XRechnung vs ZUGFeRD: which German e-invoice format to choose

Both formats are legal e-invoices in Germany, so the choice is practical, not legal. Choose XRechnung when you invoice public authorities or exchange invoices purely machine-to-machine, and ZUGFeRD (EN 16931 profile) when your customers still want to open and read the invoice — which is most small and mid-sized businesses. If you need one file for both worlds, the ZUGFeRD profile XRECHNUNG embeds an XRechnung-conformant XML in a readable PDF.

What is the same about XRechnung and ZUGFeRD?

Both implement the European norm EN 16931, both are accepted by the German tax administration as e-invoices under § 14 UStG (UStAE 14.1 Abs. 13 and 14), and both carry the same semantic content: seller, buyer, lines, tax breakdown, totals, payment terms, references. A ZUGFeRD file in the EN 16931 profile and an XRechnung in CII syntax differ mainly in the wrapper (PDF or none) and in the additional German rules that XRechnung imposes. Neither format requires a network: e-mail is a permitted channel for both. The legal framework is on the Germany hub.

Comparison table

Readability: who will open the invoice?

This is the deciding question for most businesses. A ZUGFeRD PDF works for every recipient: a bookkeeper opens it, a system extracts the XML, and nobody needs to know it is an e-invoice. An XRechnung is an XML file; a recipient without accounting software that understands it sees a wall of tags. Since 1 January 2025 every German business must be able to receive e-invoices, so in principle every recipient can handle either — in practice, many small recipients still process what they can see. If your customers are small businesses, tradespeople, associations or landlords, ZUGFeRD lowers the number of support calls. If your customers are corporates or public bodies with automated intake, XRechnung is the cleaner exchange.

Readability is not free. The BMF makes the XML the legal invoice and treats a deviating PDF as a potential second invoice. If your invoice designer and your XML generator are different tools, they can disagree on a rounding, a description or a tax amount. Use a generator that derives both from one data set and validates the pair.

B2G: does the authority accept ZUGFeRD?

The federal receipt platform states that it accepts XRechnung and other EN 16931-conformant formats, naming ZUGFeRD 2.2.0 as an example, and requires the Leitweg-ID in the buyer reference regardless of format. Many public receivers nevertheless specify the XRechnung CIUS — its mandatory fields, its specification identifier, its German business rules — and a ZUGFeRD file in the EN 16931 profile does not carry those. A ZUGFeRD file in the XRECHNUNG profile does, because its XML is an XRechnung. So for public buyers the practical choice is between bare XRechnung XML and ZUGFeRD in the XRECHNUNG profile, and the receiving portal's instructions decide; state portals differ. Details on portals and the Leitweg-ID are on the XRechnung page; the general distinction on B2B vs B2G.

Profiles: how much data, how strict?

XRechnung has one level and it is strict: everything EN 16931 requires plus the German additions, applied to every invoice. ZUGFeRD lets you pick a level. For B2B the sensible default is the EN 16931 profile, which is the norm's core model without national extras. EXTENDED exists for industries that need more than the norm — several deliveries per invoice, sub-lines, additional references — and has been expanded in 2.4 and 2.5. BASIC is enough for very simple invoices. Avoid MINIMUM and BASIC WL: they are not e-invoices under § 14 UStG. The profile catalogue is explained on the ZUGFeRD page.

Tooling and archiving

XRechnung has the simpler validation story: one official validator, one official configuration, a verdict of acceptable or rejected, and a test suite from the standards body. ZUGFeRD needs two checks — the PDF/A-3 container and the XML — with FeRD's XSD and Schematron since 2.4 covering the XML for every profile. Both formats are supported by the same open-source libraries and by most German accounting software; the formats overview lists what exists across Europe.

Archiving is the same for both once you accept that the XML is the invoice. The GoBD amendment of 14 July 2025 says that for e-invoices it is sufficient to keep the structured part, and that the human-readable part of a hybrid invoice must be kept in addition only if it contains extra or deviating tax-relevant information. Converting a ZUGFeRD PDF to TIFF or printing it destroys the XML and is not permitted. Retention is eight years under § 14b UStG.

When to choose which

Choose XRechnung when …

you invoice federal or state bodies; you exchange invoices with partners whose systems consume XML directly; you send over Peppol in UBL; you want one strict rule set and one validator.

Choose ZUGFeRD (EN 16931 profile) when …

your customers are businesses that open invoices in a PDF reader; you want the invoice to look like your invoice; you also invoice French customers (Factur-X); you want the lowest friction during the 2025–2028 transition.

Choose ZUGFeRD (XRECHNUNG profile) when …

you serve public and private customers from one process and want one readable file that also passes the XRechnung validator — provided the specific authority accepts hybrid files.

Choose neither when …

the invoice is at most €250 gross, a passenger ticket, from a Kleinunternehmer, or for a supply exempt under § 4 Nr. 8–29 UStG. Those may stay paper or PDF. Whether an individual invoice falls in an exception requires professional confirmation.

How KRONENWERK handles this

SUPPORTED KRONENWERK produces both formats for German companies from the same invoice data: XRechnung XML and ZUGFeRD as PDF/A-3 with embedded CII, so the PDF and the XML never diverge. Every file is validated at issuance against the EN 16931 rules and, for XRechnung, the KoSIT Schematron, cross-checked with the Mustang library; a file that fails a rule is not issued. Incoming files in either format are read into bills and the XML original is retained unchanged. Peppol delivery goes through an accredited access point provider (Storecove) once the company is connected in Settings → Delivery. See the e-invoicing product page and, for a quick test of any file, the free e-invoice checker.