E-invoicing in Switzerland: what the federal administration requires, and what applies to Germany

On 8 October 2014 the Federal Council decided that suppliers of the federal administration invoice electronically when the contract value exceeds CHF 5,000; the duty has applied since 1 January 2016. Small purchases below that value may still be invoiced on paper.

Since 30 June 2023 the federal administration no longer accepts PDF invoices through a provider. Which data formats travel through the providers its pages do not say; they name neither XRechnung, ZUGFeRD nor Peppol. Details: sending e-invoices to the federal administration.

What cantons and municipalities require is up to each of them. The canton of Zurich, for instance, decided in 2018 that all its offices should accept e-invoices. When in doubt, ask the office placing the order.

Since June 2020 the QR-bill has replaced the payment slips. It is a payment part: the Swiss QR Code on it carries what the payment needs; the invoice itself stands beside it, on paper or in the PDF. eBill is the banks’ way of receiving and paying bills straight in e-banking.

Neither is an e-invoice under EN 16931, the standard XRechnung and ZUGFeRD are built on. When a German customer wants an e-invoice, a QR-bill does not meet that.

Switzerland has no e-invoicing duty between businesses. Unlike EU law, the Swiss VAT Act sets no mandatory formal requirements for an invoice, the Federal Council writes in a report of May 2024. It names a duty on the EU model only as a possible consequence should Switzerland join the EU’s One-Stop-Shop.

The German e-invoicing duty applies only when supplier and customer are both established in Germany: with their seat, management, or a permanent establishment involved in the supply (section 14.1(4) of the VAT Application Decree, Finance Ministry letter of 15 October 2025). Your invoice from Switzerland to a German business therefore need not be an e-invoice. It may go on paper or, if your customer agrees, as an e-invoice or PDF (section 14.1(6)).

It is different when a German permanent establishment of your business is involved in the supply: then the duty, with its transition periods, applies to you as well — when the e-invoice is mandatory in Germany. Being registered for VAT in Germany alone does not make it so; according to the Finance Ministry you may state on the invoice that you have no fixed establishment there, to explain why it is not an e-invoice.

If your customer wants an e-invoice anyway, ZUGFeRD is usually the simplest choice: a PDF as before, with the invoice data inside it as XML. Our free generator makes one in the browser; you enter the seller’s country yourself, and it writes amounts in euros. Which of the two formats suits when: XRechnung or ZUGFeRD.

To federal authorities the duty applies to foreign suppliers too, the federal FAQ says. The invoice goes as an XRechnung or in another EN 16931 format through OZG-RE, the federal government’s only invoice platform. Exempt are direct awards up to €1,000 (§ 3(3) ERechV).

You have to register whatever the channel, Peppol included. It is free and works with an OZG-RE account of your own, without ELSTER; the interface is available in English too. The minimum details do include a VAT ID and a tax number — whether a foreign tax number will do, the FAQ does not say. When in doubt, ask OZG-RE’s support.

The authority’s Leitweg-ID is mandatory, as the buyer reference (BT-10); you get it with the order. Over Peppol you send to 0204: followed by the Leitweg-ID. German states and municipalities each implement the e-invoice themselves, with portals and rules of their own. Step by step: invoicing German federal authorities; check the ID: Leitweg-ID.

A German supplier need not send you an e-invoice: in this direction, too, the duty applies only between two businesses in Germany. If one comes anyway, it is usually one of two formats:

• ZUGFeRD: a PDF you open and print like any other; the invoice data sit inside it as an XML file. In France the same format is called Factur-X.
• XRechnung: an XML file only, with no page to look at. You can read it with our free viewer, which shows it as an invoice.

Whether a file keeps the rules — totals, mandatory details, tax rates — is shown by our Validator, against KoSIT’s rule set, with a plain-language explanation for each error.