If your company provides services to contracting authorities, you must submit your invoices electronically via the e-invoice receipt platforms. This applies to invoices to the following contracting authorities:

• All entities of the direct federal administration
• bodies of the indirect federal administration
• grant recipients (bodies outside the federal administration that receive services from the federal government, for example some museums) and
• cooperating federal states: Berlin, Brandenburg, Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony (as of June 2021)

You can use the following transmission channels for submitting the electronic invoice:

• Web capture,
• upload,
• e-mail and
• Peppol

Your invoices are automatically checked for formal correctness and completeness. They are then made available to the public invoice recipient using the routing ID (authority-specific addressing). You receive the routing ID from your client; it must be specified in the electronic invoice.
You can view the status of your electronic invoice at any time via your access account. In order for you to be able to submit your invoices electronically, they must meet certain requirements:

• be machine-readable and
• be in a structured electronic format (PDF or image file is not sufficient).

As of 11/27/2020, you are required to submit your invoices electronically if you provide federal government services.
The only exceptions to this are invoices that

• are issued after the fulfilment of a direct order up to an amount of EUR 1,000 net,
• invoices requiring secrecy, foreign service matters, other procurements abroad, or
• to be issued in proceedings of the Organleihe against restraints of competition.

Please note that as an invoicing party you must archive electronic invoices digitally and in an audit-proof manner for 10 years.
The obligation to accept and process e-invoices came into force for the federal states on 18.04.2020 (if necessary, beforehand in accordance with the respective e-invoice ordinance at state level).