3. Getting started
The interface
After signing in you see three areas:
This handbook is always reachable from inside the portal — in three places, so it is where you expect it: at the bottom of the sidebar (Handbook), in the profile menu behind your name, and behind the ? symbol in the top bar. It opens in a new tab, in the language you are working in.
The company switcher
If you belong to more than one company, choose the active one at the top right. The whole application then shows only that company's data: its invoices, its customers, its members. Your rights apply per company too — you can be the owner of one and only a guest in another.
Complete your company profile
Companies → your company → Edit.
These details appear on every invoice and are carried into the e-invoice. Please complete them before you write your first invoice:
| Field | Why it is needed |
|---|---|
| Company name, legal form | Mandatory on business letters |
| Address, post code, city, country | Mandatory, and BT-40 in the e-invoice |
| VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.) | § 14 UStG, BT-31 in the e-invoice, prerequisite for PEPPOL |
| Tax number (Steuernummer) | Alternative to the VAT id, BT-32 |
| Commercial register and register court | § 35a GmbHG for corporations |
| Managing directors | § 35a GmbHG |
| IBAN, BIC, bank name | Payment details, the basis of the Girocode |
| E-mail, phone, website | Contact details; the e-mail is mandatory for XRechnung |
| Logo | Appears in your templates |
| Colours | The accent colours of your documents |
| Default VAT rate | Fallback when a line item carries none of its own |
| Small business under § 19 UStG | Switches off the VAT statement and adds the required note |
Important
Without a VAT identification number there is no PEPPOL dispatch — the access network checks that the sender of an invoice belongs to a registered identity. Without an IBAN no Girocode appears on the payment page.
Check the numbering
Rules → Numbering. Every document type has its own, independent number range, so a quotation can never consume an invoice number.
| Document type | Suggested prefix | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice | none | 2026-0001 |
| Quotation | A- |
A-2026-0001 |
| Order confirmation | AB- |
AB-2026-0001 |
| Delivery note | LS- |
LS-2026-0001 |
You can set the prefix, the format and the reset rule. In the format,
YYYY stands for the year, MM for the month, and a run of zeros for the running
number — the length of that run sets the padding. So YYYY-0000 produces
2026-0001. Reset can be never, yearly or monthly.
Important
Under § 14 UStG an invoice number must be sequential and unique. The platform therefore assigns numbers under a lock: even if two people save at the same moment, each gets their own number and no gap appears. Change the format only at a year boundary if you can.
Tax categories
Rules → Tax Categories. This holds the DATEV chart of accounts your bookkeeping uses — SKR03 (organised by process, the common standard) or SKR04 (organised by the annual accounts). A German revenue account states its own VAT treatment, so choosing a category on an invoice settles both the rate and the VAT category of the e-invoice.
You do not need to create anything — the full standard chart is already there. You can add your own categories.
Customers and catalog
- Customers — address, contact and VAT identification number. The customer's VAT id is carried into the e-invoice as BT-48 and is mandatory for PEPPOL recipients.
- Catalog — products and services in one list. Every entry carries a unit, a price and its own VAT rate; when it is inserted into an invoice, that rate travels with the line.
Tip
Create your ten most frequent line items in the catalog once. After that an invoice takes seconds and the VAT rates are always right.
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