In fact, as we mentioned at the beginning, the scenario from this point of view is rather fragmented, due to the fact that Germany is a federal state and the individual Länder have freedom of action on this matter.
To date, the obligation to send electronic invoices to public administrations is in force for suppliers of central administrations .
As far as the individual regions and their public administrations are concerned, the situation is varied: some states have already implemented the mandate (for example Bremen, Hamburg, Saarland), while others will implement it starting in 2024, such as Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. Other regions still plan to use electronic invoicing but have not yet defined an obligation.
As we mentioned, there are mainly two formats for issuing structured electronic invoices in Germany, namely XRechnung and ZUGFerD, which are used in particular in the context of B2G transactions.
As regards the platforms and transmission methods that can be used to hong kong whatsapp resource send electronic invoices to German administrations, we find again a very heterogeneous situation. In fact, there are currently several platforms. Depending on whether your interlocutor is a central administration or a federal state body, it is necessary to check each time which platform and transmission method to use.
Given the complex situation we have just described, the German project is certainly ambitious, especially considering the date of 1 January 2026 which , although postponed compared to the initial proposal, is not that far away.
However, at the same time, it represents the opportunity to introduce greater standardization in a currently complex landscape. We must not forget the other benefits that the introduction of electronic invoicing can bring to businesses and public administrations, in terms of:
Cost saving
Reduction of payment times
Environmental sustainability and carbon footprint reduction
All that remains is to wait for the next developments that will be determined by the German government, to understand in particular which model will be implemented for the adoption of electronic invoicing in Germany, which technological solutions and, last but not least, the calendar of the next obligations to be monitored.