From January 1^st 2025, companies in the B2B sector will have to implement new requi­re­ments for their invoices. We have sum­ma­rized for you what the e‑invoicing obli­ga­tion means in concrete terms. Right up front: with Insiders and our stan­dar­dized solutions for modern invoice exchange and highly efficient, intel­li­gent invoice pro­ces­sing, you are already well prepared for all coming changes.

The e‑invoicing obli­ga­tion sum­ma­rized for you.

• Obli­ga­tion for receiving invoices starting 2025
• Tran­si­tional periods until 2028
• E‑invoices must comply with EN 16931
• PDFs & emails are not elec­tronic invoices

Legal requi­re­ments and defi­ni­tion of an elec­tronic invoice

What is an e‑invoice?

According to the current e‑invoice regu­la­tion (August 2024), an elec­tronic invoice is an invoice that is issued, trans­mitted and received in a struc­tured elec­tronic format. This enables automatic and elec­tronic document pro­ces­sing without any problems. E‑invoices are therefore always primarily machine-readable. However, Insiders offers you the con­ve­nient option of creating a human-readable visual document.

The struc­tured elec­tronic format of the e‑invoice must comply with the European standard for elec­tronic invoicing (EN 16931) and the syntaxes permitted in the EU directive. These are UBL and UN/CEFACT CII.

However, the legis­lator also allows invoice issuers and invoice reci­pi­ents to agree indi­vi­du­ally on the format in which invoices are exchanged between them. The pre­re­qui­site for this method is that the format used also enables the correct and complete extra­c­tion of all infor­ma­tion required by the VAT Act from the e‑invoice into a format that complies with the EN 16931 standard or is inter­ope­rable with it.

What is not an e‑invoice?

Just because you already receive an invoice elec­tro­ni­cally or send it elec­tro­ni­cally does not mean that it will be an official “elec­tronic invoice” from 01.01.2025. Starting January 1^st 2025, all invoices in paper form or in elec­tronic formats that do not meet the legal requi­re­ments will be con­sidered “other invoices”. This also includes, for example, PDF invoices or emails with mandatory invoice details.

It is therefore important to use an efficient and flexible solution that processes both elec­tronic invoices in accordance with the strict legal requi­re­ments and “other invoices” fully auto­ma­ti­cally for you. Avoid resource-intensive hybrid routes and rely on the Insiders solution, which combines both routes in a single system: efficient, intel­li­gent and resource-saving.

Who is subject to the e‑invoicing obli­ga­tion?

The e‑invoicing obli­ga­tion in Germany currently (August 2024) only applies to tran­sac­tions between companies (B2B), whereby both the company providing the service and the recipient of the service must be based in Germany. Summary invoices are also subject to the e‑invoice obli­ga­tion.

Deadlines and tran­si­tion periods for the e‑invoicing obli­ga­tion

The intro­duc­tion of e‑invoicing in the B2B sector will be mandatory from 01.01.2025. However, there are tran­si­tional periods (see the German VAT legis­la­tion) that will make it easier for you to adapt to the new requi­re­ments.

Until December 31 2026, you may continue to send and receive paper invoices for B2B sales from 2025 and 2026. PDFs, email invoices or elec­tronic invoices that do not comply with the new requi­re­ments are still permitted as before, provided the recipient agrees.

Until 31. December 2027, only those invoice issuers who have a previous year’s turnover (total turnover of max. 800,000 EUR according to the German VAT legis­la­tion may send paper invoices and other non-EN 16931-compliant invoices.

With the start of 2028 the new requi­re­ments for e‑invoices and their trans­mis­sion channels will finally be mandatory for everyone.

So don’t wait until the last minute to switch to EU-compliant e‑invoicing and take advantage of the numerous benefits of e‑invoicing for you and your company now with Insiders.

How Insiders Tech­no­lo­gies can help you

Insiders Tech­no­lo­gies supports all common e‑invoice formats such as XRechnung, ZUGFeRD, FacturX, FA(2), Fattura PA and more, and offers you a flexible portfolio for your modern invoice pro­ces­sing including invoice sending and receiving as well as an easy con­nec­tion the most important invoice portals and networks such as Peppol. Our solutions can be seam­lessly inte­grated into your existing systems and ensure a smooth tran­si­tion to e‑invoicing.

We keep an eye on legal deve­lo­p­ments for you and always adapt our service and products to the latest cir­cum­s­tances. This means you can use the e‑invoicing obli­ga­tion as an oppor­tu­nity and look forward to the changes with peace of mind.

Our team is always available to answer your questions and help you switch to e‑invoicing.

Contact us for an indi­vi­dual con­sul­ta­tion and find out how we can optimize your invoicing processes together.