What information does an XRechnung need at a minimum?

Via the faktoora API, the xrechnung format generates an invoice that complies with the European standard EN 16931, either as a pure XML file or as a ZUGFeRD profile. For the invoice to be created, certain information must be present in the request.

Required fields at invoice level

For the Invoice object itself, the following fields are required according to the API schema:

• format (here: xrechnung)
• issueDate: invoice date
• invoiceNumber: invoice number
• invoiceTypeCode: invoice type, e.g. 380 for a regular commercial invoice
• invoiceItems: at least one invoice line item
• buyer: the buyer

Required fields for the seller

If you send a seller block, the following fields in it are required:

• name: company name
• street: street
• postcode: postal code
• city: city
• country: country as an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (e.g. DE)

Required fields for the buyer

The buyer block is required at invoice level anyway; within it, the following are required:

• name: buyer's name
• street: street
• postcode: postal code
• city: city
• country: country as an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code

Required fields per line item

Each line item in invoiceItems needs an id and a product object. Within product, the following are required:

• name: description of the goods or service
• quantity: quantity
• unitCode: unit of measure (e.g. HUR for hours, C62 for pieces, KGM for kilograms)
• price: unit price
• taxes: at least one tax entry with typeCode, categoryCode and rate

Leitweg-ID for public-sector clients

Invoices to public-sector clients also carry a Leitweg-ID (the routing ID used by German public authorities). In the API, it is sent in the buyerReference.buyerReferenceId field. You receive the Leitweg-ID from the invoice recipient. If your invoices are addressed to companies rather than public-sector clients, there is usually no Leitweg-ID.

An XRechnung created via the faktoora user interface asks for the same information step by step; you can find the step-by-step guide in the article Creating an XRechnung/ZUGFeRD or PDF invoice.