Germany XRechnung 4.0 EN 16931 E-Invoicing

XRechnung 4.0 Preview: What the New EN 16931 Standard Means for German E-Invoicing

KoSIT has published a preview of XRechnung 4.0 based on the revised EN 16931-1:2026 standard. Here is what is changing, what businesses should prepare for, and why there is no need to migrate yet.

30 September 2026

5 min read

Two things happened this month that change the German e-invoicing roadmap, and neither of them is a deadline.

KoSIT has published a preview version of XRechnung 4.0, dated 15 September. And the European standard it is built on, EN 16931-1:2026, is ratified — available in English since March, with the German translation due from DIN by 30 September.

Here is what that actually means for your systems.

The standard got considerably bigger

The revised core invoice model adds more than 50 new business terms and seven new business groups. The headline changes:

Multiple orders and deliveries

The old model enforced a strict one-order, one-delivery, one-invoice relationship. That constraint is gone — a significant simplification for anyone splitting invoices to satisfy a data model rather than a business need.

More detailed delivery info

The new model carries richer delivery information, closing gaps that previously forced workarounds in commercial documentation.

Discounts, interest, receivables

New fields for early payment discount, default interest and third-party receivables — three things German invoices routinely carry and the old model had no clean home for.

Attachments in XML

Attachments can now be transmitted directly in XML, eliminating the need for side-channel delivery of supporting documents.

If you have ever had to squeeze real commercial terms into a free-text field because the standard had nowhere to put them, this release is aimed at you.

The preview is explicitly not for production

KoSIT is clear on this point. The preliminary version exists so that public bodies, businesses and software vendors can see the new and changed functionality early. It is not a release.

The full bundle depends on work that is still outstanding at European level: the syntax binding documents and the CEN validation artefacts. Until CEN delivers those, there is nothing complete to implement against.

The finished XRechnung 4.0 bundle is expected in spring 2027.

The number that should calm everyone down: March 2029

The revised norm provides for parallel operation of the old and new EN 16931-1 until March 2029. The specific transition dates for XRechnung will be set inside that window and announced with the 4.0 bundle.

The practical picture:

Nothing you send today stops working. XRechnung 3.0.2 remains the productive version.
Nothing needs rebuilding this quarter. There is no artefact to build against yet.
But the German B2B issuing obligation on 1 January 2027 lands in the middle of this transition — with XRechnung 4.0 arriving around the same time.

That is the planning point. Not "act now", but "build so that a version change is a configuration, not a project".

What to actually do

1. Do not implement against the preview

Read it, map it against your own invoice content, and note where the new business terms would let you stop using workarounds.

2. Check whether your current output is even on 3.0.2

A surprising number of systems are still emitting 2.x profiles that are being retired from national portals and from the Peppol network. This is a today problem, not a 2029 one.

3. Ask your provider one question

When 4.0 ships, is it an update on their side or a project on yours?

You can check what version you currently emit in about a minute with our free E-Invoice Validator — XRechnung, Peppol BIS Billing and ZUGFeRD, in the browser. Look at the customisation identifier in the XML: anything ending in xrechnung_2.3 or lower is already living on borrowed time.

Check your XRechnung version now

Get instant access to our free E-Invoice Validator. Check XRechnung, Peppol BIS and ZUGFeRD for business rule errors before sending.

Free validation tool • No registration required • Instant results

How we help

We convert what your ERP produces into the profile your recipient currently accepts, and we move that profile when the requirement moves. Version changes like 3.0.2 to 4.0 then happen behind your integration rather than inside your ERP.