E-Invoicing for Public Authorities (B2G): Rules & Portals

Updated: 2026-06-25

For invoices to public-sector clients (business-to-government, B2G), the e-invoicing obligation has applied considerably longer than in the B2B sector.

Since when has the B2G obligation applied?

The legal basis is EU Directive 2014/55/EU, implemented in Germany through the E-Invoicing Ordinance (ERechV). For the federal administration the rules are:

• since 27 Nov 2019: authorities must be able to receive e-invoices.
• since 27 Nov 2020: suppliers to the federal government must send e-invoices — as an XRechnung.

An exception applies to direct contracts up to EUR 1,000 net. The federal states have their own rules with partly differing deadlines.

Which format? Usually XRechnung

For B2G, the XRechnung is the authoritative standard. It is a specific implementation (CIUS) of the EN 16931 norm and is maintained by KoSIT. ZUGFeRD in the XRECHNUNG profile is also accepted by many bodies.

A mandatory field in B2G is the Leitweg-ID — it addresses the correct recipient within the administration.

The federal receipt portals

For a long time there were two platforms: the ZRE and the OZG-RE. Since consolidation, the situation is simpler:

• The ZRE was shut down on 31 Dec 2025.
• The OZG-RE (OZG-compliant invoice receipt platform, operated by Bundesdruckerei) is now the central federal receipt portal.

Depending on the recipient, invoices can be submitted by upload, by email or via the Peppol network.

How to proceed

1. Request the Leitweg-ID from the contracting authority.
2. Create the invoice as an XRechnung — see creating an XRechnung.
3. Before sending, validate the e-invoice so that it meets EN 16931 and the German business rules (BR-DE).
4. Submit it through the appropriate portal.

You can create and validate an XRechnung with a Leitweg-ID directly in your browser — no account and no upload needed.