Electronic invoicing

Requirement

Since November 27, 2018, all federal ministries and constitutional bodies in Germany have had to process electronic invoices according to the e-invoice standard XRechnung (at least Standard for Central authorities, Regional authorities & Local authorities due to decision by the National IT Planning Council).

In the sense of the EU directive, the invoice is a structured data record. This EU directive dictates the creation of an individual European standard for the core elements of an electronic invoice. The public bodies of the EU-member states have to accept electronic invoices which comply with this European standard. The EU directive is known as the EU invoice standard EN 16931.

As every EU member state has specific requirements for electronic invoices, the need arose to develop a Core Invoice Usage Specifications (CIUS). The XRechnung is a CIUS for Germany, even though it is not the only CIUS in Germany.

In addition, various partners from the private and administrative sectors have collaborated with FeRD to develop a data format called ZUGFeRD.

The current version ZUGFeRD 2.1.1 was published on July 1st 2020.

In the new version of ZUGFeRD, another profile is made available with the XRechnungs profile. The new profile fulfills the specific requirements of public administration in Germany, since not only the requirements of the European standard EN16931 are met, but also the national business rules and administration-specific provisions of the XRechnung standard are included.

M3 solution

Invoicing is probably the function in M3 that is most affected by localization rules.

Electronic invoices are handled using Infor Localization Services Platform (LSP) and can be delivered using these specific formats:

• XRechnung CII 2.0.0 (UN/CEFACT XML)
• ZUGFeRD 2.1.1
• PEPPOL Access Point
  Note: e-Invoices in PEPPOL Access Point format must be sent to PEPPOL Network using the Web Service Gateway. An acknowledgment receipt is sent by PEPPOL.

For each issued invoice and regardless of the invoicing function used, an invoice BOD is created by M3 and can be viewed by users in 'Invoice Header. Open' (CMS500). The invoice BOD is then published and sent to LSP using ION. LSP then generates a .json file with the Sent status. Connectivity to PEPPOL for the registration of the invoices is provided through the LSP web services gateway. Once connected to the PEPPOL network, organizations can immediately start sending electronic invoices immediately. Successfully sent electronic invoices receive the Forwarded status. PEPPOL Access Point connects participants to the PEPPOL eDelivery network and performs the electronic document exchange.

Configuration guidelines

See "M3 configuration for electronic invoicing" in the Infor M3 Core Configuration Guide for Infor Localization Services Platform.