E-invoicing for Business Central and NAV

E-invoicing with Business Central: an overview

Since 1 January 2025 every domestic German company must be able to receive and process B2B e-invoices, with no transition period. For outgoing invoices the grace period is running out: from 2027 the issuing obligation applies to companies with more than €800,000 prior-year turnover, from 2028 to everyone. We set up Business Central so that XRechnung, ZUGFeRD and Peppol run cleanly — inbound and outbound.

The e-invoicing obligation is often misread as a question of file formats. In reality it is a process topic: an e-invoice is a structured data record that can be evaluated automatically — a PDF sent by email explicitly does not meet the requirement. Anyone who does not process incoming invoices in a structured way loses exactly the efficiency gain the law was made for and instead produces manual rework.

Two formats dominate in Germany: XRechnung as pure XML and ZUGFeRD as PDF/A-3 with embedded XML. From ZUGFeRD version 2.0.1 both generally satisfy the VAT requirements, the MINIMUM and BASIC-WL profiles do not, however, because they do not represent a complete invoice. Details like these decide whether an invoice is accepted in the event of an audit. We clarify up front which format suits your customers and suppliers, and document the decision traceably.

Business Central provides the right foundation with its E-Document framework: the German localisation supports XRechnung, Peppol BIS 3 and ZUGFeRD, including connection to the Peppol network for automated dispatch. We configure document formats, dispatch routes and validation, set up structured invoice receipt with matching to purchase orders and an approval workflow, and test with real documents from your business partners before going live. On request we combine this with audit-proof archiving in line with German GoBD rules.

E-invoicing: what we deliver