Explore the world of e-envoicing in Germany! Our latest blog series will guide you through the various portals and transmission methods in the German B2G e-invoicing system. Learn how to efficiently and compliantly send invoices to public authorities.
Per EU Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement, Germany has mandated public authorities, through its E-Invoicing Ordinance (ERechV), to gradually accept e-invoices in the XRechnung format or other formats compliant with the European standard on eInvoicing, from their contractors. This began in November 2018 for federal authorities and a year later in November 2019 for sub-central, sectoral, and concessionary authorities.
Finally, on November 27, 2020, the obligation for invoice issuers to issue invoices electronically came into effect. Exceptions to this obligation are regulated in the ordinance and include, amonth other things, invoices for direct orders up to an amount of €1,000 (order value).
Parallel to the ongoing discussions surrounding the Growth Opportunities Act, including the proposal for mandatory electronic invoicing between businesses (B2B), we are now delving deeper into the topic of electronic invoicing in the B2G sector. In the following blog series, we will shed light on various aspects of this German B2G e-invoicing obligation, which is already in force. Today, we start with an overview of the different portals and transmission methods used for invoicing public authorities in Germany.
In the next few issues, we will take a closer look at the different invoicing standards, examine the Leitweg-ID (a routing ID used specifically in German B2G e-invoicing) in detail, take a closer look at Peppol in the context of the German B2G e-invoice, and look at the status of the introduction of mandatory e-invoicing in the individual federal states. Finally, we will take a closer look at how our all-in-one solution for SMEs, Banqup, can help you submit your invoices to the German authorities in compliance with the law.
A variety of portals
The German federal administration uses two nationwide portals for e-invoices: The Federal Central Invoice Submission Portal ZRE (Zentrale Rechnungseingangsplattform des Bundes), which enables all organisations of the direct federal administration to receive e-invoices, and the Online Access Act-compliant Invoice Submission Portal OZG-RE (Onlinezugangsgesetz-konforme Rechnungseingangsplattform), which is offered to organisations of the indirect federal administration and cooperating federal states. Instead of the OZG-RE, organisations of the indirect federal administration can also implement their own solutions for receiving e-invoices, provided they comply with the Ordinance on Electronic Invoicing in Federal Public Procurement (E-Rechnungsverordung - ERechV).
These are the two invoice receipt portals of the immediate federal administration, parts of the indirect federal administration, and participating federal states. In addition, there are numerous self-operated platform solutions. Before sending an invoice, make sure you are using the correct portal and have it confirmed by your customer.
Federal Central Invoice Submission Portal (ZRE)
To support the federal administration (e.g., federal ministries and supreme federal authorities) in accepting e-invoices, the Federal Central Invoice Submission Portal (ZRE) was developed. This is a web application that enables suppliers and service providers to send e-invoices to the respective federal administration.
Online Access Act-compliant Invoice Submission Portal (OZG-RE)
For the submission of invoices to the institutions of the indirect federal administration and states connected to the system, a separate portal has been developed: the Online Access Act- or OZG-compliant Invoice Submission Portal (OZG-RE).
Other
Due to Germany's federal structure, the transposition of the EU directive into national law is inconsistent and must be carried out separately by the federal government and the 16 federal states. As a result, there may be different requirements for e-invoicing for suppliers due to the respective state regulations - such as the permissible formats (in accordance with European standard 16931) or transmission methods, as well as monetary thresholds.
At the request of invoice issuers, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community has published an overview of the information on e-invoicing provided by each federal state on its e-invoicing website, to provide an initial overview of the implementation. However, no guarantee can be given for the completeness, timeliness, and accuracy of the information provided by each federal state. Further information can be found in the KoSIT state synopsis (Ländersynopse, available in German).
If you are unsure about the legal situation and the routing ID (i.e. the buyer reference serving to uniquely identify the respective recipient) to be used, we recommend that you contact your customers in the state administrations directly.
Transmission methods
For customers connected to one of the two federal invoice receipt portals ZRE and OZG-RE, there are generally four options for e-invoice transmission available to invoice issuers, which are described in more detail below:
As part of the implementation of Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement in Germany, the National IT Planning Council decided that public bodies in Germany must be reachable via the Peppol network if they offer a web service for e-invoices.
In fact, Peppol is the preferred method of receipt for the two federal portals and the only method that supports the fully automated exchange of electronic documents and the transmission of large volumes of electronic invoices. This results in additional benefits such as greater efficiency, quality and security.
To submit invoices via Peppol, suppliers can choose to use the federal Peppol web service (known in German as Peppol des Bundes), use an existing Peppol service provider such as Unifiedpost and our SME solution Banqup, or join OpenPeppol and set up their own Peppol access point.
- Email or De-Mail (the state-certified service for legally secure communication on the Internet):
When using email, it is important to observe the restrictions imposed by the federal authorities, such as each email may only contain one invoice and that "no reply" email addresses may not be used.
Regardless of whether you send to the ZRE or the OZG-RE (and whether you use standard email or the e-government communication service De-Mail available for ZRE), the first step in both cases is to register with the chosen submission portal. There is helpful documentation on the e-invoice submission process for both options, and both platforms also offer a test environment where users can practice the process.
Both ZRE and OZG-RE allow manual entry of invoice data into a web form in the browser. This method is recommended if you do not have your own software for creating e-invoices or if you do not need to submit large volumes of documents.
E-invoices created in another system in the XRechnung standard can be submitted to both ZRE and OZG-RE via manual upload. This method is recommended in addition to web submission if there is no dedicated software used for creating e-invoices or if no large volumes of documents need to be submitted.
We hope that you have enjoyed this first step in exploring the world of B2G e-invoicing in Germany and that you have gained valuable insights into the regulations, portals and transfer methods. But this is only the beginning. Stay tuned for our next posts, where we will dive deeper into invoicing standards, all things Leitweg ID, Peppol in the context of German B2G e-invoicing and the status of the e-invoicing regulation in the individual federal states. You will also learn how our all-in-one solution for SMEs, Banqup, can optimise your invoicing process to meet the requirements of the German authorities.
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