Guides: Germany’s e-invoice mandate
Short English summaries of our German guides on XRechnung, ZUGFeRD and the 2025–2028 timeline. Each page links to the full German article.
Germany’s e-invoice mandate: 2025, 2027, 2028
Since 2025 German businesses must be able to receive e-invoices; from 2027 (turnover above €800,000) or 2028 (everyone) they must issue them. Dates, thresholds and exceptions.
7 min · German article with English summary
XRechnung vs. ZUGFeRD: which German e-invoice format do you need?
XRechnung is pure XML required by German public-sector buyers; ZUGFeRD (identical to Factur-X) is a PDF/A-3 with embedded XML. Both satisfy EN 16931. When to use which.
6 min · German article with English summary
Creating e-invoices (XRechnung, ZUGFeRD) in Excel
Excel on its own cannot produce an EN 16931 e-invoice. With an add-in it can: enter invoice rows, check mandatory fields, create ZUGFeRD PDF or XRechnung XML inside Excel.
8 min · German article with English summary
E-invoices from Google Sheets: XRechnung and ZUGFeRD
Write invoices as rows in Google Sheets and create EN 16931 e-invoices (ZUGFeRD PDF, XRechnung XML) with a Google Docs template, Gmail sending and Drive storage.
7 min · German article with English summary
How to open and read an XRechnung (German e-invoice XML)
An XRechnung is an XML file that shows only source code when double-clicked. Free viewers (ELSTER, Quba), what to check, why the XML part is legally decisive, and how to archive it.
7 min · German article with English summary
E-invoices for German small businesses (Kleinunternehmer, § 19 UStG)
Small businesses under § 19 UStG must be able to receive e-invoices since 2025 but are not required to issue them (§ 34a UStDV). Thresholds, mandatory details, when issuing one is useful anyway.
7 min · German article with English summary
General information, not tax advice. Facts checked against the UStG, UStDV and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) as of 2026-10-12.