Articles on: Invoices

Generate legally compliant German e-invoices (ZUGFeRD)

Invoice Falcon can now generate legally compliant electronic invoices for German merchants. Your invoice PDFs look exactly as they do today, but a machine-readable legal XML file travels invisibly inside each one, so the same file works for people and for your customers' accounting software.


This article explains what German e-invoicing is, how to turn it on, and how to read the status badges on your orders.

What German e-invoicing is


Germany requires domestic B2B invoices to be issued in a structured, machine-readable format that conforms to the EN 16931 standard. The mandate is being phased in:


  • From January 2027 for businesses above 800,000 EUR turnover
  • From January 2028 for all businesses


Invoice Falcon uses the ZUGFeRD 2.3 format (technically identical to France's Factur-X). It is a hybrid file: your normal invoice PDF with a machine-readable factur-x.xml embedded inside it as a PDF/A-3 attachment. The result is a single file that both a person and an accounting system can read.


Every e-invoice is validated against the EN 16931 standard before it is sent. If an order cannot be represented faithfully, Invoice Falcon falls back to a standard PDF and shows you the reason, so you never send a rejected invoice.


Before you start


  • You need to be on the Pro plan. The E-invoicing tab is visible to all German stores, but the controls are locked with an upgrade prompt until you upgrade.
  • Your store must be based in Germany. The E-invoicing tab only appears for German stores.
  • You need your tax registration details — either your VAT ID (USt-IdNr) or your tax number (Steuernummer).


How to turn on e-invoicing


  1. In Invoice Falcon, go to Settings.
  2. Open the E-invoicing tab. (This tab only appears for German stores.)


  1. Tick Generate e-invoices (ZUGFeRD PDF/A-3).
  2. Fill in your legal details in the E-invoice profile card:
    • Legal business name — the registered legal entity name shown as the seller on the e-invoice. Leave it blank to use the business name from your document defaults.
    • VAT ID (USt-IdNr) or Tax number (Steuernummer) — one of these is required. A German VAT ID is "DE" followed by nine digits, for example DE123456789.
    • Postcode and City (optional) — the seller address on the e-invoice. Leave blank to use your Shopify store address.
    • IBAN and BIC (optional) — included as payment instructions on unpaid invoices.
    • I am a small business (Kleinunternehmer, §19 UStG) — tick this if it applies. It marks your invoices as VAT-exempt under §19 UStG with the required exemption note.
  4. Save your changes.


Once saved, the tab shows an E-invoicing is active banner. Your regular PDF invoicing continues unchanged whether e-invoicing is on or off.

What happens once it is active


E-invoicing applies automatically to invoices and credit notes for orders in EUR. Every way you deliver an invoice is covered:

  • Email
  • Download and view
  • Bulk print and bulk send
  • Payment reminder emails
  • Customer-account downloads
  • Your own BCC copy


Packing slips, drafts, and quotes are never turned into e-invoices, since they are not legal invoices.

Reading the status badges


When e-invoicing is active, your orders show a badge telling you what was produced:


  • E-invoice (green) — the machine-readable XML was successfully embedded in the PDF.
  • Standard PDF (amber) — this order could not be represented faithfully as an e-invoice, so a regular PDF was generated instead. Hover over the badge to see the reason.

You will find these badges in two places:


  • On the Orders list, in an E-invoice column that appears only when e-invoicing is active.
  • On the order detail page, next to the invoice title.

Because Invoice Falcon always falls back to a standard PDF when it cannot build a valid e-invoice, a "Standard PDF" badge never means a failed invoice — it means the customer received a normal, correct PDF instead of a ZUGFeRD one.

Why an order might fall back to a standard PDF


If you see a "Standard PDF" badge, the tooltip explains why. The most common reasons are:


Reason

What it means

The order is not in EUR

E-invoicing currently applies only to orders in euros.

The buyer address has no country

An e-invoice requires the customer's country. Add a country to the order's billing or shipping address.

The line has multiple tax rates

A single line item has more than one tax rate stacked on it, which cannot be represented cleanly.

The totals do not match

The calculated total differs from the order total, usually because of order-level discounts or duties that cannot yet be modelled exactly.

The order was fully refunded

There are no billable line items left to put on the invoice.


In each case the customer still receives a correct standard PDF.

FAQ


Q: Do my invoices look different now? 
A: No. The PDF looks exactly as it did before. The legal XML is embedded invisibly inside the same file.


Q: Do credit notes get e-invoiced too? 
A: Yes. E-invoicing applies to both invoices and credit notes, as long as the order is in EUR.


Q: What about packing slips, drafts, and quotes? 
A: These never receive the embedded XML, because they are not legal invoices.


Q: I use the "Print" action in Shopify admin. Is that an e-invoice? 
A: No. Shopify's own admin "Print" action renders a paper printout directly in your browser and does not create a PDF file, so there is no embedded e-invoice. Use Invoice Falcon's Download or Email to produce the e-invoice file.


Q: I am a Kleinunternehmer (small business under §19 UStG). Can I still use this? 
A: Yes. Tick the small-business checkbox in your E-invoice profile and your invoices will be marked as VAT-exempt under §19 UStG with the correct exemption note.


Q: Do I need to enter my IBAN and BIC? 
A: No, they are optional. If you add them, they appear as payment instructions on unpaid invoices.


Q: What happens if I downgrade from the Pro plan? 
A: E-invoice generation stops automatically. The E-invoicing tab stays visible, but the controls are locked until you upgrade again.


Q: Do I need to register with a network or platform (Peppol) to send these? 
A: No. Germany does not mandate a transmission channel, so a compliant e-invoice delivered by email is legal. There is nothing extra to set up beyond your E-invoice profile.

Updated on: 13/08/2026

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