A quick overview

• As of 27 November 2020, you must be able to create, submit and securely store electronic invoices (e-invoices) until the required retention period has expired.
• Since that date, federal contracting authorities have no longer accepted invoices in paper form or as PDF files.
• In order to submit electronic invoices, you may have to revise your system for sending out invoices, review internal processes and train staff.

What is an electronic invoice (e-invoice)?

Electronic invoicing allows for fully automated transmission and processing of invoice information, from the creation of invoices to their electronic transmission, automated receipt and further processing. An e-invoice presents invoice information in a structured, machine-readable data file, rather than on paper or in a fixed-layout format such as a PDF file.

Differences between paper invoices, PDFs and e-invoices ›

Technically speaking, an e-invoice is a data set arranged in a standardised structure.
In Germany, the XRechnung standard was developed to ensure uniform implementation of e-invoicing. The XRechnung standard is thus Germany’s version of the European standard EN 16931 (a Core Invoice Usage Specification, or CIUS).

The XRechnung standard enables the seamless and secure receipt of invoices and their further automated processing with various software systems. XRechnung is a standard for converting invoice information into an XML data file. The XML data file constitutes an electronic invoice. Electronic invoices for the federal administration must be issued using the current version of the XRechnung standard format in accordance with section 4 (1) sentence 1 of the federal E-Invoicing Ordinance (E-Rechnungsverordnung, ERechV). Other standards may be used (such as ZUGFeRD (version 2.2.0 or later) in the XRechnung profile) as long as they meet the requirements of the European standard (EN 16931), the terms of use for the invoice submission portals, and the requirements of the federal E-Invoicing Ordinance.

To send an electronic invoice to a public invoice recipient, the recipient must be uniquely identified and addressed using a buyer reference (Leitweg-ID). The buyer reference enables the e-invoice to be addressed electronically and forwarded to the invoice processing systems of the federal administration authorities linked to the central invoice submission portals.

The invoice recipient’s buyer reference is entered in the field “Buyer reference” (BT-10) in the XRechnung standard. The buyer reference must be provided with every e-invoice sent to federal administration authorities. The contracting authority should provide the invoice issuer with its buyer reference; if not, the invoice issuer should ask the contracting authority for it.

Illustration: Transmission of an e-invoice using the buyer reference (Leitweg-ID)

Please note that invoice issuers do not need a buyer reference of their own.

Organisations of the direct federal administration receive e-invoices via the Federal Central Invoice Submission Portal (ZRE). This list tells you which organisations of the direct federal administration are linked to the ZRE: Overview of the organisations of the direct federal administration which are linked to the ZRE (document available in German only).

You can register with the ZRE test environment here to try out the electronic invoice functions before actually sending any invoices to the federal administration.

You can register as an invoice issuer with the ZRE production environment here to create and submit your invoices.

Many organisations of the indirect federal administration receive e-invoices via the federal Online Access Act-compliant Invoice Submission Portal (OZG-RE). This list tells you which organisations of the indirect federal administration are linked to the OZG-RE: Overview of the organisations of the indirect federal administration which are linked to the OZG-RE (document available in German only).

You can register with the OZG-RE test environment here to try out the electronic invoice functions before actually sending any invoices to the federal administration.

You can register as an invoice issuer with the OZG-RE production environment here to create and submit your invoices.

Please note: In addition to the OZG-RE, organisations of the indirect federal administration may implement their own solutions for receiving electronic invoices. Please check with your invoice recipient.

To create an e-invoice, you can enter the invoice information manually within the federal invoice submission portals and submit the e-invoice from there:

• ZRE: Create invoice
• OZG-RE: Create new invoice

Find out more ›

After registering with the federal invoice submission portals, you can upload e-invoices that you have created using an external system and submit them to your invoice recipient:

• ZRE: Submit invoice
• OZG-RE: Submit an invoice created externally

Find out more ›

Peppol enables the fully automated exchange of electronic documents. This means that all participants can seamlessly export and import documents from different processing systems. The Peppol network is especially helpful for sending large numbers of e-invoices (mass transmission), but even for smaller transmissions, the Peppol network enables seamless and efficient digital processing.

Find out more ›

You can send e-invoices that you have created using an external system via email to the federal invoice submission portals.

• ZRE: Manage ZRE account › Select transmission method › Email
• OZG-RE: Send externally created e-invoice via email

Find out more ›

Invoice information

According to the federal E-Invoicing Ordinance (document available in German only), an e-invoice must include at least the following information:

• Buyer reference (Leitweg-ID)
• Bank details
• Payment terms
• The email address of the invoice issuer
• Seller identifier*
• Purchase order reference*

*If this information was provided to the invoice issuer when the contract was awarded.