XRechnung – Mandatory from November 2020

Do you work for contracting authorities?

Have you already switched to XRechnung?

If not, it’s high time! In less than 3 months, the new invoice format XRechnung is mandatory – at least for all undertakings in the service of contracting authorities. Those who have not changed by then have a problem. The good news: With the right partner, the changeover is not a witchcraft and offers many positive side effects.

All service providers acting on behalf of the Confederation and the authorities must comply with the new billing standard in the truest sense of the word. But what sounds like a new, cumbersome regulation actually has numerous advantages. Especially for the companies themselves, which work with government, hospitals, public offices, courts, educational and other public institutions. Moreover, the provision forces them to become more innovative by means of a kind of “benevolent dictatorship” and thus to position themselves in a sustainable position in the long term.

Innovation drivers for companies – not in the B2G sector

Invoice exchange models that are not based on XInvoice or ZUGFeRD often provide unstructured data, incur high costs (personnel, material) and cannot be exchanged or processed efficiently and securely. Due to a lack of compatibility, they sometimes come across systemic and “country borders”. E-bills eliminate all these errors and complement the billing processes with practical, useful and easy-to-use functions and efficiency-enhancing effects.

XRechnungincreases innovative strength

In a brief, the XInvoice is a special data format. It serves as the standard for the electronic transmission of invoices for public contracts in Germany, but also complies 100% with the EU requirements (CEN). This has the advantage that invoices in the XInvoice format can be received and processed throughout Europe. In the case of electronic invoice exchange, XInvoices in XML data format and hybrid invoices according to the ZUGFeRD standard have proved their worth. >> More information about XRechnung and ZUGFeRD.

Innovative milestone of digitalization

The Federal Ministry is also pleased about the introduction of the XRechnung. State Secretary Klaus Vitt says: “With the introduction of e-billing, we have reached a milestone on our way to offering administrative services electronically by 2022. Both companies and public administration employees can now take full advantage of the benefits of digital invoicing and processing.”

eInvoicing – Authorities are already doing it

By the way, the new eInvoicing rule has been in place for the authorities themselves since April 2020. You have already learned to appreciate the obvious benefits. Therefore, companies wishing to work or work with contracting authorities should now prepare for the XRechnung and start the changeover immediately. Because time is pressing!

Tip: Inquire now about a competent partner who will introduce the new standard to you! As an official SAP partner, we support you not only in the implementation of your mail & monitoring systems, but also in the conversion to XRechnung!

Smart companies are already working with XRechnung

When the new rule became known, many federal service providers quickly switched to XRechnung. For large or truly innovative companies, electronic invoice formats such as XRechnung and ZUGFeRD are no longer novel. They introduced XRechnung years ago and have benefited from efficiency, safety and transparency ever since. Not only in the regulatory environment, but in all accounting processes (B2B, B2C). In this way, they are miles ahead of providers who still use the old systems.

Changemaking makes companies more performant

Thilo Kiefer, Managing Director of munich enterprise software, is convinced that XRechnung will only benefit companies in the medium term, even those that are not necessarily related to federal authorities. He says: “The changeover to the new, Germany-wide standard XRechnung was long overdue. We live in the age of digitalization, want efficient organizations and propagate environmental protection; but still write our invoices – as in the last century – on paper! The regulation comes at the right time and helps companies to overhaul outdated systems and processes, to become more innovative and to conserve costs and natural resources. On the positive side, this time the federal government is first addressing itself and making the new standard mandatory for the time being only for companies that have a B2G business relationship. – Although the digital invoice would also make sense for all other companies, because it simply makes the organization more performant.”

In any case, companies that supply federal agencies should act quickly to ensure that they remain competitive and introduce XRechnung immediately.

Are you looking for an expert for XRechnung or need more information? We will prepare you for the changeover!