As of 18 April 2020, German public authorities at state level, as well as states and local authorities, must be able to receive electronic invoices in XInvoice format (ZUGFeRD 2.1).
From 27 November 2020, public authority contractors must also be able to send electronic invoices.
XInvoice (also known in Germany as XRechnung or ZUGFeRD 2.1 and in France as Factur-X) affects all public institutions and authorities. It does not matter whether the contractor is from Germany or another EU country. All invoices to the authorities must be issued in XRechnung format.
Since EU Directive 2014/55/EU, public authorities in Europe are therefore obliged to be able to receive and process electronic invoices. In the course of this, a standard (EN 16931) has been developed which specifies which elements an e-invoice must always contain as standard. XRechnung is an XML file that fully complies with the XML schema specifications of the European standard EN 16931 and must therefore be used.
As CodeB also deals with value exchanges and automatic settlement we feel that electronic invoicing is an essential element of CodeB.
Every CodeB Node includes a XInvoice capable e-Forms Server.
If you want to try out how such an invoice looks just fill in the e-form below:
https://forms.codeb.io/pdfforms.aspx?fid=zugferd
Every XInvoice / ZUGFeRD Invoice additional contains the invoice data as XML embedded into the PDF.
Fatura PA (IT) , Facture X (FR), XRechnung and ZUGFeRD 2.0 (DE) – are the four names of national invoice formats that differ in details but are based on the European standard EN16931. The latter in turn provides for the XML standards UBL and UN/CEFACT Cross Industry Invoice (CII) for the creation of structured invoices.
