Reference

XRechnung Field Guide

A complete, easy-to-scan reference for XRechnung Business Terms (BT).

Most visitors do not know BT numbers yet. Use the common entry points below or search by the business problem you are trying to solve.

Germany 2025 readiness checks

Use the field guide together with these rollout checks before you decide which BT fields need human review.

Receive structured invoices

2025

Since 1 January 2025, German domestic B2B recipients need to be able to receive EN 16931 e-invoices. A simple PDF is no longer the structured invoice itself.

Plan the sending deadline

2027/2028

Issuing obligations are phased: larger businesses start in 2027, with the broader domestic B2B obligation following in 2028.

Choose the right format

Format

XRechnung and ZUGFeRD are common German paths. Confirm whether the recipient expects pure XML, a hybrid PDF/A-3 file, Peppol, or a portal upload.

Keep review in the workflow

Review

Validate the structured output and review source-data edge cases before sending. Conversion helps, but low-quality inputs still need human checks.

Common entry points

BT-1 Invoice Number

Invoice basics

Start here when you need the invoice number.

BT-10 Buyer Reference

Invoice basics

Important for German public-sector routing and buyer portals.

BT-23 Business Process Type Identifier

Invoice basics

Needed when invoices must follow the correct business process profile.

BT-24 Specification Identifier

Invoice basics

Use this when you need the correct XRechnung specification identifier.

BT-34 Seller Electronic Address

Seller details

Seller electronic address for Peppol and structured routing.

BT-49 Buyer Electronic Address

Buyer details

Buyer electronic address for delivery into the right receiving system.

BT-118 VAT Category Code

Taxes and totals

Most visitors looking for VAT code questions land here.

BT-119 VAT Category Rate

Taxes and totals

Use together with BT-118 when you need the actual VAT rate.

BT-131 Invoice line net amount

Line items

Useful when you need to understand invoice line net amounts.

Invoice basics

BT-1 Invoice Number

MANDATORY

A unique identification of the Invoice.

BT-2 Invoice Issue Date

MANDATORY

The date when the Invoice was issued.

BT-3 Invoice Type Code

MANDATORY

A code specifying the functional type of the Invoice (UNTDID 1001).

BT-5 Invoice Currency Code

MANDATORY

The currency in which all Invoice amounts are given, except for Total VAT amount and Total amount with VAT (BT-110 and BT-112) when the VAT accounting currency (BT-6) differs from the Invoice currency.

BT-6 VAT accounting currency code

The currency used for VAT accounting and reporting purposes that is accepted or required in the country of the seller.

BT-7 Value Added Tax Point Date

The date when the VAT becomes accountable for the Seller and for the Buyer in so far as that date can be determined and differs from the date of issue of the invoice, according to the VAT directive.

BT-8 VAT point date code

Code that explains how the VAT point date was determined.

BT-10 Buyer Reference

MANDATORY

A routing identifier assigned by the buyer for internal routing purposes

BT-11 Project Reference

An identifier for a project, contract, or framework agreement that this invoice relates to.

BT-12 Contract reference

Reference to the contract that governs the invoiced delivery or service.

BT-14 Sales order reference

Reference to the seller-side sales order behind the invoice.

BT-15 Receiving advice reference

Reference to the receiving advice issued by the buyer or receiving location.

BT-16 Despatch advice reference

Reference to the despatch advice that announced the shipment before invoicing.

BT-17 Tender or lot reference

Reference to the tender, lot, or procurement package connected to the invoice.

BT-18 Invoiced object identifier

Identifier of the project, asset, case, or other business object the invoice belongs to.

BT-19 Buyer accounting reference

Reference the buyer uses internally to book or approve the invoice.

BT-21 Invoice note subject code

Code that classifies the subject of an invoice note.

BT-22 Invoice Note

Free text note at invoice level containing supplementary information that cannot be expressed in structured fields.

BT-23 Business Process Type Identifier

MANDATORY

Identifies the business process that this invoice is part of, enabling proper handling and routing of electronic invoices

BT-24 Specification Identifier

MANDATORY

An identification of the specification containing the total set of rules regarding semantic content, cardinalities and business rules to which the data contained in the instance document conforms.

BT-25 Preceding invoice reference

Reference to an earlier invoice that this invoice corrects, supplements, or continues.

BT-26 Preceding invoice issue date

Issue date of the preceding invoice referenced in BT-25.

