Germany (2017 eInvoicing Country Sheet)

Legislation

The e-Bill law, published in April 2017, mandates the receipt and processing of eInvoicing for all federal contracting authorities, regardless of the amount of the invoice[4]. The law applies exclusively to regulations for federal agencies (including sectorial contractors and licensors). The state or local authorities affected by the Directive 2014/55/EU require supplementary legislation by the Länder.

On the "Länder" level, Bavaria is the first "Land" to transpose the Directive on eInvoices in public procurement; other "Länder" will have to follow in the next few months.

The e-Bill law also provides for specific dates for the implementation of electronic invoicing: from 27.11.2018, the top federal administrations must be able to receive and process electronic invoices and, from 27.11.2019, all subordinate institutions.

eInvoicing platform and eInvoicing management solutions

There is no eInvoicing platform mandated or recommended by the German government for B2G public procurement. Some private companies offers eInvoicing solutions such as Bundesdruckerei, b4value or Crossinx.  Solution providers can also be publicly-owned, such as Dataport AöR, which is an IT-solution provider for some "Länder"[5], and the German Federal Centre for Information Technology[6] (ITZBund)  which is the  federal IT service provider.

Approach for receiving and processing eInvoices

Most eInvoicing operations are conducted following bilateral agreements between public entities and economic operators (or solutions providers acting on their behalf).

The approach for receiving and processing eInvoices submitted by economic operators is decentralised. Public entities receiving eInvoices decide whether to process eInvoices as structured data or according to a non-automated process (e.g. by printing a PDF file).

Most eInvoices are received by e-mail and further processed by integrated workflow software solutions. Alternatively, eInvoices can be received through transport protocols when these are established between contracting parties.

Additional information

The German eInvoicing Forum (Forum elektronische Rechnung Deutschland – FeRD) is an important organisation in the German eInvoicing ecosystem. The FeRD was founded by the Working Group for Economic Management (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Wirtschaftliche Verwaltung e.V. - AWV) in 2010. It aims to foster the use of eInvoicing in the public and private sectors. The FeRD is an industry-neutral forum, composed of members from ministries and other governmental bodies and important industry associations. FeRD is a voluntary organization based on contributions and resources from its members and experts.

The German government has prepared a specific plan for the implementation of the Directive 2014/55/EU by creating the Coordination Center for IT standards (KoSIT). The task of the KoSIT is to coordinate the development and operation of IT standards for the exchange of data in the public administration. In addition to these tasks for the IT Planning Council, the KoSIT can be contracted by other public administration bodies. 

[1] Gesetz zur Umsetzung der Richtlinie 2014/55/EU über die elektronische Rechnungsstellung im öffentlichen Auftragswesen* Vom 4. April 2017

[2] ZUGFeRD stands as shorthand for "Central User Guide Forum electronic invoice Germany". The ZUGFeRD data format is based on the Cross Industry Invoice (CII) of UN/ CEFACT, ISO Standard 19005-3:2012 (PDF/A-3), as well as the Message User Guidelines (MUG) specified on a European level. 

[3] FeRD is the Forum for Electronic Invoicing in Germany

[4] In this sense, the e-Bill law goes further than the Directive 2014/55/EU which makes eInvoincing compulsory for any amount above the determined threshold.

[5] Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein as well as the communal group "IT-Verbund Schleswig-Holstein".

[6] On 1st January 2016, the German Federal Agency for Information Technology (BIT), the German Federal Institute for IT Services (DLZ-IT) and the Centre for Data Processing and Information Technology (ZIVIT) merged to become the German Federal Centre for Information Technology (ITZBund).

NOT VALIDATED BY THE EMSFEI MEMBER

Last updated:  Jan 15, 2018 10:49