{"id":108616,"date":"2020-03-16T12:44:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T11:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/easy-software.com\/?p=108616"},"modified":"2025-03-17T16:12:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T15:12:59","slug":"electronic-invoice-formats-standard-confusion-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/easy-software.com\/en\/newsroom\/electronic-invoice-formats-standard-confusion-in-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Electronic invoice formats \u2013 standard confusion in Europe?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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To allow the transfer of data to function smoothly, invoice standards are necessary, which means standardized invoice formats \u2013 have you heard of Facture X<\/strong> or XRechnung<\/strong>, Fatura PA<\/strong> or ZUGFeRD<\/strong>? These electronic invoice formats could also be of interest to you. Time to shed a little light on things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The XRechnung invoice format<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The electronic invoice format was initiated and developed at the 23rd meeting of the IT Planning Council for the German Federal Government and Federal States on October 10, 2017; the title of the meeting was: \u201eEinf\u00fchrung der elektronischen Rechnung in Deutschland\u201c (The introduction of the electronic invoice in Germany). The reason and the occasion was, and is, EU Directive 2014\/55\/EU<\/a> dating from April 16, 2014. In this directive, an agreement was reached at the European level on electronic invoicing for public sector contracts. This demonstrates the political will<\/strong> to advance the use of digital invoicing in the countries of the EU. As is usual with EU directives, the specific implementation into national law is now the responsibility of the EU member states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stated objective in Germany is to achieve this with the XRechnung<\/strong> electronic invoice format <\/strong>. Since November 7, 2018 the introduction of the same format for all federal ministries as well as constitutional bodies has been binding, with the federal states and municipalities following approximately one year later. Read more about the topic of the XRechnung<\/a> invoice format. The leading body for the configuration and development of the electronic invoice format known as XRechnung is the Coordinating Office for IT Standards <\/em>(KoSIT).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standards<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fatura PA (IT) , Facture X (FR), XRechnung and ZUGFeRD 2.0 (DE) \u2013 are the four names of national invoice formats that differ in details but are based on the European standard EN16931.<\/strong> The latter in turn provides for the XML standards UBL and UN\/CEFACT Cross Industry Invoice (CII) for the creation of structured invoices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What exactly is the XRechnung invoice format?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"XML-based<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The XRechnung format stands for an XML-based semantic invoice format<\/strong>. It primarily has the purpose of issuing electronic invoices to public sector clients in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The XRechnung format is fully documented and product- and manufacturer neutral; it is based on the EU EN 16931 standard. The documentation is available to everyone at no cost. This is one of the key advantages of the XRechnung invoice format. In principle, anyone can read it and implement it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does a semantic data model mean in the context of the XRechnung invoice format?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As referred to above, the XRechnung invoice format is XML-based (Extensible Markup Language<\/strong>). XML is included among the machine-readable markup languages. XML results in two important advantages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n