Compliance Germany · E-invoicing
Since 2025 you must be able to receive e-invoices. From 2027, many businesses must also send them – as XRechnung or ZUGFeRD, not as a PDF. Odoo has everything you need for this. What is usually missing is a clean setup: master data, formats per customer, Peppol, validation, handover to DATEV. That's exactly what we do. At a fixed price, with a test invoice to your tax advisor.
Official Odoo Partner · fixed price upfront · set up in your system, no additional software needed
The deadlines
The rules come from the German Growth Opportunities Act (Section 14 and Section 27(38) of the German VAT Act, UStG) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) circulars of 15 October 2024 and 15 October 2025.
Since 1 January 2025
Every domestic company must be able to receive e-invoices, including small businesses under the small business scheme. The XML must be processed and archived in its original form, not just the PDF.
Until 31 December 2026
Sending on paper or as a PDF is still allowed, PDF with the recipient's consent. Time to set up and test formats, master data and processes calmly.
From 1 January 2027
Obligation to send e-invoices for companies with more than €800,000 in revenue in 2026. If you are above that, you need the setup by the end of 2026 – tested, not just installed.
From 1 January 2028
Mandatory e-invoicing for all domestic B2B transactions, including small businesses.
Valid formats are XRechnung and ZUGFeRD from version 2.0.1, excluding the MINIMUM and BASIC-WL profiles. With ZUGFeRD, the XML part counts, not the image. Exempt from the obligation to issue: small-amount invoices up to €250, travel tickets, invoices to private customers, services by small businesses under the small business scheme. You still have to be able to receive them.
Sources: BMF: questions and answers on e-invoicing · Bavarian State Tax Office · IHK Frankfurt (Chamber of Commerce)
What Odoo provides
Odoo generates and reads the formats valid in Germany out of the box. Whether this already works for you depends not on the software but on the setup.
Format 1
A pure XML file according to EN 16931, in Odoo as XRechnung 3.0 in UBL format. Mandatory for public authorities, there with a Leitweg-ID, and widely used in B2B. The format is set per customer and generated when the invoice is sent.
Community and EnterpriseFormat 2
A PDF that carries the invoice data inside it as XML, in Odoo in the EXTENDED profile, compliant with EN 16931. Your customer sees a normal PDF, their system reads the XML. Legally, the XML part counts, so both must match.
Community and EnterpriseTransmission channel
Odoo is itself an access point: you register your company from within Odoo, send and receive via the Peppol network, and Germany is supported. According to Odoo's documentation, registration is free of charge. Incoming invoices land directly in accounting as drafts.
Community and EnterpriseAbout the DATEV handover. The standard export covers many businesses. If you need cost centres, fixed customer number ranges or a direct connection to DATEV Unternehmen online, you need an additional module. We tell you beforehand whether that applies to you. How GoBD and DATEV work together in Odoo is explained on our page GoBD and DATEV.
About Odoo 20. For e-invoicing, Peppol and the German localisation, Odoo 20 brings no fundamental changes compared to Odoo 19. If you are still on Odoo 16 or older, you usually don't have the current format versions. Then the upgrade comes before e-invoicing: Odoo 20 Upgrade Check.
Where it gets stuck in practice
For a valid XRechnung, Odoo needs, among other things, the sender's phone number, email, VAT ID and bank details. If one is missing, the file is technically there but invalid.
Public authorities require XRechnung with a Leitweg-ID, many mid-sized companies prefer ZUGFeRD. The format is set per customer. That is maintenance, not a switch.
Registration takes about a day, the incoming journal must be defined, and the recipient must be on the network themselves. If you don't check this, you send into the void.
The BMF distinguishes between format errors, business rule errors and content errors. A wrong date of supply or a wrong tax rate remains an error even if the XML is formally valid.
The XML must be archived in its original form and remain machine-readable. If you only file the image, you violate the retention obligation.
Customer numbers, cost centres, document fields: whatever is not defined in Odoo, the tax advisor has to rework. Every month.
Each of these points is solved in one to two hours if you know where it sits. That's why we offer the setup as a package, not as a manual.
The offer
One working day, mostly remote. Appointment within two weeks of your request. Whether the package fits your system, we clarify beforehand free of charge.
Step 1, free of charge
€0
30 minutes, via screen sharing
We look at version, modules and master data.
Step 2, fixed price
/ €990
net, fixed price, one working day
For Odoo from version 17, one company, standard accounting.
If there's more to it
/ €145
net per hour, scope agreed beforehand
Multiple companies, DATEV add-on modules, cost centres, direct connection to DATEV Unternehmen online.
Not included: the upgrade to a current Odoo version (for that, see the Upgrade Check), implementing accounting from scratch, tax advice. The procedural documentation remains your responsibility; we provide the technical part of it.
Why KAPEO. We set it up in your system and remain reachable afterwards. No ticket system, no change of contact person. If you want ongoing support after the setup, you'll find it in KAPEO Care.
Without Odoo
Then mandatory e-invoicing is the right occasion to bring invoicing, accounting and customer data into one system instead of buying yet another tool. With our Rocket Start, sales, purchasing, inventory and invoicing are set up in Odoo, e-invoicing included. If you first want to know what makes sense for you: the business analysis. Coming from Sage, Lexware or DATEV Faktura? Then read Switching your ERP to Odoofirst. Users of DATEV Mittelstand Faktura without an accounting package: the standalone product ends on 31 Dec 2026. Users of Sage 100 Desktop: according to Sage, there will be no more statutory updates after 2024.
FAQ
Until the end of 2026, yes, with the recipient's consent. From 2027 or 2028, a PDF without XML counts as an “other invoice” in B2B and does not meet the obligation. ZUGFeRD is the middle ground: a PDF that carries the XML inside it.
No. XRechnung, ZUGFeRD and Peppol are included in Odoo Community. You need Enterprise for the DATEV export from the general ledger and for automatic document recognition of PDF invoices.
Peppol is a network through which e-invoices go directly from system to system, without email. It is not mandatory in Germany for B2B. It is worth it if customers or suppliers use it. In Odoo, registration is free of charge according to the documentation.
Nothing about the collaboration, but the handover becomes cleaner: journal entries and documents go from Odoo to the tax firm as a DATEV export. We agree with your tax advisor which fields they need.
Older versions usually don't have the current format versions. We check this in the free review. As a rule, the first step is then the upgrade to Odoo 20 , followed by e-invoicing.
No, the German e-invoicing obligation applies to domestic B2B transactions. Swiss companies with German customers may be affected if they are registered for tax in Germany. For Switzerland: VAT and QR-bill in Odoo.
Access to your Odoo with accounting rights, your tax advisor's contact details for the test invoice, and one person who shows us the invoicing run in 30 minutes.
The first step
If you start in autumn, you have a buffer for tests with customers and your tax advisor. If you start in December, you don't. Send us a short note on which Odoo version you use. We get back to you within one working day with a proposed date for the free review. Or book a 30-minute call.
