# E-invoices for business customers (XRechnung, ZUGFeRD)

> When a business buyer gives their VAT number, Shoprocket issues their invoice as EN 16931 e-invoice files too, XRechnung and ZUGFeRD / Factur-X XML, at no extra cost. Who needs them, how to switch them on, and where you and your buyer download them.

Help Centre / Taxes - Updated 17 October 2026

An e-invoice is an invoice as a structured data file rather than a document to read. Your buyer's accounting software imports it and books it without anyone typing the figures in again. Shoprocket makes these files for you, from the same frozen invoice it already issues, at no extra cost and with no account to sign up for.

They are made for **business orders**: an order where the buyer gave a VAT number at checkout. A consumer sale gets the ordinary invoice, exactly as before.

## Who needs this

E-invoicing laws cover sales between two VAT-registered businesses in the same country (domestic B2B). Sales to consumers are out of scope everywhere except Italy, and sales between businesses in two different EU countries stay out of scope until the EU's ViDA rules arrive in 2030.

| Country | What the law asks | What Shoprocket gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Business invoices must be e-invoices: large businesses from 1 January 2027, everyone from 1 January 2028. Germany fixes the file format and lets you deliver it any way you like. | Both accepted formats, ready to send. Emailing or handing over the file meets the duty. |
| Belgium, Poland, France, Italy | Business invoices must go through a government system or a certified network (Peppol, KSeF, a French certified platform, SDI). | A standard EN 16931 file you can upload to the accounting tool or provider you already use for that network. Shoprocket does not send it for you. |
| Spain, Portugal | Different rules about invoicing software. | See **Settings > Invoices**: Spanish stores get Veri\*Factu records, Portuguese stores get order receipts. |

If your business address is outside the EU, e-invoice files are not made.

## What you get

For every business invoice and every credit note that reverses one, two files:

- **XRechnung** (UBL XML): the German standard, the one German buyers and their software expect.
- **ZUGFeRD / Factur-X** (CII XML): the structured part of a ZUGFeRD or Factur-X invoice, used across Germany and France. Shoprocket delivers the XML file beside your normal invoice page, not as a combined PDF.

Both files follow the European standard EN 16931 and carry the same figures as your invoice to the cent: each line, shipping, discounts, the net amount and VAT for each rate, and the totals. A reverse-charged sale to a business in another EU country is marked as reverse charge (services) or an intra-Community supply (goods), with the legal reason.

Like the invoice itself, the files are made once, when the invoice is issued, and never change afterwards. A refund issues a credit note with its own files.

## Before you begin

The files need a few details about your business that an ordinary invoice can do without. Go to **Settings > Invoices** and look at the **E-invoices** card. It either says **Ready**, or lists what is missing:

- **Your VAT number** for your own country, under **Settings > Taxes**.
- **Your full business address** (street, city, postcode, country) and a **business phone number**, under **Settings > General**.
- **A reply-to email address**, under **Settings > Email templates**. The files name it as your contact for the invoice.

While anything is missing, business invoices are still issued as normal, but without e-invoice files. Shoprocket never makes a file that is missing a required detail, because the buyer's software would reject it.

## Download the files

On the order page, under the invoice, click **XRechnung** or **ZUGFeRD (CII)** next to the invoice or credit note. The file downloads straight away.

If no file could be made for a business order, the order page says why under the invoice, for example that the order includes a gift card.

## What your buyer gets

Your buyer gets the files from the same invoice link they already have, in their confirmation email and on their order status page. The invoice page shows **E-invoice files** links at the top, and the order status page lists them next to each document.

To send the files with the invoice email as attachments, turn on **Attach the e-invoice files to the invoice email** in **Settings > Invoices** and click **Save settings**. It is off by default, because most buyers only need the link.

## Questions

**Do I need to sign up to anything, or pay per invoice?**
No. The files are made by Shoprocket itself, on every plan, with no provider in between.

**My buyer's software wants Peppol, or the invoice has to go to KSeF or SDI. Can Shoprocket send it?**
Not yet. Download the XRechnung or ZUGFeRD file and upload it to the tool or provider you use for that network. Shoprocket will add sending if enough sellers in those countries need it.

**Can I get a PDF with the XML inside it?**
Not at the moment. The ZUGFeRD XML file on its own is valid in Germany, and your normal invoice page prints to PDF from the browser.

**An older order has no files. Can I make them?**
Only orders placed after the net amount per tax rate started being recorded can have files, because the files must state that amount exactly. Issued invoices are never re-made.

**I use the small business exemption (Kleinunternehmer).**
The files need a VAT number, and a small business exempt at home usually has none, so no files are made. In Germany that is fine: invoices from a Kleinunternehmer are excluded from the e-invoice duty, so your normal invoice is still what you send.

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