Exemptions to the obligation to issue electronic invoices are specified in section 3 (3) of the E-Invoicing Ordinance ( E-Rechnungsverordnung, ERechV) as follows: there is no obligation to use electronic invoicing for invoice data requiring confidentiality (section 8 ERechV), matters of the Foreign Service (section 9 ERechV), invoices for direct contracts (section 3 (3) no. 1 ERechV), and procurement procedures performed for the Federation by way of an official delegation of powers as referred to in section 159 (1) no. 5 of the Competition Act ( Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen, GWB)

In addition to the two other available transmission methods, email is an option for submitting electronic invoices to the federal invoice submission portal (OZG-RE). To use this option, users must be registered with the relevant portal.

Important information on using email as a transmission method can be found here.

Electronic invoicing allows for fully automated transmission and processing of invoice information, from the creation of invoices to their payment. Technically speaking, an electronic invoice is a data set arranged in a standardised structure.

The E-Invoicing Ordinance (full title: “Ordinance on Electronic Invoicing in Federal Public Procurement”; Verordnung über die elektronische Rechnungsstellung im öffentlichen Auftragswesen des Bundes, E-RechV) governs how electronic invoicing works in the federal administration and specifies the requirements of the federal E-Invoicing Act, thus helping to implement EU Directive 2014/55/EU at federal level.

Most enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is able to create electronic invoices. This is especially useful if you need to send large numbers of e-invoices. You can find out from your ERP provider whether your ERP is capable of producing e-invoices.

In order to cover sector-specific areas of application, EU member states can expand the semantic data model of European standard EN 16931 using extensions. Germany’s first extension was introduced on 1 January 2021 for the XRechnung standard. The extension allows a single invoice line to be divided into several sub invoice lines. The extension will also allow XML files to be embedded in the invoice as attachments.