6. E-invoicing and capturing receipts

Why e-invoicing

An e-invoice is not a PDF sent by e-mail. It is a structured data record the recipient's software can read without retyping. The European standard is EN 16931; Germany recognises two forms of it:

• XRechnung — pure XML. The standard for invoices to public authorities.
• ZUGFeRD — a hybrid: an ordinary, human-readable PDF with the same XML embedded invisibly inside it. A person sees the invoice, a machine reads the data. Technically a PDF/A-3 file.

Since 2025 businesses in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices; the obligation to send is being phased in. ZUGFeRD is the comfortable route, because one file serves both worlds.

Module: E-Invoice. Included from the Professional plan.

Producing an e-invoice

On the invoice page: Export e-invoice. Choose the formats (XRechnung, ZUGFeRD or both) and, for ZUGFeRD, the profile:

• EN 16931 — the European base rules, more forgiving.
• XRechnung 3.0 — the stricter German form with the additional BR-DE rules.

The platform renders your template as the visible page and builds the XML from the stored invoice, not from the PDF. What is in the database is the truth; the PDF is only a view of it.

The validation report

Every generation is checked against the official rules and you see the report immediately. Common messages and what they mean:

Important

Only a valid e-invoice is archived. If validation fails you still get the file to look at, but it does not enter the archive and cannot be sent over PEPPOL. That is deliberate — an invalid record would be rejected at the other end.

The other tools in this module

• Validate — upload someone else's XML or ZUGFeRD file and have it checked against EN 16931. Useful when a supplier sends an e-invoice and you want to know whether it is sound.
• Convert — pull the embedded XML out of a ZUGFeRD PDF. If the file contains none, the platform reads the invoice from the document itself and hands you a draft to check.
• ERP export — turn any invoice PDF into a structured data model you can load into your merchandise system as JSON or CSV. Only the document is read; no data from your account is mixed in.

Capturing receipts: the scanner

Module: Scan. Included in every plan.

A photo or scan becomes a usable record:

1. Capture or upload. Phone camera or a file from your computer.
2. Crop. The platform finds the edges of the receipt and straightens the image; the four corners can be dragged with a finger or the mouse.
3. Recognise. Text recognition reads the seller, the date, the line items, the VAT rates and the totals. Till receipts are reconciled against the printed total.
4. Check and correct. Everything recognised sits in editable fields. What you confirm here is what gets stored.
5. Use it. Export as an e-invoice, or file it directly as an incoming invoice in the bookkeeping.

During recognition the original — exactly as you cropped it — is archived automatically. File the document in the bookkeeping and it stays linked to the entry: the source document button in the journal opens it again at any time. Every scanned incoming invoice keeps its source document — the Belegfunktion the GoBD demand.

Note

A till receipt has no invoice number and often no recipient. On export the platform therefore adds a document number derived from the date, so the format requirement is satisfied. A missing recipient is shown as a note, not an error.

Tip

Till receipts state gross amounts; the bookkeeping needs net plus tax. The platform converts per VAT rate, so the total still equals what the receipt prints.