After 15 months of mandatory e-invoicing, it's still not an issue for many craft businesses. The bureaucratic burden deters many entrepreneurs. (Photo: © Andriy Popov/123RF.com)
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18 May 2026
E-invoicing in the skilled trades: High costs and technical problems are slowing down its implementation. A recent survey by the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts reveals where the implementation is stalling.
Significant setup effort, additional costs, technical problems, and a lack of standardized regulations are still considerably hindering the adoption of e-invoicing in the skilled trades. This is the finding of a recent survey conducted by the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) among nearly 2.000 businesses across all German states.
Although the receipt of e-invoices in the B2B sector (business-to-business transactions) has been mandatory since the beginning of 2025, implementation in practice falls significantly short of expectations, according to the ZDH.
Particularly significant: From January 1, 2028, e-invoicing will be legally mandatory for all domestic companies in the B2B sector – both for sending and receiving invoices. All transition periods will then end.
The German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) is calling for swift improvements from the tax authorities so that the benefits of this digitalization initiative become widely apparent across the skilled trades sector . The association expects practical and legally sound solutions, standardized requirements for e-invoicing software, and targeted support programs, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
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Furthermore, the association expects a legally compliant, government-issued validation tool for checking e-invoices and a guarantee of input tax deduction even after the transitional periods have expired.
Quote from ZDH Secretary General Holger Schwannecke : "The survey results clearly show that e-invoicing has not yet reached the level of implementation in businesses where it is politically envisioned. Instead of noticeable relief, many craft businesses are currently experiencing primarily increased effort, additional costs, and technical obstacles. Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular are reaching their limits in implementing e-invoicing, not due to a lack of willingness on the part of the businesses, but because of technical hurdles over which they have no control."
🔵 In 2025, businesses received an average of around 1.200 incoming invoices, of which about half were e-invoices. Just over a third of the surveyed businesses issue e-invoices themselves.
🔵 56 percent of respondents have an annual turnover of less than €800.000 and 44 percent have a turnover of more than €800.000. This is an important threshold for e-invoicing (see timeline ).
🔵 Many businesses therefore continue to work with digital and traditional formats in parallel, resulting in duplicated processes. These duplicate structures significantly increase the perceived additional workload.
🔵 Approximately half of businesses (47,4 percent) find both receiving and processing e-invoices more time-consuming than traditional PDF invoices. Consequently, the perceived benefit is currently low. 38,3 percent find the effort comparable, and ten percent find it less.
🔵 One in three people has problems reading e-invoices.
🔵 Only one third of the surveyed companies use a GoBD-compliant archiving system for archiving e-invoices.
Technical problems: The main obstacles cited by companies are non-validable incoming invoices, problems with reading the invoice details, and discrepancies between the invoice data record and the readable PDF file in the case of hybrid invoices.
Financial burden: The one-time implementation costs average just under €3.000 , supplemented by ongoing annual costs for software, system adjustments, and external IT support. These are estimated at an average of €800 per year.
Inefficient processes: Processing is predominantly manual, while fully automated processes remain the exception.
"Without uniform guidelines for the use of e-invoicing fields, a universally valid government validation tool and targeted support, e-invoicing will not be able to unleash its true potential – namely more efficient and automated processes – in the short term," emphasizes ZDH Secretary General Holger Schwannecke.
The German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) is calling on policymakers to tighten the regulations and provide better support for businesses along the way. The association criticizes the "rushed implementation of mandatory e-invoicing, for which EU regulations allow until 2030." This, they argue, is "the worst possible solution because the EU's technical specifications are not yet fully available."
Nearly half of the companies that do not yet issue e-invoices plan to introduce them only in the second half of 2027. While those surveyed consider e-invoicing an important step towards digitalization, they currently perceive it as an additional burden.
Source: ZDH, the survey was conducted in January and February 2026
✔ Companies must be able to receive e-invoices.
✔ Companies are allowed to send e-invoices without prior consent from the recipient.
✔ Paper invoices remain permissible.
✔ Businesses need an email inbox to receive invoices, but they can also download e-invoices from customer portals.
✔ Companies must be able to visualize the structured data of the e-invoice.
✔ Companies must archive e-invoices in accordance with GoBD.
✔ Small-value invoices up to 250 euros gross, tax-free services and travel tickets are excluded.
✔ Sales by small businesses according to § 19 UStG are exempt from VAT at the time of issuance. However, the obligation to receive VAT still applies to them.
✔ Companies with an annual turnover of more than 800.000 euros in the previous calendar year (i.e. 2026) are required to send e-invoices in the B2B sector from 1 January 2027.
✔ Smaller and micro-enterprises still have a transition period until the end of 2027. They must issue electronic invoices from 2028 onwards.
✔ Specifications, descriptions of services, or images can be attached as PDFs.
✔ EDI invoices can still be used until the end of 2027.
✔ Without exception, all companies in the B2B sector must send (and receive) e-invoices.
✔ The exchange of invoices via EDI procedures remains permissible provided that it is ensured that the information required under the VAT Act can be correctly and completely extracted into a format that complies with the European standard or is interoperable with it.
✔ For invoices to private customers, the term "other invoices" remains (i.e. on paper or as PDF, etc.).
DHB now also available digitally! Simply click here and register for the digital German Crafts Journal (DHB)!
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