Most invoices today are sent electronically, but as PDFs that recipients retype or extract with text recognition. An e-invoice in the sense of the standard instead contains the invoice data in structured form, so it can flow into accounting without manual handling.
XRechnung and ZUGFeRD
XRechnung is a pure data format, the German implementation of EN 16931, originally developed for invoices to public authorities. ZUGFeRD is a hybrid format: a PDF for the human eye with an embedded structured file, equivalent in content to the French Factur-X. Both count as e-invoices in Germany if they are compliant.
Duties in Germany
Since 1 January 2025 domestic businesses must be able to receive e-invoices. From 1 January 2027 companies whose total turnover in the previous year exceeded EUR 800,000 must issue invoices to other domestic businesses as e-invoices; from 1 January 2028 this applies to everyone. Small businesses are exempt from issuing, as are small-amount invoices up to EUR 250. According to the tax authorities, the duty applies only when both supplier and recipient are established in Germany.
Switzerland and Austria
Switzerland has no general e-invoicing duty between businesses. The federal administration has required electronic invoices from suppliers with contracts of CHF 5,000 or more since 2016. In Austria, e-invoices to the federal government have been mandatory since 2014; there is no general duty between businesses. Swiss and Austrian suppliers with German customers are nevertheless increasingly asked for structured invoices.
What companies should do
What matters is your own date, a receiving channel, the choice of format and checking every system that creates invoices, including subscription software and web shops. The Swiss QR-bill is a payment slip, not an e-invoice in the sense of the standard. Our e-invoicing checklist walks through the steps.