Create e-invoices: XRechnung and ZUGFeRD.
Xellux Finance · Invoice RE-108
Example dataCafé Lindgrün · Jana Lindgren
€2,480.00
RE-108
Ready as e-invoice
- Buyer and seller address
- VAT ID and tax category
- IBAN with a valid check digit
- Buyer reference or Leitweg-ID
- Totals rounded per tax rate
What is an e-invoice?
An e-invoice is an invoice in a structured data format under the European standard EN 16931, which software can read without retyping. A PDF alone is not an e-invoice, even when it arrives by email: it is a picture of the invoice, not data.
Two formats are common in Germany. XRechnung is pure XML and the standard for invoices to public authorities, there usually with a Leitweg-ID. ZUGFeRD is a PDF with the same data embedded as XML: people read the PDF, programs read the data. Xellux creates both from the same invoice.
What the German e-invoicing mandate means for you.
Since 1 January 2025, every business in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices from other businesses. That includes small businesses under § 19 UStG.
Issuing has transition periods: until the end of 2026, paper and other electronic formats are still allowed. Until the end of 2027 that continues for businesses whose previous-year turnover was at most €800,000. From 1 January 2028, all businesses issue invoices to other domestic businesses as e-invoices.
Exempt from issuing are small businesses under § 19 UStG and small invoices up to €250. Invoices to consumers are not affected.
As of October 2026. This is an overview, not tax advice; ask your tax advisor about your case.
XRechnung or ZUGFeRD?
| XRechnung | ZUGFeRD (Factur-X) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Pure XML, as UBL or CII | PDF/A-3 with embedded XML |
| For whom | Public authorities and public buyers | Businesses that also want a readable PDF |
| Readable by people | Only with a viewer | Yes, like a normal PDF |
| In Xellux | Button “E-invoice (XRechnung)” | Button “ZUGFeRD (PDF)”, profile EN 16931 |
Four steps to an e-invoice.
1. Enter your invoice details once
Address, VAT ID, IBAN with check digit, BIC and commercial register sit once in your invoice details. For the customer, add the buyer reference, for authorities the Leitweg-ID.
2. Write the invoice
An accepted quote creates the first invoice on its own, or you create one for the customer. Reverse charge within the EU and invoices to non-EU countries get the right tax category.
3. Download as e-invoice
One click creates XRechnung or ZUGFeRD. If a required field is missing, Xellux says which and jumps straight to it on the customer or in your invoice details.
4. Payment and dunning
Your customer pays through a payment link. If the payment does not come, dunning prepares drafts for the reminder and the dunning letters, which you approve.
What else Finance does.
Receive e-invoices
You upload incoming XRechnung files (UBL or CII) and ZUGFeRD PDFs up to 10 MB in the Inbound tab. Xellux reads them, checks the totals and names each finding with the rule number of the standard.
Dunning under German law
Three stages: payment reminder, first and second dunning letter. The drafts are checked against §§ 286 and 288 BGB, with default interest and the €40 flat fee towards businesses. From the first dunning letter on, a person confirms.
Sign quotes online
Your customer signs the quote through a link in the browser, on a phone too, without an account. Optionally confirmed by a one-time code; the record says exactly which level was reached.
Small business rule § 19
A switch for the small business rule from a given date, your turnover against the limit and a list of what in Stripe would still charge tax.
Ask your money
Finance answers questions like “Who pays latest?” with the records as chips, from your real invoices and payments.
Expected payments
Open invoices and the pipeline from the CRM add up to the expected payments of the next 13 weeks, weighted by each customer's payment behaviour.
What invoicing software costs today.
| Tool | Plan | Price per month |
|---|---|---|
| Lexware OfficeL | L | €21.90 |
| sevDeskBuchhaltung | Buchhaltung | €25.90 |
| DocusignStandard | Standard | €39.00 |
| Invoices and signature, one person | €60.90 | |
| Xellux SoloE-invoicing, quotes with signature, dunning, plus CRM and Meet | €49 | |
Vendors' list prices on 14 Oct 2026, monthly billing, before tax. Per tool the plan the vendor marks as popular or recommended. The total counts Lexware Office as the cheaper of the two invoicing programs.
Features are not identical: Lexware Office and sevDesk are accounting programs, Xellux is not. Trademarks belong to their owners.
What Xellux Finance is not.
- No bookkeeping and no tax advice: Finance writes and tracks invoices, it does not book them for you.
- No DATEV export and no GoBD archive yet. Both are planned, not built.
- No email address for incoming e-invoices yet; you upload them.
- Finance works with your own Stripe account. Invoices, payment links and payments run there; without a Stripe key, Finance only shows the setup.
- The online signature is a simple or advanced electronic signature, not a qualified one. Where the law requires written form, it is not enough.
E-invoicing comes with Solo.
Finance with e-invoicing, quotes and dunning is part of Solo for €49 a month net, with CRM and Meet. In the Team plan for €99, five people work with it.
Questions about e-invoicing.
Xellux
You: Is a PDF an e-invoice?
Xellux: No. A plain PDF is a picture of the invoice. An e-invoice holds the data structured under EN 16931, as XRechnung (XML) or as ZUGFeRD, a PDF with embedded XML.
You: Do I have to be able to receive e-invoices?
Xellux: Yes. Since 1 January 2025, every business in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices from other businesses, small businesses included. In Xellux you upload them in the Inbound tab and see the check.
You: Do small businesses have to issue e-invoices?
Xellux: No. Small businesses under § 19 UStG are exempt from issuing, but they still have to be able to receive. This is an overview, not tax advice.
You: What is a Leitweg-ID?
Xellux: The Leitweg-ID is the address of a German public authority for e-invoices. In Xellux you enter it on the customer as the buyer reference, and it goes into every XRechnung to that customer.
You: How sure is it that the file is valid?
Xellux: Xellux output has been run through the Mustang validator 2.26.0, which checks the rules of EN 16931 and XRechnung 3.0: domestic, reverse charge, non-EU and card payment, all valid. If a required field is missing, Xellux creates no file and says what is missing.
You: What does it cost?
Xellux: E-invoicing is part of Finance in the Solo plan for €49 a month net, together with CRM and Meet. You need your own Stripe account for invoices and payments.