If your business operates in or has a registered office in Germany, you’ll need to prepare for significant e-invoicing changes that started in 2025. Under the Wachstumschancengesetz (or “Growth Opportunities Act”), many businesses in Germany will have to accept and send e-invoices in the near future.
Fortunately, with the right solution, this isn’t something NetSuite users will need to spend too much time worrying about. In this article, we’ll get you up to speed with Germany’s impending regulatory changes on e-invoicing – and how ZoneCapture can help you adapt with ease.
Key highlights:
- Germany’s e-invoicing regulations started in 2020 when it required electronic invoicing for public procurement, or business-to-government (B2G) transactions.
- Business-to-business (B2B) e-invoicing expanded in Germany, starting in 2025 when the country mandated that businesses must be able to receive e-invoices from vendors.
- By 2028, all German VAT-registered businesses will be required to send and receive e-invoices.
- A common transfer method for e-invoices is through the Peppol network, which Zone & Co’s ZoneCapture supports for accounts payable and receivable teams.
What is e-invoicing?
As the digital business world expands, European countries like Germany are introducing regulations to reduce administrative overhead, optimize cross-border business transactions and improve financial transaction visibility to combat value-added tax (VAT) fraud.
E-invoicing mandates require businesses to send and receive invoices in specific structured data formats for automatic accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) operations.
Germany began its regulation changes in 2020 by requiring e-invoicing for all B2G transactions. It’s now expanding in multiple phases from 2025 to 2028 to require e-invoicing for B2B transactions.
German e-invoicing mandate timelines and changes
Initially, German e-invoicing mandates required companies to use e-invoicing for public contracts, but the German government started enforcing e-invoicing regulations for B2B transactions.
Germany’s e-invoicing mandates are applicable for:
- Entrepreneurs with a place of management or seat (registered office) in Germany
- Businesses with a fixed German establishment that is involved with a given transaction (or a domicile/habitual residence in Germany if they do not have a registered office)
Once Germany’s B2B e-invoicing regulations are fully implemented, German institutions that fall into these categories will have to issue e-invoices when doing business with other companies and entrepreneurs domestically. They must submit these invoices as ZUGFeRD files (a hybrid format combining PDF documents with embedded XML files) or XML files in Cross-Industry Invoice or Universal Business Language (UBL) syntax.
However, the transmission method of e-invoices is not regulated. Today, the most common strategy is delivery via email or the e-invoicing Peppol network. Only small-value invoices with gross amounts below €250 and travel tickets functioning as invoices will be exempt from the new e-invoicing requirements.
However, these regulations will be introduced in three stages:
January 2025: Receiving e-invoices
Starting January 1, 2025, German businesses must be able to receive and process structured e-invoices from vendors. There will be no transitional period for this new requirement, but companies will not have to issue e-invoices immediately. Instead, they can continue sending paper invoices (without the recipient’s consent) or electronic invoices in non-standardized formats (with the recipient’s consent) until the end of 2026.
Accounts receivable teams must receive and process e-invoices from vendors. It’s recommended to agree with your vendors on the delivery method of e-invoices in advance and proactively communicate about the formats you prefer to receive.
January 2027: Sending e-invoices
On January 1, 2027, entrepreneurs must begin issuing e-invoices if their total annual turnover exceeds €800,000. Small- and medium-sized enterprises will still be allowed to send paper invoices till the end of the year.
January 2028
Finally, all businesses in Germany affected by these changes will be required to start issuing B2B e-invoices on January 1, 2028. This effectively marks the complete rollout of e-invoicing for German businesses.
How ZoneCapture helps businesses meet Germany’s e-invoicing mandates
ZoneCapture is a native NetSuite application designed to simplify e-invoicing compliance and streamline your accounts payable processes. Here’s how it supports businesses with the upcoming regulatory changes:
Receiving e-invoices
ZoneCapture offers two primary options for receiving e-invoices:
1. Peppol network
ZoneCapture’s e-invoicing module supports receiving e-invoices via the Peppol network, a global platform for borderless electronic data exchange. Peppol registration is necessary to activate this feature, and a Zone & Co implementation consultant will assist to ensure a streamlined process.
2. Email plugin
ZoneCapture offers two email plugin options for handling e-invoices:
- Standard email plugin: Scan PDFs, auto-populate vendor bills based on captured data and attach XML files to created vendor bills for the client’s reference.
- Dedicated email plugin for XMLs: Prioritize XML files in UBL format and auto-populate vendor bills based on data in XML files while attaching PDFs as references. This plugin is available in ZoneCapture version 2.14.0, which was released on November 29, 2024.
Sending e-invoices
Although businesses are not required to send structured e-invoices until 2027 at the earliest, ZoneCapture offers features to help you stay ahead of future mandates. These include B2G transactions that comply with existing requirements by sending e-invoices through the Peppol network with ZoneCapture’s e-invoicing module.
Make e-invoicing easy with ZoneCapture
Whether your business in Germany has been sending digital invoices for years or you need to start issuing these invoices to comply with upcoming regulations, you deserve to use the best software on the market for this vital task. No matter how familiar you are with e-invoicing, ZoneCapture from Zone & Co can simplify this process for NetSuite users with capabilities like:
- AP automation in NetSuite
- Automatic invoice capture
- 3-way matching
If you need powerful NetSuite e-invoicing features in Germany – or anywhere in the world you’re looking to optimize your AP strategy – ZoneCapture delivers these capabilities and many others. Set up a demo to get started or take a self-guided tour to learn more.
