Partly in force
Receiving mandatory since 1 January 2025; issuing phases in from 2027.
| 1 Jan 2025 | Every German business must be able to RECEIVE a structured e-invoice |
| 1 Jan 2027 | Issuing mandatory for businesses with turnover above EUR 800,000 |
| 1 Jan 2028 | Issuing mandatory for all businesses |
Format: XRechnung (UBL or CII) and Factur-X/ZUGFeRD profile EN 16931 or above
Transmission: No central platform for B2B; Peppol for B2G
Germany layers XRechnung on top of EN 16931 and it is strict: seller contact block, city and post code, Buyer reference (the Leitweg-ID for public bodies), and a machine-readable #SKONTO# format for early-payment discounts. Validate against the XRechnung profile.
Validate a Germany invoice against the profile that applies here — XRechnung 3.0.2 (Germany).
See a worked example → · Upload your own →
This country runs on hybrid PDFs. Drop the PDF straight in — the invoice XML is pulled out and checked, and so is the PDF wrapper itself: the /AF array, the /AFRelationship and the XMP profile declaration, which a validator that only reads the XML will not look at. See a correctly formed one →
The Peppol profile also applies this country's own rules, and they are switched on automatically from the seller's country — no extra parameter. See the 30 Germany rules this validator checks →
Nothing is stored, and the whole invoice is checked, not just this rule. A PDF only works if it is Factur-X / ZUGFeRD — a PDF with the invoice XML inside it.