Receipt for a payment (Germany)
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This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
A receipt under § 368 of the German Civil Code (BGB) in which the person paid confirms receiving money — in cash or by transfer, for instance for repaying a private loan, an instalment, a deposit or a private sale. With the sum in figures and words, the date, the method, the reason for the payment and whether the debt is now fully paid or what remains. The payer can demand a receipt on paying; in German, to be printed and signed by hand by the person receiving the money.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Payee
- Address of the person receiving the money
- Person paying
- Address of the person paying
- Amount received
- Amount in words
- Date of payment
- Method of payment
- Basis of the obligation
- Paid in full, or part-payment
- Amount still to be paid
- City
- Date
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Am I entitled to a receipt when paying in Germany?
- Yes. Whoever pays can demand a written receipt from the creditor on payment (§ 368 BGB), and another form where they have a legal interest in it. The debtor bears and advances the cost of the receipt (§ 369 BGB) — with a form filled in yourself, usually nothing. A receipt matters most for cash, which otherwise leaves no record; for a bank transfer, the bank statement proves the payment as well.
- Must a receipt in Germany be signed by hand?
- The law calls for a written receipt (§ 368 BGB). Whether an e-mail or a PDF without a handwritten signature is enough has not been finally settled; the safe course is a receipt printed on paper and signed by hand by the person receiving the money. Give the payer the original and keep a copy if you need one.
- What does a part-payment mean for the rest of a debt in Germany?
- A part-payment acknowledges the debt: the limitation period for the remaining claim starts again with it (§ 212(1) no. 1 BGB). So record in the receipt whether the payment settles the debt in full or what is still owed. Once the debt is paid and there is a debt document — a loan agreement or an acknowledgement of debt, say — the debtor can ask for it back as well as for the receipt (§ 371 BGB).
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
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