Tradespeople demand postponement of mandatory e-invoicing

Tradespeople are experiencing serious technical problems receiving e-invoices. The German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) is advocating for a one-year postponement of the mandatory e-invoicing requirement.

This article is part of the special feature "E-Invoicing: Tips for Craft Businesses".

From the perspective of the skilled trades sector, the timeline for mandatory e-invoicing is unrealistic for many businesses. The German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH ) is therefore advocating for a one-year postponement . Currently, companies with a turnover exceeding €800.000 in the previous year are slated to be required to issue e-invoices starting January 1, 2027. From January 1, 2028, the requirement will then apply to almost all businesses. Several practical and technical questions remain unanswered, as revealed by the ZDH's latest survey of businesses regarding e-invoicing . The association anticipates numerous "avoidable problems" for companies, government agencies, and software providers if the timeline must be adhered to.

Problems receiving e-invoices

Many businesses are already experiencing problems receiving e-invoices . This will be mandatory in the B2B sector from 2025. The survey revealed that approximately two-thirds of the surveyed craft businesses are having difficulty receiving e-invoices. Invoices often cannot be properly checked or read. In some cases, the data set does not match the attached PDF file.

"For businesses, this means: invoices have to be rejected, payments are delayed, and additional work is incurred," says the ZDH. The skilled trades expressly support the goal of digital, efficient, and legally compliant invoicing, but for businesses, the transition is happening too quickly. 

Typical problems:

✔️ Non-validable, i.e., non-compliant, e-invoices, 

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✔️ Different test results for transmitter and receiver, 

✔️ Problems reading invoice details and

✔️ Discrepancies between data set and PDF file in hybrid invoices. 

Many craft businesses, in particular, work with different industry-specific solutions, tax advisors, and upstream invoicing systems. Therefore, incorrect or inconsistently interpreted e-invoices would directly impact their ongoing business and payment transactions.

The problem often lies with the software, which does not correctly implement the current version of the CEN standard EN 16931. As a result, companies have to reject incorrect invoices. "This costs time, delays payments, and can lead to problems with input tax deduction after the transition periods have expired. Thus, a purely technical implementation problem would directly translate into a tax risk for businesses," the association reports.

According to the ZDH, a postponement to January 1, 2028 would have the following advantages.

• One could, among other things, react to the late publication of the revised CEN standard EN 16931,
• Software vendors would have more time to implement the new standard correctly.
• Businesses would have a realistic transition and testing phase before sanctions and risks related to input tax deduction take effect.
• The path to a functioning reporting system from July 1, 2023, would be paved. 

In addition to the postponement, the ZDH demands rapid improvements from the tax authorities so that the benefits of this digitalization initiative become apparent across the entire skilled trades sector : practical and legally compliant solutions, uniform requirements for e-invoicing software, and targeted support services, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Source: ZDH

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