E-Invoicing Knowledge Base
11 guidesWhat is Peppol?
Peppol is a secure pan-European network for exchanging standardized electronic business documents, governed by OpenPeppol and connecting over 300,000 organizations across 40+ countries.
Read guideStandards & Networks
Peppol
Peppol is a secure pan-European network for exchanging standardized electronic business documents, governed by OpenPeppol and connecting over 300,000 organizations across 40+ countries.
EN 16931
EN 16931 is the European standard defining the semantic data model for electronic invoices, published by CEN and mandated by EU Directive 2014/55/EU.
E-Invoice Formats
XRechnung
XRechnung is Germany's national implementation (CIUS) of the EN 16931 European e-invoicing standard, mandatory for all public sector invoicing in Germany.
ZUGFeRD
ZUGFeRD is a German hybrid e-invoice format that embeds machine-readable XML data inside a human-readable PDF, enabling both automated processing and visual review.
Factur-X
Factur-X is the Franco-German hybrid e-invoice format (identical to ZUGFeRD 2.0+) that embeds structured XML data inside a PDF/A-3 document, compliant with EN 16931.
UBL
Universal Business Language (UBL) 2.1 is an OASIS XML standard for business documents including invoices, widely used as the syntax for Peppol BIS and national e-invoicing implementations.
CII
Cross Industry Invoice (CII) is a UN/CEFACT XML syntax for electronic invoices, used as the base format for ZUGFeRD, Factur-X, and one of the two EN 16931-compliant syntaxes.
Tools & Features
Quick Start: Fix E-Invoice Errors
Invoice Navigator's Fixer tool automatically corrects technical errors in your e-invoices, making them compliant in seconds.
E-Invoice Remediation
E-invoice remediation is the controlled, automated correction of structural compliance errors in electronic invoices, with explicit safety boundaries that prevent modification of financial fields like amounts, VAT rates, and bank details.
KoSIT
KoSIT (Koordinierungsstelle für IT-Standards) is the German federal coordination office for IT standards that maintains the official validation engine for XRechnung and EN 16931 e-invoices.
an Evidence Pack
An Evidence Pack is Invoice Navigator's audit-ready compliance certificate containing the original invoice, validation results, remediation log, SHA-256 hash, QR verification code, and links to the exact rule versions used.
Format Comparisons
XRechnung vs ZUGFeRD
XRechnung is a pure XML format required for German government invoicing, while ZUGFeRD is a hybrid format combining PDF and XML that works for both business and government transactions. Both comply with the European standard EN 16931, but they serve different purposes.
Peppol vs Factur-X
Peppol is a document exchange network, while Factur-X is a file format. They solve different problems and can work together—you can convert a Factur-X invoice to Peppol BIS format and send it via the Peppol network.
UBL vs CII
UBL (Universal Business Language) and CII (Cross-Industry Invoice) are two XML syntaxes for expressing EN 16931 invoices. Both carry the same business information—the difference is technical structure. Your choice usually depends on which formats and networks you need to support.
Invoice Navigator vs ecosio
Invoice Navigator and ecosio both address EU e-invoice compliance, but from different angles. Invoice Navigator is a compliance API that validates, remediates, and generates audit evidence. ecosio is a document exchange platform focused on format conversion and Peppol access point services.
Invoice Navigator vs Storecove
Invoice Navigator and Storecove both offer APIs for e-invoice compliance, but serve different parts of the pipeline. Invoice Navigator validates, remediates, and generates audit evidence. Storecove provides Peppol network connectivity with pre-flight compliance checks.
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