Peppol in Germany

Spacebring supports eInvoicing via Peppol for Germany and helps you stay compliant by:

• Automatically generating eInvoices and credit notes in the required XRechnung (EN 16931) format
• Sending them securely through the Peppol network
• Tracking network synchronization status
• Automatically validating tax ID for faster reconciliation.

Customers still receive human-readable PDF invoices by email, while Spacebring simultaneously sends the compliant machine-readable eInvoice via Peppol.

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Prerequisites

To enable eInvoicing, ensure the following two requirements are completed:

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Complete location billing details

Your location billing details, tax, and currency must be complete and accurate.

1. Go to Location settings > General > Billing details tab.
2. Fill in your location’s billing details.
   • Legal business name
   • Address (Country (Germany), Address line 1, City, and Postal code are mandatory)
   • Tax ID (a valid German VAT number)
   • Contact details (Email and Phone number are mandatory).
     
     
3. Go to Location settings > Billing page > Taxes tab.
   • Make sure your Tax type is set to VAT.
   • In the Tax rate field, enter the standard German rate of 19%.
   • If you use custom tax rates in individual customers’ subscriptions or invoices, ensure they are also valid German VAT rates.
4. Go to Location settings > Billing page > Currencies tab.
   • Make sure your main location currency is set to EUR.
   • If your primary location currency is different, add EUR Euro as an alternative currency and apply it to all customer profiles for whom you want to generate eInvoices.

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Complete customer billing details

Each customer must also have accurate billing details.

1. Go to Location settings > Customers and manage the Require billing details setting depending on your needs:

• Enable this requirement for both individual users and companies
• Or only for companies, if you need to generate eInvoices only for companies.

If Require billing details is enabled for a customer type:

• New customers will be prompted to fill out their billing details at the first payment.
• Existing customers missing billing details will be prompted to update their details during their next payment.

2. To review or update customer details manually:
   • Go to the Customers page > open each customer profile > locate Billing details section on the right side panel.
   • Fill in any missing billing details as an administrator.
   • Alternatively, ask customers to update billing details on their own under Membership > Billing.

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Requirements for companies

For companies, complete billing details are required for eInvoices to be generated and synced. If a certain company’s billing details are incomplete or invalid, invoices for that company will remain in Draft status with a warning and cannot be issued.

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Requirements for individual users

For individual members, only fill in billing details if you want their invoices to be generated as eInvoices and synced as well.

• If you do not want to generate eInvoices for individual members, leave their billing details, especially the Legal business name and Tax ID, empty.
• If at least one of these fields is filled for an individual member, Spacebring will attempt to sync their invoices as eInvoices.

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Enable eInvoicing

1. Go to Location settings > Billing.
2. In the Invoices tab, enable the eInvoicing switch.
3. In the Peppol verification section, click Upload proof of ownership.
4. Upload one of the following documents to verify your authorization to represent your company on Peppol:
   • An invoice with direct debit authorization
   • An official company representation document
   • A business registration certificate
5. Your proof of ownership will be submitted to Peppol and verified.
   • Track your verification status on this page. It may take up to 3 business days.
   • If prompted, update your billing details or take any required actions.

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How eInvoicing works

After eInvoicing is enabled:

• All invoices for customers with valid billing details are automatically generated in a compliant XRechnung (EN 16931) eInvoice format during issuance and sent through the Peppol network.
• Customers continue receiving standard PDF invoices by email and push notifications — the PDF appearance remains unchanged. Machine-readable eInvoices are sent in parallel via the Peppol network.
• Credit notes are also synced if the original invoice was successfully synced via Peppol.
• When eInvoicing is enabled, voiding invoices and credit notes is not supported, because this is not allowed in Peppol. Instead, you can:
  • Issue a credit note to correct the invoice
  • If necessary, issue a credit note for the full invoice amount to void it.

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Track eInvoice syncing

Each invoice has the eInvoice sync status indicated. If an eInvoice fails to sync (for example, due to invalid or missing customer billing details):

• The invoice will not be issued.
• The system will display:
  • “eInvoice sync failed” status
  • A red warning triangle next to the affected invoice
  • A red warning triangle next to the customer’s name on the Customers page.

If prompted, update the customer’s billing details or complete any required actions, and click Issue again. You can also see the eInvoice sync status for all invoices in the Invoices report.