E-invoice (also known as "electronic invoice") is an invoice created, transmitted and received in an electronic format. It contains the same information as a traditional paper invoice but meets additional technical and formal requirements to ensure it is suitable for tax purposes. The standardization of e-invoices in Germany and the EU serves to simplify exchanges between companies and public administrations.
Tip
An e-invoice can be in various formats, including PDF, XML and other electronic formats.
Deadlines and general information can be found in the article Legal background: E-Invoice (Electronic Invoice) / ZUGFeRD (Central User Guide of the Forum for Electronic Invoicing Germany).
You will receive an e-invoice from a supplier and download it to your computer. In Xentral, you can upload the downloaded e-invoice in the liabilities module.
Steps:
-
Go to Accounting > Accounts Payable > +New in the main menu and create a new liability for your supplier invoice. Alternatively, you can also use the Smart Search and enter liabilities.
-
Upload your supplier's e-invoice in this liability.
-
The e-invoice will be displayed in the preview.
You create an e-invoice in Xentral and download it or send it as an e-mail.
Steps:
-
From the main menu, go to Accounting > Invoices > +New and create a new invoice for a customer. Alternatively, you can also go to Smart Search and enter invoices.
-
Release the invoice using the release button after you have entered all positions and data in full.
-
Download e-invoice: Click on the invoice PDF download icon. You can do this in the overview, for the respective invoice or in the preview.
-
Email Shipping E-Invoice: Click on Send Invoice in the action menu and select send by Email.
Caution
The e-invoice is automatically created as an attachment to the original invoice as soon as the document is generated – for example, when creating a PDF archive or by activating write protection.
Note
When sending invoices automatically from Xentral, the format set is used for all invoices. For example, you can have PDF invoices sent automatically via a logistics process.
-
PDF in ZUGFeRD format (readable with any PDF viewer)
-
XInvoice
For your customers who are not interested in e-invoices, the ZUGFeRD format is just as openable as the old PDF.
Caution
When sent via the send dialog, the attachment will not be sent automatically. In order for the e-invoice to be available as an attachment, write protection must be activated beforehand. The attachment must then be selected manually when submitting.
Automatically sending e-invoices via project (XRechnung & ZUGFeRD): For the automatic dispatch of e-invoices via a project to work (Auto-dispatch level 1 or 2), the following settings are required:
-
The Save as attachment option must be enabled in the e-invoice settings.
-
The PDF attachment dispatch must be activated in the project settings.
Note
When sending ZUGFeRD invoices, the regular invoice PDF is always sent automatically. In addition, the ZUGFeRD version is attached as a separate file with the suffix “-anhang.pdf”.
Note on manually sending ZUGFeRD invoices:
-
When sending manually, both the regular invoice PDF and the ZUGFeRD PDF (as “-zugferd.pdf”) are currently always sent – provided that the Save file as invoice attachment option is enabled.
-
Sending only the ZUGFeRD PDF is currently not possible.
You can define and adjust the desired format for your e-invoices, such as ZUGFeRD or XInvoice, via the settings. Here you can create a new format, assign it to specific projects and use it to send or download your invoices as an e-invoice.
Via Settings > Accounting > E-Invoice > General Settings you can specify which format you need, e.g. ZUGFeRD or XInvoice. You can also limit the exchange format to a project and send it only for the project "B2B".
Steps:
-
Create a new format via +NEW and set the format e.g.: ZUGFeRD or XInvoice.
-
Assign the format to a project.
-
Use the Save file as invoice attachment format for invoicing.
-
Optional: Set a Valid From and Valid To date.
-
Click Save.
Note
The shipping option is adjustable for the document type invoice. Use the Save file as invoice attachment format for invoicing.
From Settings > Accounting > E-Invoice > E-Invoice Tax Codes you get the default tax settings for Xentral, which are adapted to the format for XInvoice or ZUGFeRD in the mapping. Here you can enter additional tax rates if you need special configurations outside the standard.
From Settings > Accounting > E-Invoice > E-Invoice Unit Codes you get the default unit settings for Xentral, which are adapted to the format for XInvoice or ZUGFeRD in the mapping. Here you can enter additional units if you use special configurations or your own units in Xentral outside the standard.
In order to submit X-invoices to public authorities and government institutions, a Leitweg ID is required. Without this ID, the invoice will be rejected by the recipient.
The Leitweg ID must be maintained in the address and is pulled from Custom Field 20. To correctly display Custom Field 20 in the address, the following steps must be taken:
Steps:
-
Go to Basic Settings > Master Data > Custom Fields.
-
For the designation Address Custom Fields, enter the label Leitweg ID and set the type to single-line.
-
You can also define whether the field should appear in Column 1 or Column 2 and in what order it should appear within the column.
-
Click Save. The Leitweg ID will now appear in the Additional Fields section of the address and can be maintained accordingly.