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E-invoicing for software manufacturers

Do you want to make your software capable of exchanging e-invoices with authorities from the direct and indirect Federal Administration? We have put together all the information you need here.

Screen illustration to indicate software manufacturers

What you need to know about e-invoicing as a software manufacturer?

Since 27 November 2020, Federal Government suppliers have been obliged to submit e-invoices for public contracts.

It is highly likely that some of your customers will be affected by this obligation as well.

Regardless of whether or not obliged to do so, sending and receiving standard-compliant e-invoices holds a host of benefits for you as a software developer and your customers:

✓ more efficient workflows, shorter processing times, faster payments,
✓ quicker and easier access to invoice data,
✓ enables digital, audit-proof archiving,
✓ cost savings on paper, ink and postage.

By supporting standard-compliant e-invoicing, you are taking a huge step towards exploiting your automation and digitisation potential fully throughout the entire procurement process.

How can the e-invoice be submitted?

The XRechnung standard has been created in Germany for the submission of invoice content. Any other standard (e.g. ZUGFeRD version 2.1.1 or later with the XRechnung profile, as a purely structured XML file) can also be used, if it meets the requirements of the European standard for electronic invoicing (EN-16931), the Federal Government’s Regulation on Electronic Invoicing (E-RechV) and the Federal Government’s terms of use for the invoice submission platforms. For billers using an ERP system, the Federal Government invoice submission platforms (ZRE and OZG-RE) offer a web service as a means of submitting e-invoices. This can be accessed via a SOAP or REST interface. You can find more information about these interfaces in the following document:

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Description of the web service interface via Peppol

The web service interface for Peppol is intended to make it possible for invoice senders (so-called end users) to issue invoices to Federal Government invoice recipients in the XRechnung format. This document describes how to use the interface for invoice senders. At the moment the document is only available in German language.

Download document (DE)

Invoices can still be submitted to both platforms via web-based data entry, web uploading or by email. Submission via De-Mail is currently being worked on. See the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community website for more information about the implementation of e-invoicing in the Federal Administration. For information on XRechnung, see the KosIT website. There you will also find the specifications for the XRechnung standard and information about the technical implementation.