Replacement hospitality receipt: free template as a PDF

What the template contains

A replacement hospitality receipt is a special form of the self-issued receipt (Eigenbeleg), the document German tax law lets you create yourself when an original receipt is missing. Because it stands in for a hospitality receipt, it must cover the general Eigenbeleg details plus the special mandatory hospitality details under Section 4(5) no. 2 of the German Income Tax Act (EStG). The template therefore provides seven fields:

• occasion of the meal, stated specifically rather than as “business meal”
• host: who issued the invitation and paid?
• person(s) entertained: all participants by name, including the host
• place and date of the meal
• amount of the expenses including the tip
• declaration of the business purpose
• signature of the host

Generic Eigenbeleg templates usually cover only the general fields, so the occasion, the host and the participants are often missing as dedicated entries. That is the gap this template closes. It matters in particular for English-speaking freelancers and expats: most free templates on the German market are available only in German, so it is easy to overlook a field whose purpose is not obvious.

How to fill it in, step by step

1. First check whether the original receipt really cannot be obtained anymore. Many restaurants will issue a duplicate if you ask. What to do in that case is covered in the article Lost hospitality receipt: what to do?
2. Enter the place and date of the meal as precisely as possible, ideally with the restaurant’s name and address.
3. Describe the occasion specifically, e.g. “project meeting on the website relaunch with client X”. Vague phrases such as “client relations” are often not enough for the tax office.
4. List all persons entertained by name, including yourself as the host.
5. Enter the amount of the expenses, including the tip, shown separately.
6. Write out the declaration of the business purpose and add a note explaining why no original receipt is available.
7. Date the receipt, sign it as the host, and attach supporting evidence (e.g. a credit-card or bank statement).

Tip: create the replacement receipt as promptly as possible. A reconstruction from memory weeks later is far less convincing.

Common mistakes

• The occasion is too generic (“business meal”, “client relations”) instead of specific.
• Participants are missing, or the host themselves is not listed.
• The tip is forgotten or not shown separately.
• The signature is missing.
• The replacement receipt is created even though the original could still be obtained.
• No supporting evidence is attached, even though a bank statement would be available.

The limits of the template

Even with the best template, a replacement hospitality receipt is still only a fallback. There are three limitations you should know about:

• No input VAT deduction: as a rule, no input VAT can be recovered from a self-issued receipt. That requires a proper invoice under Section 14 of the German VAT Act (UStG).
• Case-by-case decision: whether the tax office accepts the replacement receipt is decided in each individual case. More on this in the article Eigenbeleg for business meals: what the tax office accepts.
• The exception, not the rule: frequent replacement receipts can trigger questions during a tax audit.

The faster alternative: by chat instead of a form

If the restaurant receipt still exists but is incomplete, say because the occasion and the participants are missing, you do not have to copy its data into a form by hand. Belegomat is a chat service that turns a photo of a restaurant receipt into a structured German-compliant replacement hospitality receipt (Eigenbeleg) as a PDF. You send the photo in the Telegram chat, the data is captured, and missing mandatory details are requested in a dialogue.

Both routes lead to the same result: a complete replacement hospitality receipt. The template fits if you prefer to fill things in yourself or do not use Telegram; the chat is faster if you have a photo of the receipt. Both are free.

This article is not tax advice. Recognition is always decided case by case by the competent tax office (Finanzamt).