BMF specifies e-invoicing requirement for 2025

The regulations on mandatory e-invoicing for domestic B2B transactions, which came into force on January 1, 2025, remain highly topical. While many taxpayers are working on the technical and procedural implementation, the tax authorities published a draft of a further BMF letter on June 25, 2025.  

The draft letter specifies the requirements for e-invoicing, supplements the letter dated October 15, 2024, and makes changes to the VAT application decree. 

The most important changes are explained below.

Importance of complying with technical format specifications for e-invoicing

The most striking point among the planned adjustments is the tax authorities’ focus on compliance with technical e-invoicing standards. It is clear that taxpayers must pay particular attention during implementation to ensuring that the format specifications set out in the European standard EN 16931 and the national specifications “XRechnung” and “ZUGFeRD” are observed. 

If an e-invoice does not meet the applicable format requirements, it is classified as “other invoice.” According to the tax authorities' proposal, this applies regardless of the type of format error, with so-called “critical errors” being particularly relevant. 

Critical errors occur when the electronic document does not comply with the business rules of EN 16913, or the specified XML structure is incorrect. These errors cannot be corrected by an unstructured attachment accompanying the electronic document. To ensure compliance with the requirements of EN 16931, the tax authorities refer to the use of suitable validation applications in this context.

By issuing an electronic document that does not comply with the format requirements, the invoice issuer would therefore be in breach of its obligation to issue e-invoices from 2027 (or, in exceptional cases, from 2028). 

Consequences for input tax deduction for the invoice recipient

From this point on, the risks increase for the invoice recipient. If e-invoicing is mandatory but only an “other invoice” (e.g., an incorrect e-invoice or PDF invoice) is issued, input tax deduction is not permitted.

Exceptions can be verified by objective evidence, such as information contained in an “other invoice” that has been received. To ensure this, technical validation of e-invoices should be an integral part of the incoming invoice verification process.

Until the transitional arrangements for mandatory e-invoicing expire (end of 2026 for companies with annual turnover exceeding EUR 800,000 and end of 2027 for companies with turnover of up to EUR 800,000), incorrect electronic documents will still be accepted as “other invoices”. Input tax deduction is therefore also generally possible from these documents, subject to compliance with the general requirements (in particular the mandatory information pursuant to Art. 14 (4) of the German Value Added Tax Act (UStG)). 

E-invoices must be provided as a single document

Previously, an invoice could consist of several documents that together provided the invoice details. This will now only apply to “other invoices,” not to e-invoices. 

Consequently, all invoice information required pursuant to Arts. 14 and 14a UStG must be included in the structured part of the e-invoice. This applies in particular to the mandatory information specified in Art. 14(4) UStG (details of the service provider and recipient, net amount and VAT amount, etc.). Exceptions only apply to supplementary information on the service description, which can be included in an attachment. 

Date of service and correct billing information

The previously common practice of stating “service date corresponds to invoice date” is not sufficient for e-invoices. The service date is a mandatory field that must be specified. 

The tax authorities also point out that billing according to the VAT credit note procedure (invoicing by the service recipient), requires a clear selection of a corresponding “invoice type” in the e-invoice. This means that misunderstandings as to whether it is a commercial credit note (e.g., bonus credit, cancellation, etc.) are a thing of the past. 

It is therefore particularly important to ensure that invoices are complete and that the invoice details are accurate. When implementing the new rules, taxpayers should ensure that the required fields are filled in completely and correctly. The scope for subsequent argumentation in the event of incorrect assessment of invoices is shrinking. 

Consent of the recipient for e-invoices vs. “other invoices”

The draft BMF letter also clarifies that the invoice recipient’s consent is not required if there is an existing obligation to issue e-invoices.

This also applies to invoices for small amounts, tickets as invoices, or invoices from small businesses, for which there will be no obligation but an option to use e-invoicing after the transition periods end in 2027 and 2028, respectively. 

In such cases, recipients must not reject an e-invoice and are not entitled to request an alternative “other invoice.” 

With conventional PDF invoices, the recipient’s consent is still required. However, such consent can also be given tacitly, for example through payment or via general terms and conditions (GTC). 

If a recipient actively objects to a PDF invoice, the issuer has no other option during the transition period but to create an e-invoice or issue the invoice on paper.

Validation as the key to legal certainty

The new BMF letter emphasizes that comprehensive validation of e-invoices is crucial for legal certainty and stable invoicing processes. 

• Companies must ensure that incoming e-invoices are complete and formally correct, as this is the only way to ensure that input tax deduction is not jeopardized.
• For outgoing invoices, the invoice issuer is obliged to issue invoices correctly, as incorrect e-invoices can jeopardize payment by the customer and thus the company's own cash flow.

A valid e-invoice requires: 

• Technical verification of outgoing and incoming invoices for compliance with XML schema and Schematron rules in accordance with EN 16931 or national CIUS (e.g., “XRechnung”).
• Formal verification to ensure that mandatory information such as the service date is correct, and the service description is sufficiently specific.

Therefore, only those who check both the technical validity and the completeness of incoming and outgoing invoices can protect themselves against tax risks and payment defaults in the long term. These verification mechanisms must be an integral part of every incoming and outgoing process for e-invoices.

Outlook

The final BMF letter on the matter is to be published in Q4 2025, following comments from the associations. However, companies would be well advised to start implementation now and, above all, to establish appropriate validation processes.

We support you in reviewing existing processes, assisting with procedural and technical implementation, or advising on the use of specific applications.

Can we help you in implementing e-invoices? Feel free to contact us.