What is EN16931?

EN16931 is the European standard for elec­tronic invoices. It defines what infor­ma­tion an e‑invoice must contain – and forms the basis for all common formats in Germany: XRechnung, ZUGFeRD and PEPPOL BIS. When the standard changes, all formats must follow suit.

What exactly is changing with the new version?

The revision intro­duces several signi­fi­cant updates:

Con­so­li­dated invoices become possible

Pre­viously, the rule was: one order, one delivery, one invoice. Going forward, multiple orders and deli­veries can be combined into a single invoice. For many busi­nesses, this is a real sim­pli­fi­ca­tion in day-to-day ope­ra­tions – but it also requires systems built on this 1:1 logic to be rebuilt.

Payment terms become struc­tured

Early payment discounts, due dates, and penalties were pre­viously free-text fields – anyone could fill them in however they liked. This led to misun­derstan­dings and manual cor­rec­tions. Going forward, there will be stan­dar­dized fields for each of these cases.

New technical foun­da­tion

The under­lying XML standards are being updated: UBL from version 2.1 to 2.5, CII from D16B to D25A. This means systems that generate, read, or process e‑invoices will need to support these new struc­tures.

Stricter vali­da­tion rules

Invoices that are con­sidered tech­ni­cally correct today could be flagged as invalid under the new rules – and vice versa. An update is therefore not optional, but mandatory.

Pre­pa­ra­tion for ViDA

The EU is planning real-time digital tax reporting for cross-border tran­sac­tions from July 2030 onwards (VAT in the Digital Age). The new standard already estab­lishes the required data points for this – those who switch early will be well posi­tioned here too.

Who is affected – and from when?

In short, the 2026 e‑invoice standard affects all German companies in the B2B sector. The statutory deadlines are clear:

• From January 2027, companies with prior-year revenue exceeding €800,000 must issue e‑invoices.
• From January 2028, the requi­re­ment applies to all companies without exception.
• From July 2030, ViDA comes into force – digital tax reporting at EU level.

The updated formats (XRechnung 4.0, ZUGFeRD in a new version, PEPPOL BIS 4) are expected to be published in the second half of 2026 or in 2027. Those who wait until the new versions are available will have little room for testing and migration.

What does this mean in practice for your business?

The key question is: what software are you currently using to create, send, or process e‑invoices?

Every solution working with XRechnung, ZUGFeRD, or PEPPOL will need to be updated to the new standard version. If this doesn’t happen, invoices will become tech­ni­cally invalid – with potential con­se­quences for payment pro­ces­sing and tax reco­gni­tion.

This affects ERP systems, accoun­ting software, and spe­cia­lized e‑invoicing solutions alike. What matters is that your systems are updated well ahead of the statutory deadlines – because those who act at the last minute risk dis­rup­tions to invoicing ope­ra­tions and possible tax impli­ca­tions.

Insiders keeps you informed – and guides you through the tran­si­tion

Insiders has been tracking the deve­lo­p­ment of the new standard from the outset and is among the first providers to actively com­mu­ni­cate about it. The entire e‑Finance product line – e‑convert, e‑invoice pro, and e‑connect – will be updated to the new standard version in good time.

As a tech­no­logy company with deep expertise in e‑invoice pro­ces­sing, Insiders supports customers through exactly these kinds of tran­si­tions: tech­ni­cally precise, on time, and without ope­ra­tional dis­rup­tions.