Germany e-invoicing mandate: 2025, 2027 and 2028 deadlines

Germany is introducing mandatory B2B e-invoicing in stages. The legal basis is Section 14 UStG, rewritten by the Wachstumschancengesetz (27 March 2024), which defines an e-invoice narrowly: an invoice in a structured electronic format that enables automatic processing — a plain PDF no longer qualifies.

Timeline

The obligation to receive has applied since 1 January 2025: every domestic B2B business must be able to accept structured e-invoices. The obligation to issue is phased by prior-year turnover: from 1 January 2027 for businesses with more than EUR 800,000 prior-year turnover, and from 1 January 2028 for all remaining B2B businesses. Breaches can be fined under Section 26a UStG.

Formats: XRechnung and ZUGFeRD

Any EN-16931-compliant format is allowed; two dominate in practice. XRechnung is a pure XML format (the KoSIT standard, UBL or CII syntax), and ZUGFeRD from version 2.0.1 is a hybrid PDF/A-3 with embedded CII XML — technically identical to France's Factur-X. Germany mandates no central clearing: invoices are still exchanged directly between the parties; digital reporting arrives later with ViDA.

How invowerk helps

With invowerk you validate an XRechnung or ZUGFeRD file via API or MCP against EN 16931 and the German BR-DE rules — including the verdict of the official KoSIT validator. Every error code is explained in plain language on an error-code page under /codes, and the API can generate XRechnung XML and convert between UBL and CII.