How to invoice in Germany with Cord

In Germany Cord issues a commercial invoice (Rechnung) in German, with a sequential number, the USt. of each item and the mentions the law requires. Each invoice can also be downloaded as XRechnung, Factur-X (ZUGFeRD) and Peppol BIS, the e-invoice formats your client can process automatically. Cord does not transmit invoices over the Peppol network or file your USt. returns.

In short:

• Document: Rechnung and commercial credit note, on every plan (10 per month on Free, unlimited from Starter).
• E-invoicing: XRechnung (UBL and CII), Factur-X and Peppol BIS are downloaded from the invoice detail. By default, each invoice email carries the PDF and the XRechnung XML.
• Taxes: USt. 19%, USt. 7% and Steuerfrei. If you are a Kleinunternehmer (§ 19 UStG), turn it on and your tax-free invoices carry the legal notice.
• Date of supply (Leistungsdatum): enter it in the editor; if left empty, the PDF says it matches the invoice date.
• What you need: Steuernummer or USt-IdNr. and, for XRechnung, a contact with name, phone and email.
• Collect: card, SEPA transfer with a reference to each client’s own German IBAN and SEPA Direct Debit in EUR, and automatic payments from the client portal (bank transfer, direct debit and automatic payments are new and being rolled out: they may not be available on your account yet).

Which document Cord issues

What you need

• Your business Steuernummer or USt-IdNr. Cord validates the identifier.
• For XRechnung: a billing contact with name, phone and email, the client’s city and postal code, and the IBAN of your payout account.
• For a public-sector client: their Leitweg-ID as the buyer reference.
• For Peppol: your participant identifier (electronic address) and your client’s, and the buyer reference or purchase order.

Set up your account

1. Under Settings › Invoicing › Tax profile › Invoice identity, enter Legal name, Steuernummer / USt-IdNr., address, Postal code and your Invoice prefix.
2. If you apply the small-business scheme, turn on Small business (§ 19 UStG). The notice is only printed on invoices that charge no tax.
3. Under European e-invoicing, complete Billing contact, Contact phone, the Electronic address with its scheme and Identifier, the Company registration number and the BIC / SWIFT. The IBAN is the one under Manual bank transfer, in Settings › Payments › Payment methods.
4. Under Attach to invoice emails, keep the automatic option (PDF + XRechnung) or choose PDF only, Factur-X PDF (replaces the PDF) or PDF + XRechnung XML.
5. On each business client’s profile, enter their electronic address and, for the public sector, their Buyer reference (Leitweg-ID). Cord checks the Leitweg-ID check digit.

Issue an invoice

In Invoices › New invoice (or Issue invoice from an approved quote), add items with their rate and, in the summary, the Date of supply: a date or the start and end of a period. If the client asks for it, fill in Buyer reference and Purchase order. Click Issue and send.

A sale to a company in another EU country with a VAT ID on both sides goes under reverse charge with its notice; a sale to a client outside the EU, without German USt. Choose the right 0% rate with your advisor.

How you see the status

There is no registration with the authority. The invoice detail shows the business status and, under E-invoice, the formats available to download and, if something is missing, which data and where to fix it. An issued invoice keeps the data it was issued with: what you correct in Settings or on the client applies to the next invoices.

Collect

• Card from the invoice link, through Cord Payments.
• SEPA bank transfer with a reference in EUR, if you turn on Automatic SEPA transfer under Settings › Payments › Payment methods: your client transfers to a German IBAN of their own, the same for all their invoices, with each payment’s reference in the transfer details, and Cord records the payment on its own. They must enter the account holder exactly as shown: if it doesn’t match, their bank may hold the transfer. Without a reference, the money goes to that client’s open payment with the exact amount; anything that doesn’t match a payment stays in their favor and, if nobody applies it, the payment processor tries to return it after 75 days. It is offered on the invoice link and on the quote’s payment page, when the document has a linked client. See Bank transfer with a reference in the documentation.
• SEPA Direct Debit in EUR, if you turn it on under Settings › Payments › Payment methods: your client authorizes the debit from their account on the invoice link or in their portal. It takes up to 6 business days to confirm and the account holder can ask for a refund for 8 weeks. See Bank debit.
• Client portal to pay several invoices at once, and automatic payments on the due date. See Client portal and Automatic payments.
• Cord charges no fee of its own per transaction outside Mexican pesos.

Bank transfer with a reference, SEPA Direct Debit and automatic payments are new and may not be enabled on your account yet. If you don’t see them, write to us.

Void or correct

• Void: More actions › Void, only if the invoice has no payments.
• Credit note (Gutschrift / Rechnungskorrektur): More actions › Credit note, which credits the total. Its XRechnung is issued as a credit note (381).
• A refund is a separate action: an invoice’s online payment is refunded from its detail page, with Refund next to the payment, and one that came in through the quote, from Payments. See Issue refunds to customers.

Common issues

• The email went out with the PDF only. The invoice was missing data for the format. The detail tells you which; the next ones go out complete once you fix it.
• “The Leitweg-ID is not valid”. It fails the check digit. Check the one your public client gave you.
• Peppol is not available. Your electronic address, your client’s or the buyer reference is missing.
• The invoice has a withholding. No EN 16931 format has a place to declare it: that invoice has no electronic version.

Not covered yet

• Sending over the Peppol network or to government portals: Cord generates the files and attaches them to the email.
• Filing your USt. returns.
• Order-X and the Factur-X EXTENDED profile.

Related

• European e-invoicing
• Bank debit
• Bank transfer with a reference in the documentation
• European e-invoicing in the documentation