Receiving E-Invoices in Germany: How-To (2026)
Diana
Updated on:
Since January 1, 2025, every business in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices — whether you're a GmbH, a freelancer, or a Kleinunternehmer. Sending is only mandatory from 2027 or 2028, depending on your revenue. But receiving applies today. If a supplier sends you an XRechnung or ZUGFeRD file, you have to accept it, read it, and archive it in line with German tax law. This guide walks through exactly what that means in practice.
What does "receiving an e-invoice" actually mean?
An e-invoice is not just a PDF attached to an email. It's a structured XML data set — XRechnung or ZUGFeRD — that an accounting system can read directly. The German Federal Ministry of Finance clarified in the BMF letter of October 15, 2024: you don't need special software to fulfill the receiving obligation. A regular email inbox is enough.
Important: you don't have to process the invoice automatically — you just have to accept it. But you still have to read it, check it, and store it in a tamper-proof archive for 10 years. That's where the email-inbox-only approach starts to crack.
Receive, validate, and archive e-invoices automatically
Norman pulls XRechnung and ZUGFeRD files out of your inbox, matches them to your bank transactions, and stores them in a GoBD-compliant archive — no XML wrangling required.
Who has to be able to receive e-invoices?
The receiving obligation applies to every German business that buys or sells B2B in Germany. This covers:
GmbH, UG, AG, OHG, KG — capital and partnership companies
Sole traders and freelancers — even one-person businesses
Kleinunternehmer under § 19 UStG — the receiving rule applies regardless of small-business status
Landlords with VAT-liable rentals
Associations, foundations, and cooperatives when acting commercially
Private individuals are not affected — B2C invoices stay outside the mandate. But the moment your business buys services from another German business, you must be able to accept an e-invoice. For the bigger picture, see our breakdown of the German e-invoicing mandate 2025–2028.
Which formats do you need to handle?
A compliant e-invoice follows European norm EN 16931. In Germany, two formats dominate in practice:
XRechnung — pure XML, common for invoices to public authorities, also used in B2B
ZUGFeRD (profile EN 16931 or higher) — a PDF/A-3 with embedded XML. You see a normal-looking invoice; the XML sits invisibly inside.
Other EN 16931–compliant formats are technically allowed — Peppol BIS Billing, FatturaPA — but in everyday B2B you'll almost only see XRechnung and ZUGFeRD. We explain how the two differ in our ZUGFeRD guide.
What to watch for
A PDF that looks like an invoice but has no embedded XML is not an e-invoice. It's a "regular invoice," and from 2028 onward the issuer loses the right to a proper invoice if they send one instead of an e-invoice. When receiving, you need a way to confirm the XML is actually present.
Step by step: setting up the receiving process
1. Set up a dedicated invoice email address
Create a dedicated mailbox — something like invoices@yourcompany.de or rechnungen@yourcompany.de. Share it with all suppliers and add it to your Impressum. A dedicated address makes downstream automation much easier later. Cloud storage drop-folders or web upload portals also qualify, but email remains the default channel in practice.
2. Make the XML readable
Raw XML isn't human-friendly. You need a way to display it as a normal invoice. Three options:
ZUGFeRD invoices open like any PDF — the XML is embedded, you see the invoice immediately.
XRechnung (pure XML) requires a viewer. The German Coordination Office for IT Standards (KoSIT) provides a free XRechnung visualizer. Open-source tools like Mustangproject or the KoSIT stylesheet render readable HTML versions.
Accounting software displays both directly in the app and books them in one move.
3. Check the invoice for content and form
An e-invoice still has to carry the standard mandatory fields under § 14 UStG: full names and addresses, tax number or VAT ID, invoice date, invoice number, description of services, net amount, VAT rate, VAT amount. If something is missing, your input VAT deduction is at risk. For XRechnung, validate the file with an online tool to confirm it meets EN 16931 — most validators run free in a browser.
4. Secure your input VAT deduction
Input VAT deduction requires a proper invoice on file. For e-invoices, "on file" means the XML file is stored in your system and can be read at any time. A printed version is explicitly not sufficient — the original is the structured file.
