XRechnung: the fields your invoice needs
Choose your VAT situation and recipient: the list shows every required XRechnung field for your case, with the KoSIT rule and the legal basis.
Mandatory fields for your case
17
XRechnung: EN 16931 plus the national BR-DE rules of KoSIT.
| Of which from the VAT Act | 13 |
| Of which technical only (standard, KoSIT) | 4 |
| BT/BG | Field | Rule | Law |
|---|---|---|---|
| BT-1 | Invoice number | EN 16931 | section 14(4) no. 4 |
| BT-2 | Issue date | EN 16931 | section 14(4) no. 3 |
| BT-3 | Invoice type | EN 16931 | |
| BT-5 | Currency | EN 16931 | |
| BT-27 | Seller name | EN 16931 | section 14(4) no. 1 |
| BG-5 | Seller address | EN 16931 | section 14(4) no. 1 |
| BT-31/32 | VAT ID or tax number | BR-S-02 | section 14(4) no. 2 |
| BT-44 | Buyer name | EN 16931 | section 14(4) no. 1 |
| BG-8 | Buyer address | EN 16931 | section 14(4) no. 1 |
| BT-72 | Delivery date | national | section 14(4) no. 6 |
| BG-25 | Lines: quantity, unit, description, price | EN 16931 | section 14(4) no. 5 |
| BG-23 | VAT breakdown per rate | EN 16931 | section 14(4) nos. 7 and 8 |
| BT-109/112/115 | Totals net, gross, due | EN 16931 | |
| BT-10 | Leitweg-ID | BR-DE-15 | section 5 ERechV |
| BG-6 | Seller contact: name, phone, email | BR-DE-2 bis 7 | section 5 ERechV |
| BT-34/49 | Electronic addresses of both parties | PEPPOL R010/R020 | |
| BG-16 | Payment instructions, e.g. IBAN | BR-DE-1 | section 5 ERechV |
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · VAT Act, ministry letters and XRechnung 3.0.2 checked on 25 October 2026
XRechnung is the German standard for electronic invoices, published by the Coordination Office for IT Standards (KoSIT) in Bremen. Technically it is a so-called CIUS of the European standard EN 16931: it adopts the standard’s data model and tightens it with national business rules whose identifiers start with BR-DE. The current version is 3.0.2; under the KoSIT schedule it can be used until 31 July 2027, and the next major release is numbered 4.0. An XRechnung is a pure XML file, either in the UBL 2.1 syntax or in UN/CEFACT CII; it has no view for people, so you need a viewer to read it. You recognise it by the identifier in field BT-24, which ends in xrechnung_3.0. Compared with the plain standard, XRechnung requires among other things a buyer reference, the seller’s full address, a contact person with phone and email, and payment instructions. On invoices to public bodies the buyer reference holds the Leitweg-ID.
Who defines XRechnung
KoSIT runs the standard on behalf of the federal and state governments. It publishes the specification, the test rules as Schematron and a validator that anyone can use to test a file against the official rule set. For the public sector the basis is the federal E-Invoicing Regulation: since 27 November 2020 suppliers to federal authorities must invoice electronically, in XRechnung or another EN 16931 format.
Between businesses there is no duty to use XRechnung. It is one of several accepted formats there. Because it is precisely described and freely available, however, nearly every accounting program in Germany writes XRechnung.
Identifier and versions
Every XRechnung states the specification identifier in field BT-24. For the current generation it reads:
urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:xeinkauf.de:kosit:xrechnung_3.0
The first part points to EN 16931, the second to the German specification. The format detector on this site reads exactly this string to decide whether a file is XRechnung, ZUGFeRD or Peppol. KoSIT sets a validity period for each version; the current 3.0.2 applies until 31 July 2027. Version 4.0 follows, with dates announced by KoSIT.
The main German rules
| Rule | Requires | Field |
|---|---|---|
| BR-DE-1 | Payment instructions, such as a transfer with IBAN | BG-16 |
| BR-DE-2 | Seller contact details | BG-6 |
| BR-DE-3 and 4 | Seller city and postcode | BT-37, BT-38 |
| BR-DE-5 to 7 | Contact name, phone and email | BT-41 to BT-43 |
| BR-DE-8 and 9 | Buyer city and postcode | BT-52, BT-53 |
| BR-DE-15 | Buyer reference, the Leitweg-ID for public bodies | BT-10 |
| PEPPOL R010 and R020 | Electronic address of buyer and seller | BT-49, BT-34 |
The list is not complete; the specification contains more than thirty BR-DE rules, including requirements on cash discounts, direct debit and invoice types. The pre-check on this site implements the most common of them. Whether a file really meets every rule is decided in the end by the KoSIT validator; how we compared our results with it is described on the method page.
Leitweg-ID: the address inside the administration
When the invoice goes to a public body, BT-10 holds the contracting body’s Leitweg-ID. It follows its own format specification with check digits. The calculator checks an ID from its parts:
Where the ID comes from and how to use it is explained on Leitweg-ID. The route of the invoice to the federal government is described on e-invoicing the federal government.
Reading and creating XRechnung
An XRechnung is hard for people to read. Open it in the viewer to see the lines and amounts as an invoice. You can create one yourself on create an XRechnung: the form fills in the German required fields, marks missing details in red and outputs UBL and CII. Before sending to a customer, a pass through the validator is worth it.