Invoice your German and French clients with compliant e-invoices, from anywhere in Europe

The cross-border invoicing compliance gap

Germany's B2B e-invoicing mandate applies to domestic German transactions and to invoices received by German businesses from their suppliers, including suppliers based outside Germany. Since January 2025, German businesses have been legally required to be able to receive structured e-invoices. Many German companies with automated accounts payable systems cannot extract structured data from a standard PDF and are already returning them to suppliers requesting ZUGFeRD format instead. This is the same ERP outgoing invoice gap affecting domestic ERP installations across the SME market.

France's receiving obligation became active in September 2026. French business clients are now legally required to be able to receive Factur-X invoices. Belgium's Peppol BIS 3.0 mandate for domestic B2B transactions became active in January 2026.

If you are a UK consultant, a Dutch agency, a Danish company, a Belgian business, or any organisation outside Germany and France that invoices clients in those markets, your existing accounting tool was built for your home market. It generates invoices that work for your domestic clients. It does not generate ZUGFeRD for your German clients or Factur-X for your French clients. That gap is the compliance problem Facturwise solves.

What each market requires and when

Germany requires structured e-invoices in ZUGFeRD or XRechnung format at EN 16931 profile level for domestic B2B transactions. The receiving obligation has been active since January 2025. Your German business clients can already receive structured e-invoices and many prefer them because their accounting software processes them automatically. The sending obligation for businesses above 800,000 euros turnover applies from January 2027. All remaining businesses from January 2028.

France requires Factur-X format at EN 16931 profile level for B2B invoicing. The receiving obligation became active in September 2026. French business clients are now required to accept Factur-X invoices. The sending obligation for all French businesses, including micro-enterprises and auto-entrepreneurs, applies from September 2027. Factur-X invoices must be transmitted via a certified Plateforme Agréée or via Peppol.

Belgium requires Peppol BIS 3.0 for domestic B2B invoices since January 2026. For Belgian clients, a Peppol BIS 3.0 compliant invoice is the mandated format. Facturwise generates Peppol BIS 3.0 on all plans including the free trial.

For a company outside these markets invoicing clients across Germany, France, and Belgium simultaneously (a scenario common for UK, Dutch, Danish, and Scandinavian agencies and consultancies), no single tool from their home market covers all three. Facturwise generates ZUGFeRD, Factur-X, and Peppol BIS 3.0 from one account.

Why your existing accounting tool does not cover this

Accounting software is localised for the market it is built for. A UK accounting tool follows HMRC requirements. A Danish accounting tool follows Danish tax authority formats. A Dutch accounting tool covers Dutch VAT reporting. None of these tools were built to generate ZUGFeRD, Factur-X, or Peppol BIS 3.0 because their primary market does not require those formats domestically.

Adding cross-border EU e-invoicing compliance to an existing domestic accounting tool requires that tool's vendor to build and maintain localisation for foreign markets. Most domestic accounting tools have not done this for ZUGFeRD or Factur-X specifically because these are German and French domestic compliance requirements that their primary user base does not face. You are the edge case their product was not designed for.

This is not a problem with your existing tool. It is doing exactly what it was built to do. Facturwise exists specifically for the layer it does not cover: compliant outgoing e-invoices for clients in Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands from an English-language platform that does not require navigating German or French software to use.

What Facturwise generates for cross-border invoicing

ZUGFeRD 2.4 at EN 16931 profile level for all German business clients. Generated automatically as a PDF/A-3 file with embedded CII XML data that your German client's accounting system processes automatically.

Factur-X 1.0.8 at EN 16931 profile level for all French business clients. The same underlying EN 16931 standard as ZUGFeRD, packaged for the French market.

XRechnung for German public sector clients and federal authorities.

Peppol BIS 3.0 for Belgian business clients and any client that receives invoices via the Peppol network.

Standard PDF for clients in markets without structured e-invoice mandates. All from the same account, selected per client.

DATEV-compatible CSV export, for handing monthly invoice data to a German Steuerberater if you work with one.

22 invoice output languages, so each client receives their invoice in their own language from the same account without template management.

The English-first platform for non-German and non-French speakers

Facturwise is built in English. The interface, the documentation, the support, and the validator are all English. You do not need to navigate German accounting terminology or French administrative language to generate a compliant invoice for your EU clients. This is the specific gap that German and French invoicing tools, including the market leaders in those countries, do not fill for English-speaking operators. You can confirm any output you generate against EN 16931 with the free ZUGFeRD validator before you send it.

For an expat living in Germany, a UK contractor with German clients post-Brexit, a Dutch freelancer with Belgian and German clients, or a Danish agency billing French and German brands, the combination of cross-border e-invoicing compliance and a genuine English interface is what Facturwise is built for.

Frequently asked questions