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Rechnungskit
E-invoicing software · made in Germany

E-invoicing in Germany for online shops, SaaS and digital products

Rechnungskit is e-invoicing software for businesses in Germany that sell online. Orders come from your shop, your checkout or the API, and payments come from your payment provider. Rechnungskit matches the two, decides the VAT treatment and creates a ZUGFeRD e-invoice under EN 16931.

Every paid order becomes a validated e-invoice, with the VAT decision, a GoBD archive (Germany's rules for tamper-proof records) and a DATEV export for your tax advisor (Steuerberater).

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The gap

Writing invoices is easy. Writing compliant ones is not.

The difference between a PDF and a compliant e-invoice matters at the next tax audit. Rechnungskit closes exactly this gap.

Without RechnungskitWith Rechnungskit
Typing invoices by hand from payment data Every payment is matched to its order automatically
Looking up VAT rates for every country yourself The e-invoice is created in the right format (ZUGFeRD, EN 16931)
Telling EU B2B sales, distance sales and non-EU exports apart by hand The VAT decision is documented together with its evidence
Storing PDFs somewhere and hoping they meet GoBD Tamper-proof GoBD archive with a SHA-256 checksum
Assembling the DATEV export for your tax advisor manually DATEV export in one click, ready to lock
How it works

Four steps to a compliant e-invoice.

  1. 01
    Connect
    Connect your shop and your payment provider, for example Stripe, Mollie, PayPal or Unzer. Without a shop, you sell through the Rechnungskit checkout or send orders through the API.
  2. 02
    Match
    Each payment is matched to the right order automatically.
  3. 03
    Create
    The VAT matrix checks the type of sale, the place of supply and the evidence it needs. Only then is the e-invoice created as a PDF/A-3 with embedded XML and validated against EN 16931.
  4. 04
    Archive
    The invoice goes into the GoBD archive and is ready for the DATEV export.

Who has to send e-invoices in Germany, and when?

Since January 1, 2025, every business in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices (BMF letter of 15 October 2025, UStAE 14.1(5)). Sending is phased in. From 2027, businesses with more than €800,000 in prior-year revenue must issue their domestic B2B invoices as e-invoices, and from 2028 everyone else must too (Section 27(38) UStG). Invoices to consumers, small-amount invoices up to €250 and passenger tickets are exempt (Section 14(2) UStG, Sections 33 and 34 UStDV). Our guide to the e-invoicing mandate covers the full timeline and the transition rules.

Quick check · obligation to send
Who do you sell to?
Consumers (B2C)the typical D2C shop, courses and downloads for individuals
no obligation to send
Businesses in Germany (B2B)B2B SaaS, wholesale, agency services
required from 2027 or 2028
Public-sector buyersinvoices with a Leitweg-ID
XRechnung
Businesses outside GermanyThe German mandate does not apply; the law of the recipient's country sets the format
local rules apply
Every business has had to be able to receive e-invoices since 2025, including pure B2C sellers, for example for supplier invoices. Small-amount invoices up to €250 are exempt in B2B as well.

Many online sellers have both kinds of customer. That is why Rechnungskit issues every invoice as ZUGFeRD. Consumers open the PDF as usual, and business customers import the embedded XML straight into their accounting, so you don't need a separate path for each customer type.

Three typical setups

Where orders and payments come from depends on what you sell. In all three cases you end up with an e-invoice under EN 16931 that is archived and included in the DATEV export.

Shop, subscription, digital product
What comes in, what Rechnungskit does, what's left for you
Online shop
Orderfrom Shopify, WooCommerce or Shopware 6
Paymentfor example Shopify Payments, PayPal, Stripe, Mollie or Klarna
Invoicefor goods, when the order ships, because the shipping date is the date of supply
VATEU threshold and OSS; tax-free EU deliveries only with a verified VAT ID
You donothing per invoice
SaaS and subscriptions
SubscriptionStripe Billing, or Rechnungskit subscriptions charged through Stripe or Mollie
Invoicefor every billing period, with the service period
VATOSS for EU consumers, reverse charge for businesses with a verified VAT ID
Accountingdeferred revenue (pRAP) for annual plans in the DATEV export, if you keep accrual books
You donothing per invoice with Stripe Billing, turn off Stripe's own invoice emails once
Digital products and courses
Salethrough a Rechnungskit checkout link, or from your app through the API
Paymentin the checkout through Stripe, Mollie, PayPal or Unzer
Invoiceright after payment, ready to download on the confirmation page
AccessMemberspot course or Ghost tier unlocked automatically
You donothing per invoice
All three setups include ZUGFeRD 2.5 (EN 16931), XRechnung for customers with a Leitweg-ID, an 8-year GoBD archive and the DATEV export. Refunds create the cancellation invoice automatically.

