E-Invoicing Duty for Trade Businesses: What Applies Since 2025

The e-invoicing duty arrived more quietly for many trade businesses than the headlines suggested. Yet by now it affects every company that does business with other companies. Since 1 January 2025, a new legal framework applies to B2B transactions in Germany. Here is what it means for you in plain terms, which deadlines apply, and what to do in practice right now.

What actually is an e-invoice?

An e-invoice is more than a PDF sent by email. Under the legal definition, an e-invoice is a structured, machine-readable data set that can be processed automatically, typically in the format XRechnung (pure XML) or ZUGFeRD (a hybrid format combining a PDF with an embedded XML data set). A classic PDF invoice or a scan no longer legally counts as an e-invoice, only as an "other invoice". The difference sounds technical but is decisive: software can read and post a genuine e-invoice automatically, while a PDF still has to be checked by hand.

Who is affected — and from when?

The duty essentially covers all domestically based companies that bill each other for goods or services (B2B). Very small businesses, small traders under the German small-business rule and associations are included. The main exceptions are invoices to private consumers (B2C) and low-value invoices as well as transport tickets.

The key deadlines

• 1 January 2025: the duty to receive begins. From this date every business must be able to accept and process e-invoices, regardless of its own size.
• Until 31 December 2026: transition period for sending. Businesses may still issue paper or simple PDF invoices with the recipient's consent.
• Until 31 December 2027: extended deadline for businesses with prior-year turnover up to 800,000 euros, relevant for most trade businesses.
• From 1 January 2028: e-invoicing becomes mandatory for practically all domestic B2B transactions, including sending.

Important in practice: the duty to receive has applied since the start of 2025, regardless of company size. Only for sending your own invoices do the longer transition periods apply.

What businesses need to do now

1. Make sure you can receive them

Check whether your accounting or trade software can accept and display XRechnung and ZUGFeRD files. A normal email inbox is technically enough to receive them, but it does not replace validation and archiving. A structured filing system also makes sense for compliant record-keeping under German tax rules.

2. Plan your own invoicing

Even if your transition period runs until 2027, switching early pays off. Businesses that convert only shortly before the deadline risk bottlenecks with software vendors and tax advisors. Check whether your current software can generate XRechnung or ZUGFeRD directly or whether an add-on module is needed.

3. Adjust processes and archiving

E-invoices, like invoices before them, must be kept unalterable for ten years, in the structured original format, not just as a printed or PDF-converted view. Check whether your archiving system can handle that.

4. Inform your team and suppliers

Talk to suppliers and subcontractors early about which format they should invoice in going forward, and brief your office team on the new workflow. Confusion usually arises where an e-invoice is wrongly treated as a PDF attachment and processed manually.

How software helps with the switch

The real effort rarely lies in the law itself but in the technical implementation. Trade software that already generates invoices from quotes and orders can usually provide the XRechnung or ZUGFeRD export automatically, without changing your familiar workflow. Receiving is just as important: incoming e-invoices should be recognised, validated and pulled into accounting automatically, rather than read manually out of the XML.

• Automatic generation of XRechnung/ZUGFeRD straight from quotes and orders
• Recognition and validation of incoming e-invoices
• Audit-proof archiving in the original format over the statutory period
• Direct handover to tax advisors or DATEV interfaces

Conclusion

The e-invoicing duty is not a bureaucratic monster arriving overnight but a process with clear stages: receiving from 2025, sending by 2027 or 2028 at the latest. Checking now whether your own software keeps up saves you stress right before the deadlines. In our PixAgentur Cockpit, e-invoicing is built into invoicing as standard, so you can keep focusing on the job rather than the file format. If you have questions about your specific situation, just get in touch.