Electronic invoicing at the Bundeskartellamt

General information on electronic invoicing at the Bundeskartellamt

Electronic invoicing has been mandatory across the entire federal administration since 27 November 2020. In the following you will find all the information you need to exchange invoices electronically with the Bundeskartellamt.

Please use electronic invoicing even if you are not required to do so by law. The benefits for invoice issuers include:

more efficient workflows, reduced processing times, faster payment;
considerable savings on paper, printing and postage costs.

If you have any questions concerning the electronic invoicing of your current contract with the Bundeskartellamt, please contact us at zahlungen@bundeskartellamt.bund.de. We will get in touch with you as soon as possible.

Information on sending electronic invoices to the Bundeskartellamt

The following information is intended for invoice issuers who are required to issue invoices electronically or who wish to familiarise themselves with this topic.

1. Sending electronic invoices

The Bundeskartellamt cannot receive electronic invoices via its email addresses.

This is possible exclusively through the Federal Central Invoice Submission Portal (ZRE). The ZRE portal can be accessed at xrechnung.bund.de. The ZRE portal’s website also provides more information on the terms and conditions of use and on how to contact the user support service.

If electronic invoicing software is used, the following transmission methods are available in the ZRE portal: Peppol, email, De-Mail and manual upload. Alternatively, it is possible to enter the invoice information manually in your web browser and submit the electronic invoice through the ZRE portal. The invoice issuer’s preferred transmission method has to be selected before sending the invoice.

Submitting invoices via Peppol: When using Peppol to submit electronic invoices to the Bundeskartellamt, please use the following Peppol participant ID: 0204 991-02380-92

2. Invoice data

In addition to the invoice elements required for VAT purposes (see Section 14 of the Value-Added-Tax Act – UStG), electronic invoices must include at least the following information in accordance with Section 5 of the Electronic Invoicing Ordinance (ERechV).

Buyer reference (Leitweg-ID) – the Bundeskartellamt provides the buyer reference in the contract documents when the contract is awarded. The buyer reference never expires. The Bundeskartellamt’s buyer reference is: 991-02380-92.
Terms of payment or alternatively the payment due date.
The payment recipient’s bank details.
The invoice issuer’s email address.
The reference number – the Bundeskartellamt usually provides the reference number when awarding the contract. Pursuant to Section 5(2) no 2 ERechV it is mandatory to state the reference number. The reference number ensures that the invoice is linked to the contract.

Invoice element	XRechnung standard data field	Information provided by the Bundeskartellamt
Buyer reference (Leitweg-ID) Mandatory	Buyer reference (BT-10)	Buyer reference Bundeskartellamt: 991-02380-92
Reference number Optional, but required by law where specified!	Purchase order number (BT-13)	Every contract is assigned a reference number by the Bundeskartellamt. Please always refer to the current contract documents for the correct purchase order number.
Supplier number Optional, but required by law where specified!	Seller identifier (BT-29)	A supplier number is currently not required for processing electronic invoices at the Bundeskartellamt.
VAT identifier/tax number	VAT identifier/tax number (BT-31/BT-32)	Since the Bundeskartellamt is an authority it does not have a tax number. You can set the data fields after the country code DE to zero.

Information on supporting documents

Any supporting documents must be part of the invoice data set and must not be sent as an attachment to an email or De-Mail.

General information on e-invoicing within the federal administration

More information on electronic invoicing can be found on the federal government’s main e-invoicing website: https://www.e-rechnung-bund.de/

FAQs

Do I have to submit my invoices electronically?

The federal government’s Electronic Invoicing Ordinance (ERechV) requires the public administration to receive invoices electronically and suppliers and service providers to the federal government to send invoices electronically in connection with public contracts. The ERechV regulates deadlines, transmission methods, data standards and exceptions for the electronic exchange of invoices.

In principle, the obligation to invoice the federal government electronically has applied since 27 November 2020. The ordinance includes the following exceptions:

invoices issued after the fulfilment of a direct order up to a net amount of 1,000 euros;
invoices subject to the exceptions under Section 8 or Section 9 ERechV (confidential invoice data as well as matters of the European External Action Service and other procurement abroad).

Irrespective of the legal obligation, an obligation to submit e-invoices may also arise from the respective underlying order or contractual relationship.

How can I create e-invoices that comply with the XRechnung standard?

In general, there are four different ways to create e-invoices that meet the requirements of the XRechnung standard.

You can use service providers and invoicing networks and outsource the invoicing process to external service providers.
You can use the Federal Central Invoice Submission Portal (ZRE) to create the invoice manually and submit it directly from there.
If your system allows you to create and/or submit e-invoices that comply with the XRechnung standard in your own system (or will allow you to do so in the near future), then you can create e-invoices in your accounting system and ideally send them directly from there. Many systems can already convert invoices to meet the XRechnung standard.
You can create an e-invoice that complies with the XRechnung standard in your own system and then choose your preferred transmission method. If your system cannot convert invoices to comply with the XRechnung standard, you can use various programs from other service providers who specialise in converting invoice data sets to meet the XRechnung standard. This is an intermediate step between creating an invoice in your own accounting software and submitting the e-invoice which meets the XRechnung standard in the ZRE portal. Alternatively, you can program this interface yourself (or have it programmed for you). Please visit the KoSIT website for technical support in implementing the XRechnung standard in your system.

What is an electronic invoice (e-invoice)?

An e-invoice as defined under the EU Directive is not a scanned paper or PDF file, but an invoice that has been issued, transmitted and received in a structured electronic format which allows for its automatic, seamless and electronic processing. E-invoices are based on an XML data format, which is essentially a machine-readable file that is not designed to be visually checked and approved by humans. Electronic invoicing can be enabled by complying with various standards and specifications, including the XRechnung standard (Section 3 RechV).

Can I send a PDF document as an e‑invoice?

No. An electronic invoice as defined under the EU Directive 2014/55/EU is a structured set of data. A PDF file does not meet these e-invoice requirements.