Online shop on Shopify, WooCommerce or Shopware

Your shop supplies the order and your payment provider supplies the payment. Rechnungskit brings the two together and issues the invoice once the order has shipped, since for goods the shipping date is the date of supply (Leistungsdatum; UStAE 13.1(2)). If you deliver to other EU countries, Rechnungskit tracks the shared €10,000 EU threshold and prepares your OSS return (OSS is the EU's One-Stop Shop for VAT). The Shopify page shows the setup in detail, and so do the pages for WooCommerce and Shopware.

SaaS and subscriptions

With Stripe Billing, every subscription invoice comes straight from Stripe, with its line items, tax rates and service period. You can also run the subscriptions in Rechnungskit itself and charge them through your Stripe or Mollie account. For business customers in other EU countries, Rechnungskit verifies the VAT ID with the German Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) and invoices with reverse charge. The Stripe page explains the connection.

Digital products and online courses

Without a shop, you sell through a checkout link. The buyer pays through your payment provider, the money goes straight to you, and the invoice is created immediately. If you connect Memberspot or Ghost, Rechnungskit unlocks access after payment and removes it when a subscription ends or a purchase is fully refunded. If you have your own app, it reports its orders through the API. Publishers on Ghost will find the whole flow on selling Ghost memberships.

How payment providers connect

You connect your shop and payment provider once, without writing code. For Stripe, for example, Rechnungskit sets up the webhook itself. From then on every payment lands on the matching order, and the results go to three places.

From payment to tax advisor
Sources, Rechnungskit, results
Sources
Shops
ShopifyWooCommerceShopware
Payment providers
StripeMolliePayPalUnzerGoCardlessKlarna
Without a shop
CheckoutREST API
Rechnungskit
  1. Matchpayment and order are paired
  2. Decide VATrate, OSS or reverse charge, evidence
  3. Create the e-invoiceZUGFeRD or XRechnung, validated against EN 16931
  4. ArchiveGoBD compliant, SHA-256 checksum, 8 years
Results
For your customeremail with the PDF/A-3 and embedded XML, once you switch sending on
For your tax advisorDATEV export (EXTF, SKR03 or SKR04) with revenue, fees and payouts
For your VAT returnsOSS return and EC Sales List (Zusammenfassende Meldung), as exports for BZSt and ELSTER
Refunds take the same route back: a refund in your shop or at your payment provider creates the cancellation invoice automatically. Payouts are reconciled against your payments as well.

DATEV is the accounting system most German tax advisors work with. The export arrives in the format they import, with revenue, fees and payouts booked separately; the DATEV page shows what that looks like.

B2B or B2C: who receives what?

Customer What they receive E-invoice required?
Consumer a ZUGFeRD invoice that opens like any PDF no
Business in Germany the same ZUGFeRD invoice; their accounting reads the XML from 2027 or 2028
Business elsewhere in the EU ZUGFeRD, with reverse charge once the VAT ID is verified depends on their country
Public body with a Leitweg-ID an XRechnung as XML, plus a PDF for reading required by the buyer

If you only sell to consumers, little changes for you. Once business customers place orders, they get the same invoice and read its XML data.

VAT is decided before the invoice exists

A customer abroad does not make a sale tax-free on their own. Rechnungskit separates goods from services, Germany from the rest of the EU and from non-EU countries, and B2B from B2C. A tax-free delivery to another EU country needs a valid VAT ID that the buyer actually uses (Section 6a(1) UStG), plus proof of transport (Sections 17a and 17b UStDV). An export outside the EU needs export evidence (Section 8 UStDV). Electronic services to consumers and distance sales of goods share one EU-wide threshold of €10,000 (Section 3c(4) UStG).

If required evidence is missing, or a special case has not been approved, the automation stops. Rechnungskit settles the question before the invoice is created instead of correcting the invoice afterwards.

Read more

The e-invoicing mandate guide explains the law and every deadline, XRechnung covers the public-sector format and how it differs from ZUGFeRD, and GoBD explains Germany's rules for digital records. The ZUGFeRD article goes deeper into the format itself.

FAQ

FAQ

No. The mandate only covers invoices between businesses in Germany (Section 14(2) UStG). Invoices to consumers (B2C) are exempt, and so are small-amount invoices (Kleinbetragsrechnungen) up to €250 (Section 33 UStDV). You still have to be able to receive e-invoices, for example from your suppliers (BMF letter of 15 October 2025, UStAE 14.1(5)). Rechnungskit issues your invoices as ZUGFeRD, which works for both kinds of customer: consumers open the PDF, and business customers import the XML data into their accounting.
Last reviewed:

Rechnungskit is not a tax advisory or law firm. This article explains general principles and does not replace advice from a tax advisor (Steuerberater, § 5 StBerG) or a lawyer (§ 3 RDG). Rechnungskit is built for businesses based in Germany and prepares documents, tax rates and bookings automatically. How your specific case is treated remains your decision, ideally together with your tax advisor or a lawyer.

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