, address and your tax number or VAT ID are mandatory. For customers in other EU countries also enter their VAT ID.

2. 2

   Set invoice number, date and service date

   The number must be sequential and unique. For transport the service date is the delivery date; for monthly billing choose a service period.

3. 3

   Add line items

   One line per trip, waiting time, surcharge and toll with quantity, unit and unit price. Typical market rates come from the transport cost calculator.

4. 4

   Choose the VAT case and download

   Standard VAT, small business, reverse charge or exempt under § 4 No. 3 UStG – the matching legal note is printed automatically. Then download the PDF or the XRechnung XML.

Mandatory details under § 14 UStG

If one of these is missing, your customer loses the input-tax deduction and requests a correction. The generator checks them before the download.

• Name and address of both parties

  Full name and address of the supplier and of the recipient of the service.

• Tax number or VAT ID

  One of the two is enough. The VAT ID is the better choice because it reveals nothing about your tax office.

• Invoice date and service date

  Both are mandatory – even if identical. For consolidated invoices the service period is sufficient (e.g. “01–31 Aug 2026”).

• Sequential invoice number

  Unique and traceable without gaps. A prefix per year (RE-2026-0001) is common and permitted.

• Nature and scope of the service

  “Transport, flat rate” is not enough. State route, date, vehicle and the shipment or order number – the transport invoice template shows good line items.

• Amount, VAT rate and VAT amount

  Net amount per VAT rate, the rate, the VAT amount and the gross total. For exemptions or reverse charge the legal note instead.

Up to €250 gross a small-amount invoice without recipient address, tax number and invoice number is sufficient (§ 33 UStDV).

How carriers bill correctly

Transport invoices rarely fail review because of VAT – they fail because of missing references and flat-rate lines. Five rules from practice:

• Every trip as its own line

  Pickup and delivery location (at least postcode/town), date, vehicle class and the customer's shipment or order number as reference.

• Waiting time beyond the free period

  In quarter hours or hours with a unit price – never folded into the trip flat rate.

• Show surcharges separately

  Express, night, weekend, loading assistance, bulky goods or second delivery attempt as separate lines so the customer can check them against the order.

• Tolls are part of your fee

  Tolls are not a pass-through cost: they are shown as a line and carry 19 % VAT. The truck toll calculator gives you the amount.

• Billing the month as a subcontractor

  Service period instead of a single date, tour or order number per line, vehicle and licence plate. What else the forwarder expects is in the subcontractor template.

E-invoice: PDF or XRechnung?

Since 2025 every business in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices. For issuing to business customers there is a transition period: PDF and paper stay allowed until the end of 2026; from 2027 companies with more than €800,000 prior-year revenue must use structured formats, from 2028 everyone. Small businesses stay exempt.

The generator produces both: a PDF for everyday use and an XRechnung as UBL XML per XRechnung 3.0 – the format public bodies and large forwarders require. Buyer reference or Leitweg-ID, IBAN and your contact details are mandatory in it, which is why the generator asks for them before the XML download.

What the free generator does not do

It does not store invoices, assign sequential numbers, send anything or validate the XRechnung against the KoSIT validator. That is exactly what the invoicing software in a Maxmove account does: invoices from completed orders, validated ZUGFeRD and XRechnung output, sending by e-mail, payment tracking – free for small operators.