What is the ZUGFeRD standard and how is it implemented?
What is the ZUGFeRD standard?
ZUGFeRD stands for Zentraler User Guide des Forums elektronische Rechnung Deutschland and is a uniform standard for the electronic transmission of invoice data in Germany. The aim of the standard is to harmonise the exchange of information between companies and with public authorities.
What concrete advantages does the ZUGFeRD standard offer?
With the standard, the information contained in invoices can be read and processed automatically. This enables both you and the recipients of your documents to automatically transfer the invoice data to third-party systems with little effort. With the help of the standard, the entire content of the invoice can be transferred to an ERP system such as SAP.
How is the ZUGFeRD standard integrated in billwerk?
The ZUGFeRD standard is optionally available to billwerk customers. billwerk customers can have the feature activated for their account by billwerk support and use it free of charge until further notice as well as test it on the sandbox. If you are interested in ZUGFeRD, please contact support@billwerk.com.
After the support team has activated the feature on your account you can set up the ZUGFeRD format as a PDF Standard via your account settings. For that please click on your e-mail address and choose "Settings > Documents > General Settings". As an invoice attachment format please set the ZUGFeRD standard and save the changes. All newly created invoices will now be generated with the defined standard.
Invoices and Credit Notes in billwerk are generated as PDF files. billwerk uses the PDF/A-3B format, which complies with the ISO 19005-3 standard. You can view the PDF files sent in the "Documents" section.
An XML file with the name "ZUGFeRD-invoice" or "xinvoice" is attached to each PDF file, which can be read by machine.
Supported formats
billwerk supports the following ZUGFeRD formats:
ZUGFeRD version 1.0 - Comfort profile
ZUGFeRD Version 2.1 - Comfort Profile
ZUGFeRD Version 2.1.1 - X-Invoice Profile
You can request the technical specification of the formats on the ZUGFeRD website.
Deviating settings for individual customers
For individual customers, you can select a deviating ZUGFeRD format, or the option for no e-invoice attachment to be created, alternatively. For more information, see the article How do my customers receive their invoices?
Buyer reference
If your customers have a buyers reference as invoice recipient, you can enter it in the customer master data. You can find instructions on how to do this here.