E-Invoicing in Germany: What’s Coming for Businesses in 2027 and 2028

Over the next few years, paper invoices in Germany will gradually be replaced by a new requirement: the electronic invoice, or e-invoice. The e-invoicing mandate in Germany  sounds simple, but in practice it's more complicated – especially for companies operating across borders. Here's a short explanation of what e-invoicing in Germany is all about. 

Why is this happening across Europe right now? 

Under EU law, a customer normally has to agree before a company can send them an e-invoice instead of paper – a company can't simply require it. Several EU countries, including Germany, have been given special permission by the EU to do exactly that anyway. The main reason is fighting tax fraud: digital invoices are harder to fake and easier to check than paper ones. In the long run, the EU wants one common set of rules for everyone – more on that below, under the keyword "ViDA" (VAT in the Digital Age). 

The e-invoicing mandate in Germany: what applies, and from when? 

• Germany e-invoicing 2025: Since 2025, every business must be able to receive e-invoices. 
• Germany e-invoicing 2027: From 2027, larger businesses (prior-year turnover above €800,000) must also be able to issue them. 
• Germany e-invoicing 2028: From 2028, this applies to practically all businesses. 

There are a few exceptions, for example for small-value invoices (up to €250) or tickets, but they don't matter much for most companies. 

E-invoicing for foreign companies in Germany: what if a company is based abroad? 

If a foreign company has a subsidiary or branch in Germany, the German rules apply to that part of the business too – even if headquarters and the IT system are located elsewhere. So, e-invoicing for foreign companies in Germany is not optional. To make things more complex, other European countries have their own e-invoicing rules, with different timelines and technical formats – for example France, Poland, Italy, and Spain. So a company active in several countries currently has to deal with several different systems at once. 

Why is e-invoicing in your ERP trickier than it sounds, technically?

A quick note first: this part is about technology, not tax law. As tax advisors, we can tell you what the legal requirements are – how a specific system implements them technically is a question for the IT partner, in our case Alta Via Applications. 

In practice, many accounting and ERP systems – even well-known, established ones – aren't automatically able to produce e-invoices in the required format correctly. Usually, some adjustments are still needed, for example to customer data or the file format, before a truly valid e-invoice comes out the other end. 

The key point: an e-invoice is not a PDF. Under the new rules, only a structured data file that follows the European standard EN 16931 counts as an e-invoice – in Germany this is typically XRechnung, or ZUGFeRD, a PDF with the invoice data embedded as XML. Both XRechnung and ZUGFeRD are based on EN 16931. A PDF sent by email no longer qualifies. This changes what an ERP system has to deliver. The typical stumbling blocks we see in e-invoicing ERP projects: 

• Master data: every mandatory field must be filled and correctly coded – VAT IDs, complete addresses, payment terms, bank details, standardised codes for units of measure and, for public-sector customers, the buyer reference (Leitweg-ID).
• Tax logic: special cases such as reverse charge, intra-community supplies or mixed VAT rates have to be translated into the correct tax category codes and exemption reasons. If they aren't, the invoice is rejected.
• Validation: every invoice should be checked automatically against the official rules before it leaves the system. An invoice rejected by the customer means a delayed payment.
• Transmission and archiving: invoices need a reliable delivery channel (email or the European Peppol network), and the XML file itself is the original that has to be archived unchanged and audit-proof.
• Incoming invoices: an XML file is not human-readable. It has to be displayed for review and approval, and its data has to flow into accounts payable.

In other words, e-invoicing is less about a new file format and more about data quality across sales, finance and master data. Companies that start with a data check rather than with the format save themselves the most trouble later. 

NetSuite e-invoicing: how do NetSuite and Alta Via Applications help? 

Oracle NetSuite already comes with a solid foundation. With Alta Via's experience, the system can be extended so that invoices are automatically created, checked, and sent in the right format – and incoming e-invoices are processed automatically as well. For companies with several country entities, that means one system instead of many separate solutions. The technical details of NetSuite e-invoicing are best discussed directly with Alta Via Applications. 

Alta Via Applications develops localisation and compliance extensions for NetSuite, with a focus on European requirements. For e-invoicing, that means in practice: 

• Germany: our Localization Germany bundle generates XRechnung and ZUGFeRD invoices directly from NetSuite, including a validation check against EN 16931 before sending – so errors are caught inside the system, not by the customer.
• Europe: through an integrated connection with Peppol and national government platforms, operated together with a certified access-point partner, the same NetSuite invoice is delivered in whatever format the recipient's country requires. This turns Peppol e-invoicing into a standard process instead of a separate project.
• Implementation: we start with a quick readiness check and lean initial setup, then configure, test with real invoice samples and go live – well before the deadline for Germany e-invoicing in 2027 or 2028.

"Most e-invoices don't fail because of the format, but because of the data behind them. That's why we treat e-invoicing as a process inside NetSuite, not as an export button."

Natalia Shilova, Head of Product, Alta Via Applications 

What's coming next? ViDA – VAT in the Digital Age 

The EU plans to eventually replace the many national special rules with one shared system. This project is called "ViDA" (VAT in the Digital Age) and is set to roll out step by step from 2027, aiming for a unified European approach by around the mid-2030s. 

This is exactly why we decided at Alta Via not to build a separate solution for every country. Our European e-invoicing solution for NetSuite is built on the common European standard EN 16931 – the same standard ViDA uses for cross-border e-invoices. Through our access-point partner, it covers more than 40 countries, including those with government clearance platforms such as Italy (SDI), Poland (KSeF) and Romania (e-Factura). 

For our customers, this means that when the next country introduces an obligation, it's a matter of activating that country, not starting a new IT project. And when ViDA brings digital reporting for transactions within the EU, the same clean invoice data can be reused. The effort a company invests for the e-invoicing mandate in Germany in 2027 pays off across Europe. 

Conclusion 

Companies that prepare their ERP systems now will be ready for 2027 and 2028 – and for what follows EU-wide after that. ECOVIS KSO and AltaVia support this together: the tax side and the technical implementation of e-invoicing in Germany.