E-invoices with Vertec

E-invoices mean that the invoices are sent to the invoice recipient in a format that is machine-readable and thus allows for automatic, electronic processing.

At Vertec, this is based on the usual Invoicing . Nothing needs to be changed, it is only a matter of the format in which the invoice is finally transmitted. Whether as a PDF, as a PDF with integrated XML (ZUGFeRD), as a pure XML file or structured for an exchange platform (LEDES, Conextrade), it is always the same invoice in Vertec.

Vertec offers the following options for sending invoices electronically:

• Additional feature: With the Additional Feature E-Invoice Templates , necessary templates and scripts are implemented, with which e-invoices (ZUGfERD and XRechnungen) can be created at the push of a button.
• LEDES: For the exchange of invoices with platforms in LEDES format, Vertec offers LEDES Export, with which customer-specific LEDES templates can be created and invoices can be exported in LEDES format.

Form vs. Content

The formal requirements are met with Vertec. The real sticking point, however, is the content requirements of your invoice recipients. These can vary depending on the recipient and cannot easily be standardised. Some recipients prescribe, for example, that the country must be advertised, while others only want to receive an ISO country code. Some want to have a total of services shown, while others want a detailed list of services.

This means that what exactly is transmitted electronically and in what form has to be adapted to the specifications of the individual invoice recipients. As soon as you know the requirements of an invoice recipient, you need to map them accordingly in the e-invoice, like a customer-specific report template. A good example of what this can look like can be found in the article Ledes export .

In order to facilitate this process for e-invoices in general, the Additional Feature E-Invoice Templates can be imported, which makes it possible to configure e-invoices per invoice recipient.

Mandatory e-invoicing in Germany

The Growth Opportunities Act provides for an obligation to dispatch invoices in electronic form from 01.01.2025, with a 2-year transition period, in fact from 01.01.2027. The Vertec blog article The obligation of e-invoicing in germany gives a good overview.

The legislator understands an e-invoice as an invoice that complies with the European standard EN 16931 . The formats ZUGFeRD 2.x and XRechnung implemented in the invoice with a list of services comply with this standard.

For this purpose, the modern Office reports have to be used (the old legacy Office reports do not support ZUGFeRD). The ZUGFeRD implementation from the invoice with performance list can also be easily transferred to other Office reports.

The individual report templates must then be adapted to the specifications of the invoice recipients (see Additional Feature E-Invoice Templates ).

E-invoices in Switzerland

In 2016, the Swiss Federal Council decided to require suppliers of the Swiss Federal Administration to submit electronic invoices if the contract value exceeds CHF 5,000. However, simple PDF documents are also accepted as e-invoices. All information on this can be found at www.e-rechnung.admin.ch.

But a large number of other companies also work with e-invoices. For example, more than 23,000 companies are connected to Swisscom’s Conextrade trading platform.

Here you can find an Example implementation e-invoices with conextrade (switzerland) .