E-invoice for trades.
Ready in 15 minutes.
From 01.01.2027 trade businesses with revenue from €800,000 must issue e-invoices. From 01.01.2028 all B2B businesses — including yours. Meistify generates ZUGFeRD 2.3 and XRechnung 3.0. KoSIT-validated. From the first click.
Three deadlines
you should know.
The Wachstumschancengesetz (Growth Opportunities Act) introduced the e-invoice obligation in stages. Here's what applies when for your business — plus one exemption to keep in mind.
You must already be able to receive e-invoices.
Every B2B business in Germany — including your sole-trader business — has been required since 1 January 2025 to receive and process e-invoices. If a supplier sends you a ZUGFeRD or XRechnung, you can't push back with "send a PDF".
Legal basis: § 14 UStG (Wachstumschancengesetz).
Mid-size businesses must issue e-invoices.
If your previous-year revenue exceeds €800,000, you must issue e-invoices from this day. Pure PDF invoices will be rejected by B2B customers — no e-invoice means no input-tax deduction for them, no payment for you.
Transition rule: § 27 (38) UStG.
All trade businesses — regardless of size.
By this date the obligation applies to every B2B send. Whether sole-trader carpenter or 30-person electrical: PDF invoices to business customers are over. B2C remains unchanged.
Final deadline: § 14 UStG.
Are you a small business (§ 19 UStG)?
If your previous-year revenue is below €25,000 and your current year stays below €100,000, and you opt for the VAT exemption, you're exempt from the e-invoice send obligation. Note: thresholds were reformed on 2025-01-01 (previously €22,000/€50,000). You should still be able to receive them — e.g. from suppliers who already use the format.
Note: This overview does not replace legal or tax advice. For legally sound implementation in your business, talk to your tax adviser or a tax-law specialist.
Sources: § 14 UStG (Wachstumschancengesetz) · § 27 (38) UStG · BMF letter of 15.10.2024 · EU Directive 2014/55/EU · EN 16931.
Why the old PDF
is no longer an invoice from 2027.
A pure PDF is unworkable for the recipient — they have to retype everything or guess via OCR. The e-invoice is structured data plus readability. One format that humans and machines understand at the same time.
Not "should be fine".
Officially validated.
KoSIT is the Coordination Office for IT Standards of the German federal government. It defines the XRechnung standard and provides the official validator. Every invoice Meistify generates runs through exactly this validator — no tinkering, no tolerance window.
PDF invoice
Simple image format. Human-readable only.
- No machine-readable data
- Manual entry on the receiver side
- No input-tax deduction from 2027
- Not B2B-compliant
ZUGFeRD 2.3
Hybrid: PDF + embedded XML.
<Name>Meistify GmbH</Name>
<Amount>2340.00</Amount>
</ram:Seller>
- PDF + XML in one file
- Human- and machine-readable
- EN 16931-conformant
- B2B standard in Germany
XRechnung 3.0
Pure XML. For public-sector customers.
<ID>RG-2026-0147</ID>
<IssueDate>2026-05-10</IssueDate>
<DueDate>2026-06-10</DueDate>
<TotalAmount>2340.00
</TotalAmount>
</Invoice>
- Mandatory since 2020 for federal/state
- 100% structured data
- Automatically processable
- For orders from city/state/federal
B2B customer? ZUGFeRD. Public sector? XRechnung. Private customer? Standard PDF. You pick the customer — Meistify picks the format.
Three steps,
no format chaos.
You don't need to write ZUGFeRD XML or know what EN 16931 requires. You make invoices like usual, Meistify does the rest.
Set up the customer — once
When you create a new customer you pick the type: B2B private or public-sector. One click. Meistify remembers and decides on the right format later, automatically.
ZUGFeRD or XRechnung — automaticCreate the invoice — as usual
Add line items, pull hours from time tracking, attach material, set payment terms. Meistify validates every mandatory field per EN 16931 in the background — if anything is missing, you'll know.
Live validation against KoSIT schemaSend — and tax-office archived
One click on "Send". Meistify generates the finished e-invoice in the right format, emails it to your customer, and stores a tamper-proof copy in the audit trail.
10-year retention · audit trailNo direct fines.
But three things
that get expensive.
The tax office doesn't hand out tickets for incorrect invoices. The problem hits you another way — through your liquidity.
The following overview shows the three most common risks we've collected from conversations with early customers. As always: when in doubt, talk to a tax adviser or lawyer.
- 01
Your customer loses the input-tax deduction
B2B customers can't formally claim input-tax deduction from a pure PDF invoice from 2027. Result: your customer demands correction — or doesn't pay. You lose liquidity, not them.
Legal basis: § 15 UStG · BMF letter of 15.10.2024.
- 02
Late-payment harder to enforce
With a non-compliant invoice the due date becomes questionable. Reminders and default interest are formally challengeable — the customer can dispute the delay because the invoice itself wasn't proper.
Legal basis: §§ 286, 288 BGB · § 14 UStG.
- 03
More effort during tax audits
During a field audit the tax office can flag formal defects on invoices. Correction work, follow-ups, in the worst case estimates. Compliant e-invoices pass the audit silently.
Legal basis: AO §§ 193 ff. (field audit).
What you
really need to know.
If your question isn't here, drop us a line. We usually reply the same day.
Direct contactNot actively. If your previous-year revenue is below €25,000 and your current year stays below €100,000, and you've chosen the VAT exemption per § 19 UStG, you don't have to issue e-invoices. Note: thresholds were reformed on 2025-01-01 (previously €22,000/€50,000). You should still be able to receive them — e.g. from suppliers who already use the format.
ZUGFeRD (hybrid PDF + XML) for normal B2B private customers — they can view the PDF, their software reads the XML. XRechnung (pure XML) for public-sector customers like federal, state and municipal bodies. In Meistify you pick the customer type once when creating the customer, then the system chooses the format automatically.
No direct fines — but your B2B customer can no longer reliably claim the input-tax deduction from a pure PDF invoice. They'll reject the invoice or demand correction. In practice: no e-invoice, no payment.
Receiving: yes. Since 01.01.2025 the receiving obligation applies to every B2B business. If a supplier sends you a ZUGFeRD or XRechnung, you must be able to process it. Sending only becomes mandatory in 2027/2028 — Meistify has both directions from day 1.
KoSIT is the Coordination Office for IT Standards of the German federal government. It defines the XRechnung standard and provides the official validator. "KoSIT-validated" means: every invoice Meistify generates passes through that validator and matches 100 % of the legal norm — no "should be fine".
Yes. Customers, open invoices and receipts can be imported via CSV in under 5 minutes. We help with the migration if you want — free of charge, talk to Dirk: dirk@meistify.com.
Same as paper invoices: 10 years per § 147 AO. In Meistify all e-invoices are stored tamper-proof and unalterable — tax-office ready and with audit trail. You don't have to archive anything manually.
How does the invoicing module work otherwise?
Cancellations, logo, multilingual, automatic from time tracking and materials. See everything the invoicing module handles for you.
2027 is coming.
You're ready in 15 minutes.
Try Meistify free for two weeks. Send a real e-invoice to your first customer — and see for yourself that compliance is no problem when the software handles it for you.