Peppol and electronic invoice transmission

Peppol is the worldwide network for electronic invoice exchange. If you want to send your invoices electronically, Peppol is often the right way, especially for B2B invoices and for public-sector clients.

What is Peppol?

Peppol (Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine) is a standardized network for the electronic exchange of business documents (especially invoices). It works much like the postal service: you address an invoice with the recipient's Peppol ID, and the network forwards it to the recipient's system.

Peppol ID: a unique identifier for each participant, similar to an account number or email address. Format: e.g. 9915:DE123456789 (for Germany), 9915:AT123456789 (for Austria).

The invoice is transmitted in UBL format (Universal Business Language), an XML structure compliant with EN 16931.

You can find more information in the general questions about Peppol in the FAQs.

Registering a Peppol ID

To send invoices via Peppol, your company must register a Peppol ID:

1. faktoora can support you with this; please contact support.
2. Registration requires your company identifier (e.g. tax number or commercial register number).
3. Once registration is complete, your Peppol ID is stored in faktoora.

Details on the process, the requirements and any fees or deadlines are available on request.

Sending invoices via Peppol

If your customer has a Peppol ID or can be reached via Peppol:

1. Select the invoice format: when creating the invoice, select format: "peppol".
2. Enter the recipient's Peppol ID: enter the customer's Peppol ID (e.g. in the buyer.peppolId field).
3. Create the invoice: faktoora generates the invoice in UBL format and sends it automatically via the Peppol network.

The system documents the transmission and shows the delivery status.

Finding the recipient's Peppol ID

If you do not know a customer's Peppol ID:

1. Ask your customer directly: their accounting system or website shows the Peppol ID.
2. Search public directories: some countries have Peppol directories.
3. Fallback: if no Peppol ID is available, use another format (e.g. ZUGFeRD by email, or PDF).

The system shows an error if the Peppol ID is invalid, so you can take corrective action.

Problem: My Peppol ID is reported as wrong

If a customer reports that your Peppol ID is not correct:

Check:

1. Your registered Peppol ID in the faktoora account settings: is it stored correctly?
2. Your company identifier (tax number, SIREN, commercial register number, etc.): does the one in the Peppol directory match your ID?
3. The Peppol directory service: does the identifier resolve correctly there?

Common errors:

• The Peppol ID is no longer active (e.g. because the registration entry has expired).
• The Peppol ID has been migrated to another Peppol service provider.
• The company identifier does not match the value registered in the directory.

Solution: Contact your Peppol service provider or faktoora support.

Sending payment reminders to Peppol addresses

If you send a payment reminder to a public-sector client or a Peppol customer:

Problem: The reminder may be rejected by the e-invoicing address.

Reason: Some Peppol participants only accept invoices, not payment reminders or other document types (such as order confirmations).

Solution:

1. Use email for payment reminders: send the reminder as a PDF to an email address instead of via Peppol.
2. Contact your customer: ask which channel they accept payment reminders through.
3. In the system: select a sending channel other than Peppol for the reminder.

Invoices themselves are usually accepted via Peppol; payment reminders often are not.

Checking the Peppol delivery status

When you send an invoice via Peppol, faktoora shows the delivery status:

In case of errors, the system shows an error message explaining why delivery did not work.

Peppol vs. email vs. direct portal

You have several options for sending electronic invoices:

faktoora supports all variants. Choose the channel based on your customer's requirements.

E-invoicing without Peppol

If you want to send electronic invoices, but not via Peppol:

1. ZUGFeRD or XRechnung by email: send the invoice as an XML file by email.
2. To a customer portal: if the customer has a system with an API.
3. PDF with embedded invoice: modern PDFs can contain the structured data.

Without Peppol, the invoice remains "your" electronic format: the recipient has to actively retrieve or import it, instead of the network delivering it automatically.

Enabling invoice receipt by email and Peppol

If you also want to receive incoming invoices via these channels:

1. Peppol inbox: active automatically once your Peppol ID is registered. Invoices are delivered to the registered ID.
2. Email inbox: you can configure a special email address (e.g. rechnungen@mein-unternehmen.de) in the account settings to receive invoices by email.

For faktoora to process incoming invoices automatically, you must enable email receipt and Peppol receipt in the account settings.

For details, see Invoice receipt via email.

XRechnung instead of Peppol

XRechnung is the German e-invoice format for B2G (business-to-government). It is also based on EN 16931, but it is:

• Transmitted not via Peppol, but via special German portals (e.g. ProZert)
• Used for authorities and public contracts in Germany

If you invoice German authorities, XRechnung is often expected rather than Peppol (although both are EN 16931-compliant).

faktoora supports both formats; choose based on your recipient.

Errors or validation problems

If a Peppol invoice is rejected:

1. Check the validation report: faktoora shows which field is missing or incorrect.
2. Common errors:
   • Invalid Peppol ID of the recipient
   • Missing VAT identification number
   • Invalid or missing Leitweg-ID (for public contracts)
   • Invoice amount not calculated correctly
3. Correct the invoice or create a new one with the correct details.

Validation before sending is the best way to avoid errors.