E-Compliance Summary-Germany

Key Mandates, Country Technicality & Terms, Regulation Updates

Key Mandates

April 1, 2018

xRechnung

Mandated invoicing format to receive for federal authorities

April 1, 2018

November 20, 2018

ZRE&OZG-RE

Federal State Invoice Receiving Portals

November 20, 2018

November 27, 2020

xRechnung

Mandated for suppliers that are issuing invoices to the federal states

November 27, 2020

January 1, 2025

e-Invoice: Receving Only

Germany made e-invoicing mandatory for B2B transactions, This new regulation focuses on receiving inbound invoices as first phase.Click here to read our blog for details.

January 1, 2025

Country Technicality & Terms

Scope

B2G: Peppol & Centralized- Suppliers that are issuing invoices to the Federal and Bremen authorities have to issue e-Invoice
B2B: Post Audit-Voluntarily & Receiving is mandatory.

Platforms

e-Invoicing Portal: ZRE
Authority: Kosit

Formats

e-Invoice: xRechnung (Peppol BIS & CIUS-EN16931)
e-Invoice: Zugferd (PDF attached to xRechnung)

Signature & Submission Method

No signature is required

Archiving

-10 Years
-Archiving abroad is also available under the rules.

Leitweg-ID

A routing identification number that identifies every public institution in Germany. This ID must be included in the Peppol BIS 3.0 as a routing ID.

Zugferd

This is the first e-invoicing format that has started the exchange in Germany. It consists of PDF and embedded XML electronic invoice format(Xrechnung). It is widely used for B2B transactions since the German authorities do not accept this as a valid format to exchange between public institutions.