Digital receipt: QR code, email, SMS or WhatsApp instead of paper

Is a digital receipt legally permitted?

Yes. Since January 1, 2020, the receipt issuance obligation has applied in Germany: anyone ringing up sales with an electronic POS must create a receipt for every sale and offer it to the customer. The form is deliberately left open. Under Section 6 of the German Cash Register Anti-Tampering Ordinance (KassenSichV), the receipt may be issued on paper or electronically in a standardised data format; the Federal Ministry of Finance explicitly calls the obligation technology-neutral.

Electronic issuance requires the customer's consent, but the consent is not tied to any form: anyone scanning the QR code at the POS or giving their email address for delivery has consented. Incidentally, the customer never has to take the receipt; the obligation lies solely with the retailer: create and offer, nothing more. In terms of content, the digital receipt carries the same mandatory details as the printed one, including the TSE signature.

How does the digital receipt work at DezemberHub?

The DezemberHub POS prints the receipt in the classic way via the receipt printer or issues it digitally. Whether and which digital channels are added is up to you as the retailer: from pure paper operation to the digital receipt for all customers who want it.

You decide yourself which of these are used at your POS. Anyone who wants to stick with the pure paper receipt can do so at any time. And no matter which channel is chosen: every receipt is signed via the certified cloud TSE and ends up in the DSFinV-K export for the tax audit.

Why does the digital receipt pay off right now?

Because the legislator has just set the direction. On July 15, 2026, the federal cabinet decided to phase out the paper receipt obligation: initially for amounts under €30, later entirely. The receipt itself remains mandatory; in future it will be provided digitally, for example as a QR code or by email. Anyone already offering customers the receipt digitally today has completed the changeover before it arrives.

Then there are the practical reasons: less thermal paper and printer wear, no receipt ending up in the bin next to the POS, and a receipt the customer actually finds again for an exchange or complaint, on their phone instead of in a jacket pocket.

To the article: cash register obligation 2027 and the end of the receipt mandate

Do customers even still pay in cash?

Yes, and still on a large scale. 45% of all purchases in 2025 were paid in cash, according to the study "Payment Behaviour in Germany 2025" by the Bundesbank. For the first time, the majority of payments were made by card and smartphone, but cash remains the most-used single means of payment, especially among older customers. At EU level, under the planned EU cash regulation an obligation to accept cash in retail is also under negotiation.

For the store this means: the POS has to do both well. Cash and card for payment, paper and digital for the receipt. The digital receipt does not replace the printed one, it adds the channel that more and more customers prefer.

As of July 19, 2026. Legal basis: Section 146a (2) AO and Section 6 KassenSichV. Sources: FAQ of the Federal Ministry of Finance on the receipt issuance obligation and Bundesbank, Payment Behaviour in Germany 2025. The phased abolition of the paper receipt obligation is a government draft (cabinet decision of July 15, 2026) and not yet enacted. This article is for orientation and does not replace tax or legal advice.