Delivery and payment

BT-9 Payment Due Date

The date when the payment is due.

BT-13 Purchase Order Reference

An identifier issued by the buyer for a referenced purchase order.

BT-20 Payment Terms

Textual description of the payment terms and conditions.

BT-59 Payee name

Name of the party that should receive the payment if it is not the seller.

BT-60 Payee identifier

General identifier of the payee, for example a network or registry identifier.

BT-61 Payee legal registration identifier

Legal registration identifier of the payee, such as a register number.

BT-70 Deliver to party name

Name of the party that physically receives the goods or services.

BT-71 Deliver to location identifier

Identifier of the delivery location, for example a warehouse, branch, or internal receiving code.

BT-72 Actual delivery date

Date on which the goods were delivered or the service was actually performed.

BT-73 Invoicing period start date

Start date of the period to which the invoice applies.

BT-74 Invoicing period end date

End date of the period to which the invoice applies.

BT-75 Deliver to address line 1

Primary street line of the address where the goods or services are delivered.

BT-76 Deliver to address line 2

Additional address information for the delivery location.

BT-77 Deliver to city

City of the delivery address.

BT-78 Deliver to post code

Postal code of the delivery address.

BT-79 Deliver to country subdivision

State, province, or regional subdivision of the delivery address.

BT-80 Deliver to country code

Country code of the delivery address in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 format.

BT-81 Payment means type code

The means, expressed as code, for how a payment is expected to be or has been settled.

BT-82 Payment means text

Free-text explanation of the payment means when the code alone is not descriptive enough.

BT-83 Remittance information

Reference the buyer should quote when making the payment.

BT-84 Payment account identifier

A unique identifier of the financial payment account, at a payment service provider, to which payment should be made.

BT-85 Payment account name

Name of the bank account holder or payment account.

BT-86 Payment service provider identifier

Identifier of the bank or payment service provider, for example BIC.

BT-87 Payment card primary account number

Masked primary account number of the payment card when card payment details are referenced.

BT-88 Payment card holder name

Name of the payment card holder when card payment details are used.

BT-89 Mandate reference identifier

Mandate reference for direct debit payments.

BT-90 Bank assigned creditor identifier

Creditor identifier used for direct debit collection.

BT-91 Debited account identifier

Identifier of the account that will be debited in a direct debit payment.

Seller details

BT-27 Seller Name

MANDATORY

The full formal name by which the seller is registered in the national registry of legal entities or as a taxable person or otherwise trades as a person or persons

BT-28 Seller trading name

Trading or brand name of the seller when it differs from the legal seller name.

BT-29 Seller identifier

General identifier of the seller, for example a registry number or network identifier.

BT-30 Seller legal registration identifier

Legal registration identifier of the seller, such as a commercial register number.

BT-31 Seller VAT Identifier

The seller's VAT identifier (also known as VAT registration number).

BT-32 Seller tax registration identifier

Tax registration identifier of the seller used in domestic tax processes.

BT-33 Seller additional legal information

Additional legal information about the seller that should appear on the invoice.

BT-34 Seller Electronic Address

MANDATORY

Electronic address of the seller for routing and delivery of electronic documents within the PEPPOL network

BT-35 Seller Address Line 1

MANDATORY

The main address line identifying the seller's postal address.

BT-36 Seller address line 2

Additional seller address information such as building, floor, or department.

BT-37 Seller City

MANDATORY

The common name of the city, town or village where the seller's address is located

BT-38 Seller Post Code

MANDATORY

The postal code of the area where the seller's address is located.

BT-39 Seller country subdivision

State, province, or regional subdivision of the seller address.

BT-40 Seller Country Code

MANDATORY

A code that identifies the country where the seller's address is located.

BT-41 Seller contact point

Name of the contact person or department on the seller side.

BT-42 Seller contact telephone number

Telephone number for the seller contact point.

BT-43 Seller contact email address

Email address for the seller contact point.

BT-62 Seller tax representative name

Name of the seller tax representative.

BT-63 Seller tax representative VAT identifier

MANDATORY

VAT identifier of the seller tax representative.

BT-64 Tax representative address line 1

Primary street and house-number line of the seller tax representative.

BT-65 Tax representative address line 2

Additional address information for the seller tax representative, for example building, floor, or department.

