XRechnung is the German CIUS (country-specific adaptation) of EN 16931, maintained by KoSIT (Coordination Office for IT Standards). For electronic invoices to public sector clients in Germany (B2G), the XRechnung format is mandatory. XRechnung imposes stricter requirements than EN 16931 on its own.
To use it, choose an XRechnung profile (2.2, 2.3 or 3.0) under General. XRechnung 3.0 is the current version.
Additional mandatory fields compared to EN 16931
| Field | EN 16931 | XRechnung |
|---|---|---|
| Electronic address (BT-34) | optional | Mandatory |
| Seller contact telephone (BT-42) | optional | Mandatory |
| Seller contact email (BT-43) | optional | Mandatory |
| Buyer reference (BT-10) | optional | Mandatory (fallback to order number per BR-DE-15) |
| Leitweg-ID | optional | Mandatory for the public sector |
This is how you provide the mandatory fields:
- Electronic address, contact (name, telephone, email): under Seller.
- Buyer reference / recipient Leitweg-ID: via the buyer reference attribute under Buyer Information.
Common XRechnung business rules (BR-DE)
| Rule | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| BR-DE-1 | Payment instruction (BG-16) missing | Enter IBAN (BT-84) and payment means code (BT-81) |
| BR-DE-5 / 6 / 7 | Seller contact incomplete | Add contact name (BT-41), telephone (BT-42), email (BT-43) |
| BR-DE-15 | Buyer reference (BT-10) missing | Set buyer reference (fallback to order number applies automatically) |
| BR-DE-17 | VAT ID or tax number missing | Enter BT-31 (VAT ID) or BT-32 (tax number) |
Leitweg-ID
The Leitweg-ID is the German routing identifier for the public sector.
- Format:
XXX-XXXXXXXX-XX - Example:
991-12345-67
The Leitweg-ID of the recipient (public sector client) belongs in the buyer reference (BT-10) and is provided via the buyer reference attribute. A separate seller Leitweg-ID can additionally be entered under Seller.
Check XRechnung invoices before dispatch with a full EN 16931 / XRechnung validation service that covers the BR-DE business rules. The extension's pure XSD check (see Validation) does not detect these rule violations.