E-invoicing becomes mandatory in 2028: what your business needs to know now.
· by Kevin Stumpf
From 1 January 2028 there's no way around it for trades businesses any more: invoices to other companies must go out as a proper e-invoice. It sounds like bureaucratic overload, but it's manageable if you start in time. Here's the roadmap, without legalese.
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What exactly is an e-invoice?
First, let's clear up the biggest misunderstanding: A PDF sent by email is not an e-invoice. An e-invoice as defined by law is a structured data set under the European standard EN 16931, in other words a file that a computer can read in and process automatically. In Germany, the two common formats are:
- XRechnung — a pure data format (XML), a standard especially for public-sector clients.
- ZUGFeRD — a hybrid: it looks like a normal PDF, but has the structured data embedded. For trade businesses, usually the most practical variant, because people can read it and machines can too.
The deadlines: what applies when
The legal basis is the Wachstumschancengesetz (Growth Opportunities Act) of 2024. The obligation comes in stages:
- Since 1 January 2025: Every company in Germany will have to issue e-invoices receive can — including your business, even without consent. The good news: a regular email inbox is formally sufficient for that.
- By end of 2026: Transition period: for your outgoing invoices you may continue to use paper or, with the recipient's consent, a simple PDF.
- By end of 2027: The transition period is extended for businesses whose total turnover in the previous year did not exceed €800,000 — this covers a large part of the skilled trades.
- From 1 January 2028: No more transition period. Invoices between domestic businesses (B2B) must be issued as e-invoices.
The important exceptions
Not every invoice is affected. The obligation applies not for:
- Private customers (B2C): You can keep invoicing the bathroom renovation for the Müller family as usual. The e-invoicing obligation only applies to transactions between businesses.
- Small-amount invoices up to €250 (gross), a simple receipt is still sufficient here.
- Small business under § 19 UStG: Anyone who uses the small business rule is exempt from the obligation to Exhibition permanently exempt from e-invoicing — but you still have to be able to receive them.
For many trade businesses, this means: the private customer side carries on as usual. But as soon as you work for a general contractor, a property manager, a GmbH or another business, you are obliged from 2028 onwards.
Don't forget the retention period
E-invoices must electronic and tamper-proof be kept — the retention period for bookkeeping records is now eight years. "Printing it out and filing it in the folder" does not meet the requirements for an e-invoice: the structured data record itself must be retained (keyword GoBD).
Your roadmap — four steps, no stress
- Clarify reception: Decide which mailbox e-invoices will come in through, and tell your suppliers. You can do that in ten minutes today.
- Check your software: Can your invoicing software create and read ZUGFeRD or XRechnung? If you're still invoicing with Word and Excel: now is the right time to switch — not just at New Year's 2027.
- Set archiving rules: Make sure incoming and outgoing e-invoices are filed automatically and in a tamper-proof way.
- Bring in your tax advisor: Many accountancy firms already prefer e-invoices to piles of paper. Ask about the best handover route (e.g. DATEV).
My honest advice
2028 sounds far away. It isn't. If you only restructure your processes in autumn 2027, you'll be doing it under time pressure and alongside day-to-day business, and that's exactly when things go wrong. If you start now, you have two relaxed years of buffer and hardly notice the switch.
If you want support with that: in my business software ProfiSuite Handwerk is the e-invoicing module (receiving & sending, XRechnung and ZUGFeRD, GoBD-compliant archiving, DATEV export) already built in. And if you just have one question about the switch: 15 minutes, free, honest — even if no collaboration comes out of it in the end.
And take the Checklist as PDF with — one page, four steps, a checklist for the office.