BT-66 Tax representative city

City of the seller tax representative postal address.

BT-67 Tax representative post code

Postal code of the seller tax representative address.

BT-68 Tax representative country subdivision

State, province, or other regional subdivision of the seller tax representative address.

BT-69 Tax representative country code

MANDATORY

Country code of the seller tax representative address in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 format.

Buyer details

BT-44 Buyer Name

MANDATORY

The full formal name by which the buyer is registered in the national registry of legal entities or as a taxable person or otherwise trades as a person or persons

BT-45 Buyer trading name

Trading or brand name of the buyer when it differs from the legal buyer name.

BT-46 Buyer identifier

General identifier of the buyer, for example a customer ID, network ID, or routing ID.

BT-47 Buyer legal registration identifier

Legal registration identifier of the buyer, such as a commercial register number.

BT-48 Buyer VAT Identifier

The buyer's VAT identifier (also known as VAT registration number).

BT-49 Buyer Electronic Address

MANDATORY

Electronic address of the buyer for routing and delivery of electronic documents within the PEPPOL network

BT-50 Buyer Address Line 1

MANDATORY

The main address line identifying the buyer's postal address.

BT-51 Buyer address line 2

Additional address information for the buyer, such as building, floor, or department.

BT-52 Buyer City

MANDATORY

The common name of the city, town or village where the buyer's address is located

BT-53 Buyer Post Code

MANDATORY

The postal code of the area where the buyer's address is located.

BT-54 Buyer country subdivision

State, province, or regional subdivision of the buyer address.

BT-55 Buyer Country Code

MANDATORY

A code that identifies the country where the buyer's address is located.

BT-56 Buyer contact point

Contact person or department on the buyer side.

BT-57 Buyer contact telephone number

Telephone number for the buyer contact point.

BT-58 Buyer contact email address

Email address for the buyer contact point.

Discounts and charges

BT-92 Document level allowance amount

MANDATORY

The amount of a document-level allowance.

BT-93 Document level allowance base amount

The base amount used with the allowance percentage to calculate the allowance amount.

BT-94 Document level allowance percentage

The percentage used with the allowance base amount to calculate the allowance amount.

BT-95 Document level allowance VAT category code

MANDATORY

VAT category code for the document-level allowance.

BT-96 Document level allowance VAT rate

VAT rate for the document-level allowance.

BT-97 Document level allowance reason

Text reason for the document-level allowance.

BT-98 Document level allowance reason code

Coded reason for the document-level allowance.

BT-99 Document level charge amount

MANDATORY

The amount of a document-level charge.

BT-100 Document level charge base amount

The base amount used with the charge percentage to calculate the charge amount.

BT-101 Document level charge percentage

The percentage used with the charge base amount to calculate the charge amount.

BT-102 Document level charge VAT category code

MANDATORY

VAT category code for the document-level charge.

BT-103 Document level charge VAT rate

VAT rate for the document-level charge.

BT-104 Document level charge reason

Text reason for the document-level charge.

BT-105 Document level charge reason code

Coded reason for the document-level charge.

Taxes and totals

BT-106 Sum of Invoice Line Net Amount

MANDATORY

Sum of all Invoice line net amounts in the Invoice.

BT-107 Sum of allowances on document level

Total of all document-level allowances applied to the invoice.

BT-108 Sum of charges on document level

Total of all document-level charges applied to the invoice.

BT-109 Invoice Total Amount Without VAT

MANDATORY

The total amount of the Invoice without VAT.

BT-110 Invoice Total VAT Amount

The total VAT amount for the entire invoice.

BT-111 Invoice total VAT amount in accounting currency

Total VAT amount expressed in the VAT accounting currency instead of the invoice currency.

BT-112 Invoice Total Amount With VAT

MANDATORY

The total amount of the Invoice with VAT.

BT-113 Paid Amount

The sum of amounts which have been paid in advance for goods and services covered by the Invoice.

BT-114 Rounding Amount

The amount to be added to the invoice to round the amount to be paid.

BT-115 Amount Due for Payment

MANDATORY

The outstanding amount that is requested to be paid.

BT-116 VAT Category Taxable Amount

MANDATORY

Sum of all taxable amounts subject to a specific VAT category code and VAT category rate.

BT-117 VAT Category Tax Amount

MANDATORY

The VAT amount for a specific VAT category.

