ZUGFeRD, XRechnung or Peppol: which format do you need?

What the three have in common

All three are based on the European standard EN 16931. It defines what an electronic invoice contains: seller, buyer, lines, VAT, totals, payment. Every field has a number, such as BT-1 for the invoice number or BT-10 for the buyer reference.

Technically there are two notations (syntaxes) for the same data: CII (Cross Industry Invoice) and UBL (Universal Business Language). The formats differ in the syntax they use, whether a PDF is included and which additional rules apply.

The decision in one table

What matters is who receives the invoice. For a seller in Germany:

Businesses in Germany: ZUGFeRD

For invoices to businesses in Germany, XRechnung and ZUGFeRD from version 2.0.1 count as e-invoices, ZUGFeRD in the profiles BASIC, EN 16931, EXTENDED and XRECHNUNG. Both formats are allowed. ZUGFeRD has a practical advantage: recipients who do not process invoices automatically yet can simply read the PDF.

Quittio uses the EN 16931 profile, the complete standard. The smaller profiles MINIMUM and BASIC WL are not enough; the guide ZUGFeRD profiles explained explains why.

German authorities: XRechnung with Leitweg-ID

Public buyers in Germany require XRechnung. Every authority has a Leitweg-ID, its routing address for invoices. It goes into the invoice as buyer reference (BT-10). If it is missing, Quittio reports rule BR-DE-15.

Quittio recognises authorities by a valid Leitweg-ID in the buyer reference or an electronic address with scheme 0204 and then chooses xrechnung-cii automatically. XRechnung also requires electronic addresses for seller and buyer, a seller contact and payment instructions.

Peppol: a network, not a domestic file format

Peppol is first of all a delivery network. Participants are reachable through a Peppol ID; invoices travel via certified access points. The file format inside is Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, UBL according to EN 16931 with its own rules.

Peppol is not mandatory in Germany. It becomes relevant when customers abroad receive invoices via Peppol. Quittio creates the valid file; your access point provider handles delivery. A dedicated package for sending (quittio/peppol) is on the roadmap.

For Quittio to choose Peppol automatically, pass a lookup that checks whether the buyer is reachable in the network. Quittio does not ship a lookup service of its own:

use Quittio\Core\Data\Party\BuyerParty;
use Quittio\Core\Formats\DefaultFormatResolver;
use Quittio\Core\Quittio;
use Quittio\Country\DE\CountryDE;

$quittio = Quittio::create($config, [new CountryDE], formatResolver: new DefaultFormatResolver(
    defaultProfile: 'en16931',
    autoUpgradeProfile: true,
    peppolLookup: fn (BuyerParty $buyer): bool => $directory->isRegistered($buyer->electronicAddress),
));

Consumers, small amounts, abroad

• Consumers: no e-invoicing mandate. Quittio creates a PDF without XML.
• Small invoices up to €250: exempt. Mark the invoice with ->smallAmount() and a PDF is created.
• Customers outside the EU: no EU rules, so a PDF.

$result = Quittio::invoice()
    ->buyer($customer)
    ->line('Coffee', netPrice: '3.50')
    ->smallAmount()            // ≤ 250 €
    ->render();                // → pdf

How Quittio chooses automatically

Without a format, Quittio decides from data you provide anyway: the countries of seller and buyer, whether the buyer is a consumer, and the buyer reference. In this order:

1. Domestic invoice with a country rule: in Germany a Leitweg-ID leads to XRechnung, a marked small invoice to PDF.
2. Buyer reachable via Peppol (only with a lookup): Peppol.
3. Consumer: PDF.
4. Other domestic invoices: ZUGFeRD with the EN 16931 profile.
5. Cross-border within the EU: the buyer’s country pack rules first, otherwise ZUGFeRD.
6. Seller or buyer outside the EU: PDF.

The result tells you what Quittio chose, or you can ask beforehand with prepare():

$result = Quittio::make($invoice)->render();       // no format: automatic choice
$result->format();                                 // "zugferd"
$result->profile()?->key();                        // "en16931"

$prepared = Quittio::make($invoice)->prepare();    // the same decision, without rendering
$prepared->format();

Setting a format yourself

If a customer requires a specific format, name it. Every format has its default profile. Several formats from one calculation are possible too, e.g. ZUGFeRD for sending and XRechnung for the customer’s archive:

$result = Quittio::invoice()
    ->buyer($customer)
    ->buyerReference('04011000-12345-03')          // Leitweg-ID, mandatory for XRechnung
    ->line('Consulting', netPrice: '120.00')
    ->render('xrechnung-cii');

// for an invoice you built before
$result = Quittio::make($invoice)->format('peppol')->render();

// several formats, one calculation
$result = Quittio::make($invoice)->formats(['zugferd', 'xrechnung-cii'])->render();
$result->as('xrechnung-cii')->xml();

To use the same format for every invoice, set defaults.format in config/quittio.php. The default null means automatic choice.