Every EU compliance deadline that applies to your company, on one timeline.

Sozialversicherungsbeiträge: contribution payment and Beitragsnachweis deadline

Schema requires a fixed day-of-month; the actual legal rule (§23 Abs. 1 SGB IV) is the third-to-last bank working day of the SAME month in which the work was performed (an estimate, trued up the following month), which moves with bank holidays and weekends. Day 28 approximates this for September 2026; always confirm the exact date with your payroll provider or Krankenkasse each month. The Beitragsnachweis (contribution statement) itself is due even earlier, typically two bank working days before the payment date.

Next: 28 October 2026then 28 November 2026, 28 December 2026

Any employer in Germany with staff subject to German social insurance, including small companies running their own payroll or via an outsourced bookkeeper/Lohnbüro.

Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung: wage tax return filing deadline

Next: 10 November 2026then 10 December 2026, 10 January 2027

Any employer in Germany with staff subject to wage tax withholding (Lohnsteuerabzug), including owner-managers on a GmbH payroll.

Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung: VAT advance return filing deadline

Next: 10 November 2026then 10 December 2026, 10 January 2027

All VAT-registered businesses in Germany above the Kleinunternehmer threshold, or that opted into standard VAT treatment.

AI Act: end of grace period for marking AI-generated content in pre-existing systems; ban on non-consensual intimate deepfake generators

Grace period introduced by the Digital Omnibus on AI (Reg. 2026/1744) for systems placed on the market before 2026-08-02; the new prohibition was also added by the Omnibus

Providers of generative AI products released before August 2026 that have not yet implemented watermarking; any business deploying image or video generators.

Platform Work Directive: presumption of employment and algorithmic-management rules must apply nationally

Any platform that organises work performed by individuals through an app or website (delivery, ride-hailing, cleaning, freelance marketplaces), including small platforms; only Italy and Spain had draft laws by mid-2026.

EU Digital Identity Wallet: every Member State must offer a wallet; public bodies must accept it

24 months after the implementing regulations of 2024-11-28 (Art. 5a Reg. 2024/1183); the Commission communicates it as 'end of 2026'

No direct obligation on private businesses yet; companies dealing with public authorities and those doing KYC/onboarding should prepare to accept wallet-based identification.

Jahresabschluss: annual financial statement disclosure (Offenlegung) to the Unternehmensregister

Next: 31 December 2026then 31 December 2027, 31 December 2028

GmbH, UG (haftungsbeschränkt) and other capital companies (and qualifying GmbH & Co. KG) registered in Germany; sole traders (Einzelunternehmen) and standard partnerships are generally not subject to this HGB disclosure duty.

Germany: businesses with prior-year turnover above €800,000 must issue B2B e-invoices

Receiving structured e-invoices has been mandatory for all German businesses since 2025-01-01 (Wachstumschancengesetz, §14 UStG). Businesses at or below €800,000 prior-year turnover may still send paper or non-EN16931 electronic invoices (with recipient consent) until 2027-12-31 (§27 Abs. 38 Satz 2 UStG).

German-established businesses above the €800,000 turnover line (many small and all medium/large companies) invoicing other German businesses.

Germany: statutory minimum wage rises to €14.60/hour

All employers with staff in Germany, including minijobs and working students.

Data Act: cloud providers must stop charging switching and data-egress fees

All cloud, SaaS, PaaS and hosting providers serving EU customers; every business that buys cloud services benefits.

Instant Payments Regulation: sending instant euro payments and Verification of Payee mandatory for non-euro-area banks (Poland, Sweden, Czechia, etc.)

Receiving instant euro payments is mandatory for non-euro-area PSPs from 2027-01-09; sending and VoP from 2027-07-09

Banks and payment institutions in non-euro Member States; businesses in Poland, Sweden, Czechia, Hungary, Denmark, Romania and Bulgaria paying or receiving euros.

ESt/KSt/GewSt: annual income/corporation/trade tax return filing deadline

Next: 31 July 2027then 31 July 2028, 31 July 2029

GmbH/UG (KSt + GewSt), Einzelunternehmen and partnerships (ESt/Gewerbesteuer where applicable), and their outsourced bookkeepers/tax advisors.

AI Act: high-risk AI obligations for Annex III use cases (HR, credit, education, biometrics, critical infrastructure)

Postponed from 2026-08-02 by the Digital Omnibus on AI, Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (OJ 2026-07-24, in force 2026-07-27)

Companies building such AI systems, and any employer or lender that uses them (deployer duties), regardless of size. SMEs get simplified documentation templates.

Forced Labour Regulation: ban on placing, selling or exporting products made with forced labour

Any business that places products on the EU market or exports from it — manufacturers, importers and distributors of any size — with the highest practical exposure for importers sourcing from regions or sectors with documented forced-labour risk.

Proposed EU Late Payment Regulation: 30-day maximum payment terms in B2B transactions

Placeholder – no application date exists. Commission proposal COM(2023) 533 remains open: Parliament adopted its position in April 2024, but the file is classified 'Blocked' by the European Parliament's Legislative Train Schedule (no Council progress for 9+ months, as of Aug 2026) and 'Ongoing' by the EUR-Lex procedure tracker — not withdrawn, despite some secondary sources claiming so. Existing Directive 2011/7/EU (60-day default) continues to apply.

All businesses, especially SMEs supplying larger customers on long payment terms.

Germany: all businesses must issue B2B e-invoices

Micro and small German businesses below €800,000 turnover that were still allowed to send PDF/paper invoices in 2027.

ViDA: mandatory e-invoicing and near-real-time digital reporting for intra-EU B2B transactions

Every VAT-registered business that sells goods or services to businesses in other EU countries, whatever its size.

ViDA: national e-invoicing/reporting systems must be interoperable with the EU standard

Businesses operating in several EU countries with different national e-invoicing regimes.