E-RECHNUNG
E-Rechnung: what German businesses need to know now
Since January 1, 2025, every business in Germany must be able to receive electronic invoices for domestic B2B transactions, and between 2027 and 2028 issuing them becomes mandatory too. The rules come from the Wachstumschancengesetz and are administered through § 14 UStG. This hub explains the mandate in plain language: what legally counts as an e-invoice, who must do what by when, how the formats differ, and what to set up in practice.
Last updated: September 11, 2026
The E-Rechnung guides
What is an E-Rechnung?
The legal definition since 2025, why a plain PDF no longer qualifies, and what EN 16931 actually specifies.
E-Rechnung Pflicht: the deadlines
Who must receive and issue e-invoices from when, the 2026/2027 transition rules, the €800,000 threshold, exemptions, and penalties.
The formats: XRechnung, ZUGFeRD, Peppol
How the three names relate, which profiles conform to EN 16931, and how to choose for B2G and B2B invoicing.
Creating e-invoices
Mandatory content, software paths, transmission options from email to Peppol, validation, and GoBD-compliant archiving.
What changed, in one paragraph
Until the end of 2024, "electronic invoice" meant almost any digital invoice, a PDF attached to an email included. The Wachstumschancengesetz of March 2024 rewrote § 14 UStG: since January 1, 2025, an elektronische Rechnung is only an invoice issued, transmitted, and received in a structured electronic format that conforms to the European norm EN 16931 (or an agreed interoperable format), enabling automatic processing. Everything else, paper and ordinary PDFs included, is now legally a sonstige Rechnung, a "other invoice".
The practical consequence arrives in two waves. The receiving duty is already here: since January 2025, any business can send you a compliant e-invoice and you must be able to receive and process it, an ordinary email inbox is sufficient according to the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF). The issuing duty phases in next: transition rules let businesses keep sending paper or PDF with the recipient’s consent until the end of 2026 (small businesses until the end of 2027), and from January 1, 2028 structured e-invoices are mandatory for essentially all domestic B2B invoicing.
The timeline at a glance
The dates that matter, from § 27 Abs. 38 UStG and the BMF guidance:
Exemptions exist for small-value invoices up to €250, passenger transport tickets, tax-exempt supplies under § 4 Nr. 8 to 29 UStG, invoices to consumers, and, for the issuing duty only, Kleinunternehmer. The deadlines guide covers every case.
Why the mandate exists
Germany is not introducing e-invoicing for its own sake. The structured format is the prerequisite for a later transaction-based VAT reporting system (Meldesystem) intended to close VAT fraud gaps, and it aligns Germany with the EU’s ViDA package (VAT in the Digital Age), adopted in March 2025, which makes digital reporting for cross-border B2B transactions mandatory from July 2030. Businesses that treat 2025 to 2027 as a data-quality project, not just a formats project, will have the easier path into that reporting world.
There is also a plain efficiency argument: a structured invoice can be validated, matched against orders, booked, and archived without anyone re-typing amounts. The mandate forces the input side of accounts payable to become machine-readable, which is precisely the property that makes automation possible.
What to set up, practically
The minimum viable compliance setup for most businesses:
- A receiving channel. An email inbox dedicated to invoices is legally sufficient for receiving. Make sure incoming XML actually reaches your accounting process instead of dying in a shared mailbox.
- A way to read structured formats. An XRechnung is an XML file; a ZUGFeRD invoice is a PDF with embedded XML in which, per the BMF letter of October 15, 2025, the structured part is legally authoritative. Your process must read the XML, not just the human-readable layer.
- An issuing plan before your deadline. Check what your ERP or invoicing software already supports; most mainstream German systems added XRechnung and ZUGFeRD export. Decide format and transmission path per customer segment.
- GoBD-compliant archiving. Invoices must be retained for eight years, with the structured part preserved unaltered in its original form.
- A plan for the mixed years. Until 2028 your inbox will legally carry paper scans, PDFs, and structured e-invoices side by side. Processing them into one consistent schema is where most of the operational work sits.
Work with e-invoices in practice
Reading about formats is one thing; an accounts-payable inbox full of them is another. Two free resources and one production path:
- Peppol e-Invoice Extractor: pull the seller, buyer, line items, VAT breakdown, and totals out of an e-invoice, free in the browser
- Peppol e-invoice extraction guide: the EN 16931 field model (Business Terms) explained field by field
- Invoice parsing with schema validation: process XRechnung, ZUGFeRD, Peppol invoices, PDFs, and paper scans into one validated output schema, with confidence and provenance on every value
Frequently asked questions
Does the E-Rechnung mandate apply to my business?+
If you are a business established in Germany and you invoice other businesses in Germany, yes: you have needed the ability to receive e-invoices since January 1, 2025, and depending on your turnover you must issue them from 2027 or 2028. Invoices to consumers (B2C) are not covered, and specific invoice types are exempt.
Is a PDF invoice still allowed?+
During the transition, yes, with the recipient’s consent: until the end of 2026 for everyone, and until the end of 2027 for businesses whose prior-year turnover did not exceed €800,000. But a PDF is now legally a sonstige Rechnung, not an e-invoice, and from 2028 structured formats are required for domestic B2B invoicing.
What do I need to receive e-invoices?+
Formally, very little: the BMF states that an email inbox is sufficient. Operationally you need a way to open and process the structured XML (XRechnung) or the embedded XML in hybrid formats (ZUGFeRD), and an archiving process that preserves the structured data unaltered for eight years.
Which format should I use: XRechnung, ZUGFeRD, or Peppol?+
All three paths can be compliant, because all build on EN 16931. XRechnung is the pure-XML standard required in German public-sector (B2G) invoicing; ZUGFeRD embeds the same kind of structured data inside a readable PDF, which eases the transition with smaller partners; Peppol is a transmission network whose BIS Billing 3.0 format also conforms. The formats guide compares them in detail.
What happens if I ignore the mandate?+
Once the issuing duty applies to you, intentionally or recklessly failing to issue a required invoice, or issuing it late, is an administrative offence under § 26a UStG with fines of up to €5,000 per case. On the receiving side, tax advisors also point to practical risk around input VAT deduction when required e-invoices are missing; treat that as a reason for clean processes rather than as settled case law.
Sources
Primary sources, last checked September 2026. Statutory texts and BMF publications are authoritative; where guidance rests on the BMF letter of 15 October 2025, the text says so.
- § 14 UStG (definition of elektronische Rechnung and sonstige Rechnung)
- § 27 Abs. 38 UStG (transition rules 2026 to 2028)
- BMF: FAQ on the E-Rechnung (receiving duty, email inbox, exemptions, retention)
- BMF letter of October 15, 2024: introduction of the mandatory e-invoice
- Council of the EU: ViDA package adopted March 11, 2025
This guide is general information for businesses, compiled from the cited official sources. It is not legal or tax advice; for decisions about your own obligations, consult your tax advisor (Steuerberater).
One inbox, every invoice format, one schema
The mandate makes structured formats the norm, but your accounts payable will keep receiving paper scans and plain PDFs beside XRechnung and ZUGFeRD for years. Talonic normalizes that mixed inflow into one schema-validated output: typed fields, a confidence score, and provenance on every value, processed on EU infrastructure in Germany. Send a sample batch and judge the output field by field.