A business in Germany, France, Belgium or Poland that is looking for an alternative to a US-first accounting tool is usually not unhappy with the bookkeeping. It has run into a European requirement the tool was not designed around: a structured e-invoice in the buyer's national format, a VAT decision that depends on both countries and the customer's status, a VIES check, an invoice in the customer's language, or a question from a data-protection officer about where the ledger is hosted. This page is a checklist of those requirements, written so that you can hold any product — including KRONENWERK — against it. It makes no claims about any other vendor's features; check those on the vendor's own site.
Why "US-first" is the useful distinction
Accounting software built for the United States starts from sales tax, a PDF invoice, English and the US dollar, because that is what its first users needed. None of that is wrong; it is just not where a European company's obligations begin. In Europe the obligations begin with VAT — a transaction tax with place-of-supply rules across 27 member states — and, since 2025 and 2026, with national mandates that prescribe the invoice's file format and sometimes the network it travels on.
A tool can be excellent at what it was built for and still leave a European business with a gap it fills by hand or with a second product. The checklist below names the gaps; whether a particular product has them is something only its own documentation can tell you.
The checklist: nine things a European business needs
Take the list to a demo. For each row, the useful question is not "is it on the roadmap" but "show me the invoice it produces for this customer in this country".
| # | Requirement | Why it matters in Europe | What to ask for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Structured e-invoices in the national format | Belgium requires Peppol BIS in B2B since 1 January 2026; Germany requires every business to receive XRechnung/ZUGFeRD since 2025 and phases in issuing in 2027 and 2028; France's approved-platform system started on 1 September 2026; Poland's KSeF is mandatory for most taxpayers since 1 April 2026. | An XRechnung, a Factur-X, a Peppol BIS UBL and an FA(3) file, generated and validated at issuance, not exported afterwards. |
| 2 | A VAT verdict from the facts | B2B services are taxed where the customer is (Art. 44), B2C electronic services where the consumer lives (Art. 58); the reverse charge, zero-rating and exemptions each need the right wording on the invoice. | Per invoice: standard, zero-rated, exempt, reverse charge, outside scope — with the reasoning stored, and an honest "requires professional confirmation" where the facts do not decide it. |
| 3 | VIES check at issuance | The reverse charge rests on the buyer being a taxable person; VIES is the Commission's system to confirm a VAT number, and the result is your evidence. | The check runs when the invoice is issued and the result is stored with it. |
| 4 | National invoice content | EU law sets the core fields; each country adds its own (registration numbers, legal mentions, exemption wordings). | Invoices that pass in each country you sell from, not one template with a country field. |
| 5 | Languages | Your accountant works in German, your Belgian customer reads Dutch or French, your Polish entity's books are in Polish. | An interface and documents in the languages of the countries you operate in. |
| 6 | Receiving structured invoices | Receiving obligations arrive before issuing obligations (Germany 2025, France 2026); suppliers will send XML, not PDF. | Incoming XRechnung, ZUGFeRD/Factur-X and UBL read into bills without retyping. |
| 7 | European bank connections | Bank feeds under PSD2 open banking differ from US aggregators; a feed that covers US banks may not cover a Sparkasse or a Belgian bank. | Named connectivity for the banks you actually use. |
| 8 | EU hosting and a processing agreement | Your ledger holds personal data of customers and staff; a data-protection officer will ask where it is processed and under which agreement. | A stated hosting region and a data-processing agreement in the privacy documents. |
| 9 | Multi-company, multi-currency | A group with a GmbH and an SAS has two ledgers; a company selling in EUR, PLN and USD has exchange differences. | One ledger per legal entity, foreign-currency invoices, realised differences on settlement. |
The formats, country by country
Row 1 is where most US-first tools stop, so it deserves detail. Each of the four countries KRONENWERK serves in Europe has its own file format, its own validation rules and in two cases its own network.
- Germany — XRechnung and ZUGFeRD
- Both implement EN 16931. XRechnung is bare XML (UBL or CII) with KoSIT's national rules; ZUGFeRD is a PDF/A-3 with embedded CII. Per the Commission's country sheet, from 1 January 2027 businesses with turnover above EUR 800,000 "will no longer be allowed to issue paper invoices or use unstructured electronic formats", and from 1 January 2028 "this requirement will extend to all businesses". See e-invoicing in Germany.
- France — Factur-X, UBL, CII via approved platforms
- Invoices between French companies must pass through a plateforme agréée, which the ministry calls an "obligatory intermediary between businesses"; reception for all from 1 September 2026, issuing for small and micro companies from 1 September 2027. See e-invoicing in France.
- Belgium — Peppol BIS Billing 3.0
- Mandatory B2B since 1 January 2026 under the law of 6 February 2024; Peppol is "the primary format and transmission method". See e-invoicing in Belgium.
