E-invoice
Convert a PDF invoice to an e-invoice: your PDF as ZUGFeRD
Your invoice from Word, Excel or your invoicing software stays as it is. You enter the invoice details in the form once, they become the e-invoice as XML, and that goes inside your PDF: a ZUGFeRD PDF that people read as before and software imports. The official KoSIT validator checks the XML, veraPDF checks the finished file as PDF/A-3.
Free account · 50 invoices a month · XML checked with KoSIT, PDF with veraPDF
- 1Sign in free, with a link by email or with GitHub. What you have entered so far is kept.
- 2Choose your PDF and enter the invoice details as they stand on it: recipient, lines, VAT, payment. The form adds up totals and VAT as you go.
- 3“Create and validate the e-invoice”: the e-invoice is generated and checked with KoSIT, embedded in your PDF, checked as PDF/A-3 and downloaded.
Why a PDF is not simply converted
An e-invoice is the invoice data in a structured format following the EN 16931 standard, which software reads without retyping. A PDF from Word or Excel does not hold that data, only its picture: text at places on a page. Whoever “converts” it into an e-invoice has to read the picture and guess which number is the net amount and which the VAT.
With ZUGFeRD, the German finance ministry’s letter on e-invoicing makes the XML the authoritative part, not the PDF. A misread amount would sit exactly where it counts. So you enter the details here once, with the form’s checks, and your PDF stays what people see. Since both must show the same invoice, enter what stands on the PDF.
What happens to your PDF
Your PDF becomes the carrier of the e-invoice. The XML is embedded in it as an attachment, as ZUGFeRD prescribes, and the file gets what a PDF/A-3 needs: its identification as PDF/A-3 and as ZUGFeRD, a colour profile and the metadata. The pages themselves stay as they are.
Before you get the file, veraPDF, the reference validator for PDF/A, checks that it really is a PDF/A-3. If it fails, you get no file but the reason and a way out.
Nothing is stored: the PDF and your details are processed in memory on our server in the EU and dropped with the response. The account only counts how many invoices were made this month. Keeping the finished e-invoice is up to you.
Which PDFs work
In October 2026 we ran 86 invoice PDFs through this: from public ZUGFeRD sample collections, from invoicing software and libraries, from Word documents, from Chrome and from macOS. 83 became valid PDF/A-3. The other three were an Oracle report without embedded fonts, a PDF in the PDF 2.0 format and a damaged file.
Word, Excel and LibreOffice embed their fonts when saving as PDF, as does the browser’s “Save as PDF” and most invoicing software; such PDFs work. Password-protected PDFs, PDFs over 5 MB and PDFs that already hold an e-invoice do not. If fonts are missing, save the invoice as PDF/A: in Word under File → Save As → PDF → Options → “PDF/A compliant”, in LibreOffice when exporting as PDF with “PDF/A”.
If a PDF still does not work, the form offers to create the invoice from your details on our plain invoice page, with your PDF as an attachment inside the e-invoice.
And as XRechnung?
An XRechnung is a plain XML file; it has no invoice page a PDF could go on. Authorities that require XRechnung get it from the same form: choose the “XRechnung” format, enter the details and attach your PDF under “Attachments”, up to 3 MB. It then travels inside the XRechnung, and the recipient’s software finds it there.
Why an account, and what it costs
The account is free and creates 50 e-invoices a month, on your PDF or from the form. You sign in with a link by email or with GitHub, no credit card. Your own PDF needs the account because we open, rewrite and check a file from elsewhere; without an account the form creates e-invoices on our invoice page, 10 a day.
Three ways from a PDF invoice to an e-invoice
All three from the same form, as of October 2026:
| Your PDF as ZUGFeRD | ZUGFeRD from the form | XRechnung with the PDF attached | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What people see | your PDF | our plain invoice page | the data in their software, your PDF attached |
| For businesses | yes (EN 16931) | yes (EN 16931) | yes |
| For public portals | depends on the portal | depends on the portal | yes |
| Sign-in | free account | none, 10 a day | none, 10 a day |
In all three you enter the invoice details once, and in all three the KoSIT validator checks the e-invoice before you get it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I convert a PDF invoice into an e-invoice?
Yes, with this form: your PDF stays the invoice page, and the invoice details you enter once go inside as XML. The result is a ZUGFeRD PDF, an e-invoice under § 14 UStG. Renaming or merely “converting” the file is not enough, because an ordinary PDF does not hold the data in structured form.
Why do I have to enter the invoice details again?
Because with ZUGFeRD the XML counts, not the picture. A program that reads the details off the PDF has to guess which number is which, and a misreading would sit in the authoritative part of the invoice. In the form you see every detail, it works out totals and VAT itself, and the KoSIT validator checks the result. If you like, it remembers your own details for the next invoice.
Is my PDF changed?
Its pages are not. The file gets the XML as an embedded attachment, a colour profile and the metadata PDF/A-3 and ZUGFeRD require. Whoever opens it sees your invoice as before; a PDF reader also shows the attached XML.
Which PDFs work?
PDFs up to 5 MB with embedded fonts, as Word, Excel, LibreOffice, the browser and most invoicing software produce them; in our test 83 of 86 invoice PDFs became valid PDF/A-3. Password-protected PDFs, PDFs in the PDF 2.0 format and PDFs that already hold an e-invoice do not work. If the form refuses a PDF, it says why and offers to create the invoice on our invoice page instead, with your PDF attached.
Can I convert a PDF into an XRechnung?
Not so that the PDF becomes the XRechnung: an XRechnung is a plain XML file without an invoice page. Create the XRechnung from your details in the form and attach your PDF under “Attachments”; it then sits inside the XRechnung. If the recipient accepts ZUGFeRD, your PDF also works as ZUGFeRD in the XRECHNUNG profile: choose “A public authority” as the recipient.
What does it cost?
Nothing. A free account creates 50 e-invoices a month, on your PDF or from the form; you sign in with a link by email or with GitHub, no credit card. Without an account the form creates e-invoices on our invoice page, 10 a day.
What happens to my PDF?
It is processed in memory on our server in the EU: the XML embedded, the file checked as PDF/A-3, returned to you. It is not stored, nor are the invoice details; the account only counts how many invoices were made in the month. Keeping the finished e-invoice is up to you.
How can I tell whether my PDF already is an e-invoice?
With the ZUGFeRD viewer: if the PDF holds an XML, it reads it out and shows it. A PDF that already carries an e-invoice is not taken by this form a second time.
May I still send PDF invoices from 2027?
In domestic business-to-business trade in Germany until the end of 2026, yes, and businesses up to €800,000 prior-year turnover until the end of 2027. After that it has to be an e-invoice; a ZUGFeRD PDF in the EN 16931 profile is one, an ordinary PDF is not. Invoices to consumers, invoices up to €250 and small businesses are exempt.