5. Archive in a GoBD-compliant way
This is the biggest trap. You must keep the original XML file unaltered for 10 years. Concretely:
The original XML file (not a printed version or a PDF re-export)
Machine-readable — no scanned images
Stored in a tamper-proof way — subsequent changes must be impossible
Retrievable within reasonable time for tax audits
Saving in your mail archive only partially meets GoBD requirements — emails can be deleted or moved. A dedicated document management system or accounting software that combines receiving and archiving is safer. Our article on receipts and tax returns goes into the storage rules in more detail.
What legally counts as "received"?
A common question: is having an email address really enough? The BMF says yes. A regular email inbox satisfies the receiving obligation. You don't have to book every e-invoice immediately or process it automatically — you just have to be able to accept it, read it, and store it.
But watch out: if your supplier sends you an XRechnung and you ignore or reject it, you risk losing your input VAT deduction. The issuer has done their part; the risk of not archiving it correctly sits with you. In practice: "capable" isn't enough, you actually have to do it.
What if your supplier still sends a PDF instead of an e-invoice?
Until December 31, 2026, all businesses can still send paper invoices or regular PDFs — with the recipient's consent (yours). From January 1, 2027, that's only allowed for businesses with prior-year turnover up to €800,000. From January 1, 2028, e-invoicing is mandatory for all B2B transactions — paper and plain PDFs are no longer compliant.
So if today you get a PDF instead of an XRechnung, that's fine. Just receive, check, and archive it like any paper or PDF invoice. Only from 2028 will you potentially need to ask the supplier to issue an e-invoice — otherwise they put their own VAT status at risk.
Common mistakes when receiving e-invoices
Saving only the PDF preview
ZUGFeRD has a particularly sneaky trap: the invoice looks like a PDF. Anyone who chooses "Print → Save as PDF" creates a new PDF without the embedded XML. The original is lost. Always save the original file from the email, not a print copy.
Deleting the email after booking
If you manually book the attachment and then drag the email to trash, you lose the original XML. Save the XML separately in an archive before cleaning up.
Treating XML as "I can't read this"
Leaving XML files unopened in the inbox is a fast route to wrong amounts in your books. A viewer or software that extracts the structured data is the minimum setup.
No validation
Incorrect or incomplete e-invoices happen — especially during the transition period. A quick online validation catches format errors before they turn into input-VAT problems.
Software options for receiving e-invoices
Depending on volume, different setups make sense:
Email + cloud folder + viewer: works for a handful of invoices per month. Archiving and GoBD compliance are on you.
Accounting software with an e-invoice inbox: pulls XML into your bookkeeping automatically, matches bank transactions, archives in a tamper-proof way. Most providers added this through 2025 — quality and usability vary.
Document management system (DMS): a separate archive for all receipts. Makes sense for high receipt volume or larger teams.
We compare the German market in our e-invoicing software comparison and the Norman vs Lexoffice comparison.
What it looks like in practice: a typical week
Here's how this works in a small GmbH:
Monday: Three XRechnungs arrive at invoices@company.de. The software reads the XML automatically, shows a readable preview, and stores the original in the archive.
Tuesday: You review the preview, confirm the booking accounts, and approve the payment. The XML stays untouched in the archive.
Wednesday: A ZUGFeRD from a new supplier arrives. The software detects the format, extracts the XML from the PDF, and links it to your books.
Thursday: You file the monthly VAT advance return. Input VAT from the e-invoices is already correctly captured.
10 years later: A tax auditor can pull every original XML directly from the archive — file, bank match, booking entry.
With just email and manual filing, the same workflow takes four to five times as long, and errors creep in. If you receive invoices digitally anyway, automate the receiving side.
Bottom line
An email address is enough to formally meet the receiving obligation from 2025. In practice you need more: a reliable way to open XRechnung and ZUGFeRD, validate them, and keep them GoBD-compliant for 10 years. Solving this with Excel and Outlook risks losing input VAT and getting flagged in an audit. In 2026, accounting software that pulls e-invoices straight from the inbox isn't a luxury — it's basic infrastructure. Set the process up now, and you'll be ready when 2028 forces every B2B invoice into electronic form.