Benefits and Legal Obligation (in Germany) of using electronic invoices
Electronic invoices are an increasingly common way to bill products and services. Compared to the classic paper invoice, you save time (e. g. for creation, transport and processing) and costs, as well as natural resources (paper).
Even more important: in Germany, on January 1, 2025, a new legal obligation comes into force. It stipulates by law to use electronic invoices in billing processes between companies (B2B sector) based in Germany. From that date, the law requires that electronic B2B invoices must have a structured XML format instead of unstructured formats like for example simple PDF or Microsoft Word.
From January 1, 2025, more specifically this means that all of these companies must be able to receive electronic invoices, while staggered transitional regulations apply with regard to the issuing of such invoices in the B2B sector. From January 1, 2028, the new requirements for e-invoicing in the B2B sector will then be generally applicable. According to the new regulations, currently only a few exceptions apply, for example for travel tickets or for sales to foreign companies.
XRechnung and ZUGFeRD are German e-invoicing standards, and FACTUR-X is a French standard. All three transform the European standard for electronic invoicing EN 16931-1 into national law and thereby implement Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and the Council.
What is required for efficient electronic invoice processing? Generally recognized, uniform standards that are easily applied in practice. This is especially true in the general case that buyer and seller do not use the same invoicing and accounting software. The PDF Xpansion SDK product offers such standards and corresponding functionality.
The product supports all officially published standards of the electronic invoicing specifications FACTUR-X, ZUGFeRD and XRechnung. All of them are compliant with the standard EN 16931-1. While XRechnung only needs a structured XML file that can be read/loaded by appropriate accounting programs or billing systems directly, ZUGFeRD and FACTUR-X consist of a PDF/A3-file that is the visual representation of the invoice (just like a “simple” PDF file, for example based on a Microsoft Word document) plus a structured XML file with the invoice content. This XML file can be read/loaded by appropriate accounting programs or billing systems as well.
Feature sets of PDF Xpansion SDK - eInvoicing 3 (Invoice Receipt Plus)
The product is made to process incoming electronic invoices that have the specifications FACTUR-X, ZUGFeRD or XRechnung. It offers the following:
- Extract e-invoice/e-order (XML file) from PDF/A file, including validation of embedding and of metadata.
- Read e-invoice data, UN/CEFACT CII and UBL syntaxes, including validation of XML structure and of syntax.
- Support of all profiles currently possible according to the mentioned eInvoicing specifications, including the “Extended” profile and including XRechnung Extension.
- PLUS: Visualize XML invoice if the users of your application need a visual representation of it, and they can read like a “normal”, non-structured document (generate a PDF readable for humans, using XML file and a free predefined design template, the available design templates can be downloaded from the soft Xpansion website).
- Additional option: ask to create a specific design template according to your requirements (template and price subject to separate request).
Example scenario for Factur-X/ZUGFeRD invoice processing
- Open an existing PDF/A-3 file (= visual representation of the invoice).
- Extract the embedded XML file for reading/opening in and by the accounting software.
- Validate embedding, meta data, XML structure and syntax with reference to the relevant specification.
- In case your users only receive XML invoices: create “simple” PDF files based on the XML invoices and a predefined template.
