Reading e-invoices: Federal government offers free software

A free software tool for companies and self-employed individuals to make electronic invoices (e-invoices) readable is now available on the Elster portal.

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

From January 1, 2025, every self-employed person and every company in Germany must be able to receive, read, and save e-invoices. The special feature of e-invoices is their structured data format. In Germany, the XRechnung format and the hybrid ZUGFeRD format (from version 2.0.1 onwards) are the most common.

The XRechnung is a pure XML dataset. ZUGFeRD, on the other hand, is a combination of a readable PDF file and a dataset.

Large companies have adapted to making XRechnungen (e-invoices) readable with the help of their IT departments or tax advisors. This is not yet the case for many small businesses or freelancers. The German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) has therefore been lobbying the federal government in recent weeks and months to provide free government software for this purpose.

Software tool in the Elster portal

As the ZDH now reports, such a software tool is now available on the Elster portal. The tax administration's e-invoice viewer is activated and can be accessed at the following internet addresses:

https://www.elster.de/eportal/e-rechnung
http://www.erechnung.elster.de
http://www.e-rechnung.elster.de

You might also be interested in:

Operations management

E-invoicing: Don't risk losing your input tax deduction now.

Operations management

"Accounting belongs in the business"

Craft policy

The skilled trades sector praises the pension reform proposals.

Source: ZDH; DHB

DHB now also available digitally! Simply click here and register for the digital German Crafts Journal (DHB)!