XRechnung is Germany’s standard for structured electronic invoices. It is a national specification (CIUS) of the European standard EN 16931, maintained by KoSIT, the Coordination Office for IT Standards in Bremen.
An XRechnung is a pure XML file without a visual layer. It can be written in two syntaxes: UBL 2.1 or UN/CEFACT CII.
Where XRechnung is used
Suppliers to German federal authorities have had to send e-invoices since 27 November 2020, and XRechnung is the standard format for invoicing the German public sector. In domestic B2B, all German businesses must be able to receive e-invoices since 1 January 2025. XRechnung is one of the accepted formats, alongside ZUGFeRD from version 2.0.1 (except the MINIMUM and BASIC WL profiles) and other formats that follow EN 16931, such as Peppol BIS Billing 3.0. See the Germany e-invoicing guide for the full timeline.
Leitweg-ID
Invoices to German public authorities must carry the recipient’s Leitweg-ID in the buyer reference (BT-10). The authority provides the ID, and an invoice without it is rejected.
Versions
XRechnung 3.0 has been in force since 1 February 2024 and, according to KoSIT, remains in force until at least 31 July 2027. A preliminary version of XRechnung 4.0 was published in September 2026, with the final version expected in early 2027. XRechnung 4.0 follows the revised EN 16931 and is not backward compatible with 3.0.
How Qvalia supports XRechnung
Through Qvalia’s Transaction API, you can send XRechnung 3.0 in UBL directly to the invoice endpoints, or upload XRechnung in UBL or CII syntax, which Qvalia converts to Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, validates and sends. Invoices you have sent can be downloaded as XRechnung in UBL or CII, provided the invoice has a Leitweg-ID. See sending invoices in your existing format.
Read more about e-invoicing in Germany with Qvalia.
Read the official specification on xeinkauf.de.