BT-118 VAT Category Code

MANDATORY

For most German invoices with 19% or 7% VAT, BT-118 is simply "S". The percentage itself does not live in BT-118. You put the actual rate in BT-119.

BT-119 VAT Category Rate

The VAT rate, represented as percentage applicable to the VAT category.

BT-120 VAT Exemption Reason Text

A textual explanation of why a VAT breakdown is exempt, zero-rated, outside scope, intra-community, or reverse charge.

BT-121 VAT Exemption Reason Code

A coded reason for a VAT exemption or special VAT treatment, using the allowed VAT exemption reason code list.

BT-122 Supporting Document Reference

MANDATORY

An identifier for a supporting document referenced from the invoice.

BT-123 Supporting Document Description

A short text describing the supporting document.

BT-124 External Document Location

A URI where the supporting document can be accessed externally.

BT-125 Attached Document

The binary content of a supporting document embedded directly in the invoice.

Line items

BT-126 Invoice line identifier

MANDATORY

A unique identifier for the individual line item within the invoice.

BT-127 Invoice line note

Free text note at line level containing supplementary information for the line item.

BT-128 Invoice line object identifier

An identifier for an object on which the invoice line is based, such as an order line, despatch advice line, or tender line.

BT-129 Invoice line quantity

MANDATORY

The quantity of items (goods or services) in the invoice line.

BT-130 Invoice line quantity unit of measure code

The unit of measure applicable to the quantity in the invoice line.

BT-131 Invoice line net amount

MANDATORY

The total amount of the invoice line after applying any item-level allowances or charges, but excluding VAT.

BT-132 Referenced purchase order line identifier

An identifier for a referenced line within a purchase order.

BT-133 Invoice line buyer accounting reference

A textual value that specifies where to book the relevant data into the buyer's financial accounts.

BT-134 Invoice line period start date

The date when the period for the invoice line starts.

BT-135 Invoice line period end date

The date when the period for the invoice line ends.

BT-136 Invoice Line Allowance Amount

An allowance amount applied at invoice line level.

BT-137 Invoice Line Allowance Base Amount

The base amount used to calculate a percentage allowance at line level.

BT-138 Invoice Line Allowance Percentage

The percentage used to calculate an invoice line allowance.

BT-139 Invoice Line Allowance Reason

Free-text reason for an invoice line allowance.

BT-140 Invoice Line Allowance Reason Code

Coded reason for an invoice line allowance.

BT-141 Invoice Line Charge Amount

A charge amount applied at invoice line level.

BT-142 Invoice Line Charge Base Amount

The base amount used to calculate a percentage charge at line level.

BT-143 Invoice Line Charge Percentage

The percentage used to calculate an invoice line charge.

BT-144 Invoice Line Charge Reason

Free-text reason for an invoice line charge.

BT-145 Invoice Line Charge Reason Code

Coded reason for an invoice line charge.

BT-146 Item Net Price

MANDATORY

The net price of one item unit, excluding VAT and after price-level discounts.

BT-147 Item Price Discount

A price-level discount subtracted from the gross item price.

BT-148 Item Gross Price

The item price before subtracting a price-level discount.

BT-149 Item Price Base Quantity

The quantity on which the item net price is based.

BT-150 Item Price Base Quantity Unit Code

The unit code for the item price base quantity.

BT-151 Invoice Line VAT Category Code

MANDATORY

The VAT category code for the invoice line.

BT-152 Invoice Line VAT Category Rate

The VAT rate for the invoice line VAT category.

BT-153 Invoice Line Item Name

MANDATORY

The name of the item, goods, or service on the invoice line.

BT-154 Invoice Line Item Description

Additional description of the item on the invoice line.

BT-155 Invoice Line Item Seller Identifier

An identifier assigned by the seller to the item.

BT-156 Buyer Item Identifier

An identifier assigned by the buyer to the item.

BT-157 Item Standard Identifier

A standard identifier for the item, such as a GTIN.

BT-158 Item Standard Identifier Scheme

The scheme identifier for the item standard identifier.

BT-159 Item Classification Identifier

A classification code for the item.

BT-160 Item Classification Identifier Scheme

The scheme used for the item classification identifier.

BT-161 Item Country of Origin

The country of origin for the item.

BT-162 Item Attribute Name

The name of an additional item attribute.

BT-163 Item Attribute Value

The value of an additional item attribute.