Like many other countries, Germany is introducing mandatory e-invoicing. The phased rollout will start in 2025. Are you aware of everything needed to be fully prepared for this evolution?
A recent poll by Coupa with 200 invoice managers in Germany may shed some light on this. Over three-quarters of the respondents are aware of the mandate, but only 60% note that preparing for it is a high priority within their company.
This means that almost a quarter of these invoice managers are not aware of the mandate and that many companies do not have the transition to e-invoicing high on their agenda.
Why bother with e-invoicing?
Beyond just ticking off regulatory boxes, e-invoicing is like a secret weapon for your business. Think less paperwork, quicker payments, and say goodbye to lost invoices. Plus, governments get a clearer picture of what’s going on, making the economy a bit more transparent for all of us.
The majority of the respondents, a whopping 92%, view e-invoicing as a positive development, citing the main advantages of faster payment processing and less time-consuming processes.
A lot of work to be done
There is still a lot to be done; 84% of the respondents note that their processes are not yet compliant with the coming mandate. Some even note that they have only just started with the transition.
Of all the respondents, only 1 (0,5%) answered that they see no issues with complying with the regulations, raising the question if companies are fully aware of when they are compliant with the mandate.
About 75% of respondents think they are ready for the deadline of January 1, 2025. But this may be a little too positive when we zoom in on the details.
Receiving electronic invoices in a structured data format (like XML) will be mandatory starting January 2027. Only 15.3% of companies currently meet this requirement, and only 78.5% can receive documents in this format. When we look at outbound invoices, the numbers are similar. Less than 30% of the 175 questioned companies send their invoices in a structured electronic data format, and only 40% of them are processed touchless.
What about other countries?
Many German companies have close economic ties to French companies, but are they aware that starting September 2026, France will also introduce its own mandate? The structure of the French mandate differs from the German version, which means that German companies may not be compliant with it.
And not only Germany and France but Belgium, Croatia, Latvia (January 1, 2026), Poland (February 1, 2025), and Spain (date yet to be announced) are introducing some form of mandatory invoicing within the next few years, to name a few.
Routty; always compliant and easy to implement.
Routty is an e-invoicing and e-delivery SaaS solution that streamlines and automates order-to-cash and purchase-to-pay processes. The platform empowers companies in any industry to seamlessly connect customers and suppliers to their ERP systems fast, efficiently, and without IT hassles, regardless of network or document format.
Companies of all sizes and industries are quickly adopting e-invoicing and e-delivery as part of day-to-day business transactions both for business-to-government (B2G) and business-to-business (B2B).
Routty enables companies to stay compliant with tax reporting obligations and grasp the opportunity to reduce cycle times, eliminate fraud and errors, automate purchase-to-pay and order-to-cash processes, and, in general, improve efficiency.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our experts or download the datasheet with all features and benefits of Routty and be sure your company is ready for all mandates.
Mandatory e-invoicing in Germany
Join our November 21st webinar to understand Germany’s new e-invoicing rules. Starting January 1, 2025, stricter e-invoicing formats will be required for B2B transactions. Learn about compliant formats like XRechnung, issuance obligations, and how to transition smoothly.
