eInvoicing in Germany — Overview
eInvoicing works the same way across fiskaltrust markets — the shared model, the /sign + /issue flow, and the no-webhook rule are described in eInvoicing — Overview. This page covers only what's specific to the German (DE) market.
Regulatory status
| Aspect | Current status |
|---|---|
| Scope | B2B, business to business. |
| Regulatory model | Post-audit — EN 16931 mandatory, no real-time clearance. |
| Receive mandate | Live since 1 January 2025 — every business must be able to receive. |
| Issue mandate | 1 January 2027 for prior-year turnover above €800,000; 1 January 2028 for everyone else. |
| Penalties | Up to €5,000. |
| Formats | XRechnung (UBL 2.1) or ZUGFeRD / Factur-X (hybrid PDF/A-3 with CII) — both EN 16931 profiles. |
Receiving is already mandatory
Since 1 January 2025, every German business must be able to receive eInvoices. Issuing is phased in — from 1 January 2027 for prior-year turnover above €800,000, and from 1 January 2028 for everyone else. Penalties run up to €5,000.
Terminology
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| XRechnung | The German CIUS of EN 16931, in UBL 2.1, with 200+ added national rules. |
| ZUGFeRD / Factur-X | Hybrid PDF/A-3 with CII XML embedded — same spec as France's Factur-X. |
| Leitweg-ID | Routing ID a German public buyer issues, required for B2G delivery. |
Related pages
- eInvoicing — Overview — the shared model, integration flow, and prerequisites across markets.
- Set up and test eInvoicing (Germany) — prerequisites, Portal enablement, and the end-to-end sandbox example.
- Delivery (
/issueEndpoint) — the product-level eInvoicing and eDelivery concept across all markets. - Migrating from API v0 to PosSystem API (v2) — eInvoicing is a PosSystem API (v2) feature.
- Appendix: DE (KassenSichV) — Germany fiscalization details.
- eInvoicing in Germany (European Commission) — the EU Digital Building Blocks country factsheet.