Germany’s B2B e-invoicing mandate requires all businesses to receive structured e-invoices, with the obligation to issue them fast approaching. How GEBA works, and what to check now.
Ask a German company for its e-invoicing address and you get one of three answers: a Leitweg-ID that does not apply, a VAT number that is not an address, or a shrug.
That gap is what GEBA closes. KoSIT published the German Electronic Business Address specification a year ago this month, and it is now working its way into the Peppol network. If your company will be issuing structured B2B invoices, this is the identifier question you are going to be asked.
The German Electronic Business Address is a unique, flexible electronic address scheme for economically active persons in Germany. It is built on the Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer (W-IdNr), the business identification number that the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern has been issuing since November 2024 — which is in turn based on the VAT identification number.
Because it sits on the W-IdNr, a GEBA is automatically unique to one business and available to every business. There is no separate registration to obtain the base identifier: if you have a W-IdNr, you can derive a GEBA.
A GEBA has up to three parts:
DE279247134-00001.RECH4711
DE plus nine digits. Where a VAT identification number exists, the W-IdNr matches it.
A five-digit sequence beginning with 0, assigned by the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, used to separate business locations. Example: -00001.
One to eight freely chosen alphanumeric characters, used to route to a department, process or system. Example: .RECH4711.
The third part is the one worth pausing on. It is yours to define, it needs no external approval, and it is what lets a group route invoices to the right shared service centre or cost centre without giving every unit its own tax number.
These two get confused constantly, so:
A private company invoicing another private company does not need a Leitweg-ID. It needs a routable electronic address — and that is exactly the role GEBA is designed for.
GEBA is registered internationally under ISO/IEC 6523 with ICD 0246. KoSIT states that it is currently being registered in the Peppol EAS code list and is expected to become usable in the Peppol network with version 9.5.
GEBA sits alongside other national and international addressing systems rather than replacing them. If you already exchange over Peppol using a VAT-based identifier, nothing breaks.
As the issuing obligation approaches, "which identifier do I publish?" becomes a question every German company has to answer once, properly. GEBA is the answer built for that question.
It has been issued since November 2024. If your VAT ID exists, your W-IdNr matches it.
One legal entity, one invoice inbox: the plain W-IdNr form is enough. Multiple locations, shared service centres or separate AP queues: plan the distinguishing feature and suffix now, before they are in use in production.
The format is strict and the components are easy to get subtly wrong.
The most common failure is not a bad identifier — it is three different identifiers circulating inside the same company.
Construct and check a GEBA step by step with guided input, or paste an existing string for a component-by-component breakdown.
geba-id.de →Generates and looks up Leitweg-IDs, including the check digit — for B2G invoicing to German public bodies.
leitweg-id.de →As a certified Peppol access point we handle addressing, routing and format conversion behind a single ERP integration — so that when GEBA lands in the Peppol code list, it is a configuration change rather than a project.
Start your 14-day free trial and get GEBA-ready from day one.
Start free trialThe German Electronic Business Address is a unique, flexible electronic address scheme for economically active persons in Germany, built on the Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer (W-IdNr).
No. A Leitweg-ID is used for B2G invoices to German public bodies (BT-10 buyer reference), while GEBA is designed for B2B invoicing between businesses and sits in Peppol addressing as a participant identifier.
No — GEBA is voluntary and sits alongside other national and international addressing schemes. If you already exchange over Peppol using a VAT-based identifier, nothing breaks.
GEBA is registered under ISO/IEC 6523 with ICD 0246 and is expected to become usable in the Peppol network with version 9.5.
No. If you have a W-IdNr (which matches your VAT ID where one exists), you can derive a GEBA directly. There is no separate registration for the base identifier.
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