E-Invoice, ZUGFeRD and XRechnung - Structured Invoice Formats Explained

An e-invoice is more than an invoice sent by email. It means an invoice in a structured, machine-readable data format that a program can read and process without manual retyping. A scanned paper document or a simple PDF is not an e-invoice in this sense - it contains human-readable text but no structured data a software can reliably evaluate.

In Germany and the EU, formats have become established that build on a common European standard for the electronic invoice (EN 16931). The two most important ones in Germany are ZUGFeRD and XRechnung.

ZUGFeRD - the Hybrid Format

ZUGFeRD combines two worlds in one file: a human-readable PDF with a structured XML data set embedded inside it. Whoever opens the file sees a familiar invoice as a PDF - a software can read the embedded XML part in parallel and process the invoice data automatically. This hybrid approach is practical because the same document works for both humans and machines, and the recipient does not necessarily need special software to view it.

XRechnung - Pure XML

XRechnung is a pure XML format without an embedded image view. It contains only the structured invoice data and is common in Germany mainly in connection with invoices to public-sector clients. Without suitable software, an XRechnung is not comfortable for humans to read - but it is lean and unambiguously machine-processable. For viewing, the XML file is turned into a readable display via a viewer or a stylesheet.

The E-Invoicing Obligation in Germany

For invoice exchange between domestic companies (B2B), the e-invoice is becoming mandatory in Germany step by step. A central point: since the start of 2025, companies must in principle be able to receive and process structured e-invoices - so the ability to receive already applies. The obligation to send only e-invoices is being introduced in stages in the following years, with transition periods that depend, among other things, on company size. Because the exact deadlines, exceptions, and thresholds differ in detail and can be adjusted, the specific rules for your own case should always be checked against current official sources or with tax advice.

Relation to Automatic Processing

Because e-invoices bring structured data, they are an ideal starting point for automatic processing. Amounts, line items, and tax details can be read directly from the XML part without the error source of retyping. For mixed inbound - partly structured e-invoices, partly classic PDFs or scans - Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) comes into play: it classifies incoming documents (see document classification) and extracts data even where no structured format exists yet, based on OCR and AI understanding and a language model.

E-Invoice at Elasticbrains

At Elasticbrains we integrate structured invoice formats like ZUGFeRD and XRechnung into automated processing flows - from reading the XML part to handover into your accounting, combined with AI processing for everything that still comes in as a PDF or scan. Learn more on our service page AI document processing.