E-invoice
Create an e-invoice free: XRechnung and ZUGFeRD online
Fill in the form, choose a format, download the file. Your details become an XRechnung (UBL or CII) or a ZUGFeRD PDF, and before you get it, the official KoSIT validator checks it. For small businesses, reverse charge, cash discounts and credit notes.
Free · no sign-up · 10 invoices a day · every file checked with the KoSIT validator
- 1Enter your details, the recipient and the lines. The form adds up the totals and VAT as you go.
- 2Choose a format: ZUGFeRD PDF for business customers, XRechnung for public authorities and portals.
- 3“Create and validate the e-invoice”: the file is generated, checked against the rule set and downloaded.
What an e-invoice is, and why Word is not enough
Since 2025, the German VAT Act defines an e-invoice as an invoice in a structured format following the European standard EN 16931, which software reads without retyping. In Germany that mostly means XRechnung and ZUGFeRD. A PDF from Word or Excel is only a picture of an invoice: readable for people, but not an e-invoice.
Businesses have had to be able to receive e-invoices since 1 January 2025. They must issue them in domestic business-to-business trade from 1 January 2027 if their prior-year turnover exceeded €800,000, and from 1 January 2028 all of them. Small businesses under § 19 UStG and invoices up to €250 are exempt from issuing.
XRechnung or ZUGFeRD?
Both are valid e-invoices with the same content. An XRechnung is a plain XML file: public authorities and their portals (ZRE, OZG-RE) usually require exactly this, and the recipient’s software imports it. ZUGFeRD is a PDF with the same XML inside: people read the PDF, software reads the XML. For business customers ZUGFeRD is usually the easier choice, because anyone can open the file.
The ZUGFeRD PDF from this form carries the XRECHNUNG profile. Its embedded XML therefore meets the same rules as an XRechnung and is checked with the same rule set.
What the form asks for, and why
A few fields are new compared with a paper invoice. XRechnung requires an electronic address for sender and recipient, for small businesses usually the email address invoices go to. It requires a contact person with phone and email. And it requires a buyer reference: the Leitweg-ID for public authorities, otherwise an order or customer number the recipient gives you.
You choose the VAT for each line in familiar words (19 %, 7 %, reverse charge, export …). The form sets the code the standard wants and the legal note that goes with it. As a small business, one tick is enough, and every line carries the § 19 UStG note. A cash discount is written in the form accounting software reads automatically.
Checked before you get the file
Before the download, every file goes through the validator of KoSIT, Germany’s coordination office for IT standards, with the current rule set. It is the same check public portals and many recipients run. So you only get files that pass it; the result names the rule set and scenario.
If the rule set does not permit an invoice as it stands, no file is produced. Instead you see each rule broken, with its code and a plain explanation of what to change.
What happens to your details
To create and check the invoice, your details go to our server in the EU. There the invoice is generated in memory, checked and returned to you; it is not stored. For the 10 invoices a day, the server counts in memory how many came from your IP address today; the count is dropped at midnight. If you tick the box, your browser remembers the form on your device so your own details are ready for the next invoice. Without the tick, nothing is kept there.
Keeping the invoice is up to you, as the file you sent: the form is not an archive and sends nothing.
What it cannot do
Intra-community supplies of goods to another EU country are missing: the rule set requires a delivery address for them, which the form does not ask for yet. Reverse charge for services to businesses elsewhere in the EU works. Invoices are in euros. Sending, archiving and Peppol are not included.
PDF from Word, XRechnung, ZUGFeRD
What the three formats do, as of October 2026:
| PDF from Word/Excel | XRechnung | ZUGFeRD PDF | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | a picture of an invoice | an XML file per EN 16931 | a PDF/A-3 with the XML inside |
| Readable for people | yes | with a viewer | yes |
| Readable for software | no | yes | yes |
| E-invoice under the VAT Act | no | yes | yes (XRECHNUNG profile) |
| For public portals | no | yes | depends on the portal |
Until the end of 2026, businesses in Germany may still send paper and PDF invoices, businesses up to €800,000 prior-year turnover until the end of 2027. After that, only the e-invoice counts in domestic business-to-business trade.
Frequently asked questions
How can I create an e-invoice for free?
With this form: enter your details, choose XRechnung or ZUGFeRD, click “Create and validate the e-invoice”. The file is generated, checked with the KoSIT validator and downloaded, with no sign-up. Without an account, 10 invoices a day are possible; with a free account the form carries on, on the account’s monthly allowance.
Can I create an e-invoice without software?
Yes. This form runs in the browser, with nothing to install and no account. That is enough for the occasional invoice; if you write many, invoicing software or the API, which produces the same files, serves you better.
Can I create an e-invoice with Word?
No. Word and Excel produce a PDF, a picture of the invoice. An e-invoice needs the data in a structured format (XRechnung or ZUGFeRD), which only a generator like this one, invoicing software or an API produces.
Can I convert a PDF into an e-invoice?
Not by converting the file: an ordinary PDF does not hold the invoice data in the form an e-invoice needs. The details have to go into a form like this one once. From there you can get a PDF again, one that is an e-invoice: ZUGFeRD, with the XML inside. Our ZUGFeRD viewer shows whether a PDF already is one.
What is the difference between XRechnung and ZUGFeRD?
An XRechnung is a plain XML file, ZUGFeRD a PDF with the same XML inside. In content they are equivalent. Public authorities usually require XRechnung; business customers often prefer ZUGFeRD, because they can read the PDF without software.
What must an e-invoice contain?
The same as any invoice under § 14(4) UStG: name and address of both sides, tax number or VAT ID, invoice date, a sequential number, quantity and kind of supply, date of supply, net amount, VAT rate and amount or the note on the exemption. XRechnung also requires electronic addresses, a contact person and a buyer reference, the Leitweg-ID for public authorities.
Do small businesses have to issue e-invoices?
No. Small businesses under § 19 UStG are exempt from issuing them, but may. Like every business, they have had to be able to receive them since 2025. In the form, the “small business” tick is enough, and the invoice carries the legal note.
Which businesses must issue e-invoices from 2027?
From 1 January 2027, every business whose prior-year turnover exceeded €800,000, for invoices to other businesses in Germany. From 1 January 2028, every business. Invoices to consumers, invoices up to €250 and small businesses are exempt.
How do I send the e-invoice?
To businesses usually as an email attachment to the address the recipient names for it. Invoices to German federal authorities go through their portals (ZRE or OZG-RE) or Peppol, where you upload the XRechnung.
Is the invoice really valid?
It passes the check with the official KoSIT validator, or you would not get it: the result names the rule set and scenario. Whether your details are right in substance, such as the VAT rate and the description of the supply, no check can know; that stays yours.