Germany e-invoicing
Germany requires all businesses to be able to receive structured e-invoices from January 2025, with issuance obligations phasing in through 2028. The national formats are XRechnung (pure XML) and ZUGFeRD (hybrid PDF), both EN 16931 profiles.
- Timeline
- 2025–2028 (phased)
- Scope
- B2B receive (2025) then issue, phased by company size
- Platform
- Decentralised (EN 16931 via email/Peppol)
Mandate timeline
- Jan 2025All B2B businesses must accept EN 16931 e-invoices.
- Jan 2027Issuance mandatory for companies above €800k turnover.
- Jan 2028Issuance mandatory for all remaining B2B businesses.
Formats
How InvoiceHub helps today
InvoiceHub validates the EN 16931 core rules that underpin XRechnung and ZUGFeRD and generates conformant UBL 2.1 today, detecting the XRechnung profile from the document. Full XRechnung rule packs and CII are on the roadmap.
Frequently asked questions
What is XRechnung?
XRechnung is the German CIUS (Core Invoice Usage Specification) of EN 16931, used for public-sector and increasingly B2B invoicing. It can be expressed in UBL or UN/CEFACT CII syntax.
When must German businesses send e-invoices?
Receipt is mandatory since January 2025. Issuance is phased: from 2027 for companies above €800k turnover and from 2028 for everyone else.
Does InvoiceHub support XRechnung?
InvoiceHub validates the EN 16931 rules for the UBL representation and reports the detected XRechnung profile today. XRechnung-specific rule packs and CII syntax are on the roadmap.