- Poland — FA(3) via KSeF
- A national schema submitted to the Ministry of Finance's platform, "mandatory for all entrepreneurs" from 1 April 2026 except the smallest, who follow on 1 January 2027. See e-invoicing in Poland.
The complete comparison is on the formats page; the dates and thresholds are on the mandate timeline.
How KRONENWERK answers the checklist
KRONENWERK is accounting and e-invoicing software for businesses in Germany, France, Belgium, Poland (limited), Canada and the United States. Here is each row of the checklist against what the product actually does today, including the limitations. SUPPORTED WITH LIMITATIONS
| # | KRONENWERK | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | XRechnung and ZUGFeRD (validated with the KoSIT Schematron rules and cross-checked with the Mustang library), Factur-X (PDF/A-3 with embedded CII), Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 UBL, FA(3) XML — generated and validated at issuance. Peppol transport through an accredited access point provider (Storecove) once the company is connected in Settings → Delivery. French transmission through an approved platform is not yet production-ready. The KSeF module has not been used against the production system and subscriptions are not currently sold to Polish companies. | SUPPORTED WITH LIMITATIONS for generation; NOT YET READY for French and Polish transmission |
| 2 | A tax verdict per invoice from seller country, buyer country, business or consumer and kind of supply: standard, zero-rated, exempt, reverse charge, outside scope, or "requires input" / "requires professional confirmation". Stored with the invoice. Never guessed. | SUPPORTED |
| 3 | Buyer VAT IDs are checked against VIES at issuance; the result is stored with the invoice. A free VAT ID checker is available without an account. | SUPPORTED |
| 4 | Invoices, quotes and credit notes with the national mandatory content for each supported country. | SUPPORTED |
| 5 | Interface in English, German, French, Dutch and Polish. | SUPPORTED |
| 6 | Incoming XRechnung, ZUGFeRD/Factur-X and UBL are read into bills; a free checker validates a file without storing it. | SUPPORTED |
| 7 | Enable Banking for European banks, Plaid for Canadian and US banks. | SUPPORTED |
| 8 | The application and its database are hosted in Frankfurt, Germany; the operator is in Québec, Canada, and some sub-processors are US-based. The details and the data-processing agreement are in the privacy notice. KRONENWERK holds no security certification and makes no claim to one. | SUPPORTED as described; see security |
| 9 | Several companies in one account, one ledger each; foreign-currency invoices with realised exchange differences on settlement. No consolidation. | SUPPORTED WITH LIMITATIONS |
The e-invoicing capabilities are described on the e-invoicing product page; plans, including which ones include the API, are on plans. If you are still deciding on the entity and the VAT set-up, start with accounting for startups in Europe.
How to run a fair comparison
Use your own three hardest invoices, not the vendor's demo data. A reverse-charge service to a Belgian company, a B2C subscription to a consumer in another member state, and a credit note against last year's invoice will show more than any feature list.
- Create the customer with a real VAT number and see whether the product checks it and where the result is stored.
- Issue the invoice and open the file: is it a PDF, or an XRechnung / Factur-X / Peppol BIS document that a validator accepts? Drop it into a validator such as the free e-invoice checker.
- Read the VAT line: does the product explain why the invoice carries no VAT, and does it say when it cannot decide?
- Import a supplier's XRechnung and see whether it becomes a bill without retyping.
- Ask for the hosting region and the data-processing agreement in writing.
Any product that passes those five steps for your countries is a reasonable choice. Whether the product's tax treatment of a specific transaction is right is still a question for your accountant.
Frequently asked questions
Does this page compare KRONENWERK's features with QuickBooks?
No. It lists what a European business needs and what KRONENWERK does about each point. What any other product does is documented by that product's vendor.
Can I keep a US-first tool and add e-invoicing separately?
Some businesses do, with a converter or a second product. It means two systems of record for the same invoice, and the VAT verdict and the VIES evidence still have to live somewhere. Whether that is acceptable for your audit trail requires professional confirmation.
Where is KRONENWERK hosted?
The application and its database run in Frankfurt, Germany. The operator is in Canada and some sub-processors are in the United States; the privacy notice lists them.
Does KRONENWERK support countries other than these six?
No. Germany, France, Belgium, Poland (limited), Canada and the United States. A company established elsewhere should look for software built for its own country's rules.
Does KRONENWERK file VAT returns?
No. It records every invoice with its VAT treatment; your accountant files from that record.
Sources
- European Commission — 2025 Germany eInvoicing Country Sheet — read on
- European Commission — eInvoicing in Belgium — read on
- economie.gouv.fr — Tout savoir sur la facturation électronique pour les entreprises — read on
- Ministry of Finance (Poland) — Etapy wdrożenia KSeF 2.0 — read on
- European Commission — Where to tax: place of taxable transactions — read on
- European Commission — VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) — read on
- European Commission — VAT invoicing rules — read on