The elec­tron­ic in­voice

The ERechV obliges the public administration to receive e-invoices in the context of public contracts and the suppliers and service providers of the federal government to send e-invoices. The ERechV regulates the deadlines, transmission channels, data standards and exceptions to the electronic exchange of invoices. Irrespective of the legal obligation, an obligation to submit electronic invoices may also arise from the underlying order or contractual relationship in accordance with Section 4 (1) sentence 3 E-Government Act (E-Government-Gesetz, EGovG).

E-invoicing has been mandatory for invoice issuers since 27.11.2020.

Exceptions are:

• Invoices issued after fulfillment of a direct order up to an amount of €1,000 (excluding VAT)
• Invoices that are subject to the exemptions under Section 8 or Section 9 ERechV (invoice data requiring confidentiality and matters relating to the Foreign Service and other procurements abroad)
• Invoices to be issued in procedures that are performed for the Federation by way of an official delegation of powers pursuant to Section 159 (1) no. 5 of the Competition Act (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen – GWB).

We kindly ask you to make use of the possibilities of e-invoicing even if you are not legally obliged to do so. As an invoicing party, you benefit from the following advantages:

• More efficient workflows and shorter throughput times
• Quick and easy access to invoice data
• Enabling digital and audit-proof archiving
• Cost savings for paper, printing and postage

What you need to know for sending e-invoices to the BKG

Transmission of e-invoices

E-invoices cannot be received via BKG e-mail addresses. The BKG receives them exclusively via the Federal Central Invoice Submission Portal (ZRE). You can reach the ZRE at https://xrechnung.bund.de/prod/authenticate.do.

There you will also find further information on the terms of use. Support for invoice issuers can be reached by telephone from Monday to Friday from 8:00-16:00 on 030 2598 4436 or by e-mail at sendersupport-xrechnung@bdr.de.

Contents of an e-invoice

An e-invoice to the BKG must contain at least the following information:

• Buyer reference ID (XRechnungsfeld BT-10): The buyer reference ID for the BKG is 991-00797FFM-95
• Terms of payment or alternatively the due date
• Bank details of the payee
• De-Mail or e-mail address of the invoice issuer
• Order number (XRechnungsfeld BT-13): The BKG provides you with a 7-digit order number (“Bestellnummer”) in the order document. This is mandatory. The order number ensures that the invoice is assigned to the order.

You can add further details as required.

Technical information

Several check steps are carried out within ZRE when an invoice is received. It is therefore recommended to check the processing status of the invoice even after an initial "success message". Only when the processing status is indicated as "fetched" (“abgeholt”) the invoice is received in the BKG access area and can be processed.

The ZRE automatically deletes all submitted invoices after 30 days, regardless of the respective invoice status. It is therefore recommended that you save a copy of the submitted invoice for your own records. This can also be uploaded and processed as a template for future invoices.

If the invoice is entered manually in the ZRE, please note the following:

The fields BT-29 "Identifier" (“Kennung”), BT-32 "Tax number" (“Steuernummer”) and BT-31 "VAT ID" (“Umsatzsteuer-ID”) are marked as mandatory fields in the "Information on invoicing party" (“Informationen zum Rechnungssteller”) window. As the BKG does not assign an "identifier" (supplier number) for suppliers, only the "VAT ID" field (of the invoicing party) must be filled in.

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