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Procedure descriptions

Submit e-bill to the Central Invoice Receipt of the country

If your company performs public contracts for authorities of the state or other participating public contracting authorities, you can submit electronic invoices to the Central Invoice Receiving Office Baden-Württemberg (ZRE).

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

  • Upload/upload
  • E-mail
  • PEPPOL (since 14 March 2022)

Your electronic invoices are automatically checked for formal correctness and completeness. They are then made available to the invoice recipient using the routing ID.
You receive the routing ID from your client, it must be indicated in the electronic invoice.

In order for you to be able to submit your electronic invoices, they must meet certain requirements.

They must

  • be machine-readable and
  • be in a structured electronic format (as an XML document, image file is not sufficient, PDF document only if it meets the ZUGFeRD specification).

Since 1 January 2022, you are obliged to issue electronic invoices if you provide services for the public administration at state level. Exempt from this are invoices that

  • do not exceed EUR 1,000 net (and were issued by 31.12.2025) or
  • contain invoice data requiring secrecy.

This obligation does not apply to invoices to the public administration at municipal level.

Note: Please note that as an invoicing party, you must store electronic invoices electronically in their original format.

Responsible department

Central invoice receipt of the country

Details

Prerequisite

  • They provide services for
    • Authorities of the state or
    • other public clients participating in the ZRE (e. g. universities or municipalities)
  • The electronic invoice must be in a structured electronic format (as an XML document) that enables automatic and electronic processing; image file is not sufficient, PDF document only if it meets the ZUGFeRD specification.
  • The electronic invoice must also meet the following requirements:
    • Requirements of the European Standard for Electronic Invoicing (EN 16931)
    • Requirements of the e-invoice regulation of Baden-Württemberg and
    • Requirements of the currently valid terms of use of the Central Invoice Receipt Office Baden-Württemberg

Procedure

You can send your electronic invoices

  • send them by e-mail
  • upload them directly or
  • submit them via PEPPOL to the Central Invoice Receiving Office Baden-Württemberg since 14 March 2022.
    The PEPPOL eDelivery Network is a European transport network for the exchange of documents with public administration.

The transmission of your electronic invoice via the Central Invoice Receiving Office Baden-Württemberg takes place as follows:

  • Your submitted electronic invoice is automatically checked for formal correctness and completeness.
  • Your checked electronic invoice is then made available to the invoice recipient for retrieval.
  • Always enter the routing ID that you have received from your client.
  • Your invoice is considered delivered to the invoice recipient as soon as it has been successfully submitted to the Central Invoice Receiving Office Baden-Württemberg.

The following formats are permitted for documents supporting invoices:

  • PDF documents
  • Images (PNG, JPG)
  • Text files (CSV)
  • Excel table documents (XLSX)
  • OpenDocument table documents (ODS)

Coordinate other formats with the respective invoice recipient in advance of their use. Invoices may not exceed a maximum size of 15 megabytes (MB) including the documents supporting the invoice and may not contain more than 100 documents supporting the invoice.

Deadlines

The invoice deadlines agreed with your client apply.

Required documents

You can embed supporting documents in the invoice as an attachment or reference them from the invoice.
The HTTP and HTTPS protocols are supported for the references to documents supporting the invoice.

Costs

none

Note: If you choose a service company to send invoices, costs may be incurred by that service company.

Processing time

  • Receipt, formal verification and provision of an electronic invoice for the addressed authority: usually a few seconds.
  • Processing and technical verification: depending on the invoice recipient

Miscellaneous

The Central Invoice Receiving Office Baden-Württemberg accepts electronic invoices in the XInvoice standard and in other formats that meet the requirements of the European Standard for Electronic Invoicing (EN 16931).
The XInvoice standard was issued by the Coordination Office for IT Standards (KoSIT). XInvoice is a concretisation ("Core Invoice Usage Specification" or "CIUS") of the European standard for electronic invoicing (EN 16931) and does not compete with the European standard.

Release note

11.04.2024 Innenministerium Baden-Württemberg

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