XRechnung
XRechnung is the German standard for electronic invoices: a pure XML file following the European norm EN 16931, with no visual format.
XRechnung is not a file format alongside PDF but in place of it: the invoice consists entirely of structured data. It is based on the European norm EN 16931; XRechnung is the German profile of that norm, adding national business rules. For public sector bodies in Germany it is the required standard.
The difference from ZUGFeRD lies in the packaging, not the content: ZUGFeRD embeds the same structured data in a PDF and so stays readable for humans, whereas XRechnung does not. Both satisfy the requirements for an e-invoice; which format is used normally depends on the recipient.
Business Central can generate and read XRechnung documents, with transmission commonly running over Peppol. In practice the effort rarely lies in the format itself but in master data: routing ID, order numbers and complete payment details have to be present, otherwise the recipient's system rejects the invoice.
Setting up e-invoicing in Business Central: XRechnung, ZUGFeRD and Peppol
How to send and receive XRechnung and ZUGFeRD in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: choosing a format, the transmission route, the master data that makes documents fail, and inbound invoices.
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