Information on XRechnung invoicing for suppliers and service providers

As a sub-central public contracting authority, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS) is bound by Germany’s E-Invoicing Ordinance (ERechV) and processes structured incoming electronic invoices exclusively in the XRechnung format. XRechnung is Germany's official e-invoicing standard. DFS does not accept other e-invoicing standards/formats such as ZUGFeRD.

Please note:

From 1 January 2027, the issue and transmission of e-invoices within the meaning of Section 14(1) of the German Value Added Tax Act (UStG) will, as a rule, be mandatory for transactions between domestic companies. The invoice must contain the required tax details in accordance with Section 14(4) of the German Value Added Tax Act (UStG) in its current version, as well as additional information (see below).

Please submit your invoices exclusively in the currently valid XRechnung format from 1 January 2027 at the latest. Please send your e-invoices to this e-mail address: RG-Eingang-X-RG@dfs.de.

We will be obliged to reject invoices that do not meet the legal and technical requirements and to withhold payment until a valid invoice has been submitted.

Please note the following for invoicing:

• Send your DFS supplier invoices, invoice corrections, cancellation invoices or credit notes relating to DFS supplier invoices in the XRechnung format to the following e-mail address only: RG-Eingang-X-RG@dfs.de.
• The buyer reference of DFS is 993-80165-64.
• The VAT registration number (for the reverse charge procedure) is DE114110232.
• The e-mail must be unencrypted and may not be digitally signed.
• The e-mail may contain only one XRechnung invoice as an XML file compliant with EN 16931. The e-mail may not include any further attachments.
• DFS only accepts XRechnung invoices in the currently valid version issued by the Coordination Office for IT Standards (KoSIT). The suppliers of DFS are obliged to inform themselves about such issues independently, for example here.
• Attachments must be embedded in the XRechnung data record.
• Embedded attachments are accepted in the following formats: PDF, CSV, XLSX (Excel), PNG, JPEG, TXT, DOCX (Word) and Open Text.
• XRechnung invoices with a purchase order reference must contain the purchase order number (45* or 47*, each 10 digits long) in field BT‑13 (Purchase order reference).
• For invoices without a purchase order reference, the name of the purchaser, including their e‑mail address, must be specified in fields BT‑56 and BT‑58. An organisational unit or cost centre should also be added to this information, if known.
• The e-mail containing the XML file and all embedded attachments must not exceed a maximum size of 50 MB.
• On receipt, the e-mail undergoes a format check, which is performed by the DFS invoice receipt system. Invoices submitted in any other format than XML (for example Word, PDF or ZUGFeRD) will be rejected. In such cases, the respective invoice must be re-sent in the correct format.
• XRechnung invoices that are submitted to DFS in any form other than that specified above, or sent to an e‑mail address other than the one stated above, will not enter the DFS invoice processing workflow and therefore cannot be settled.

If you have any specific or technical queries, please contact us at the following e-mail address: XRechnung-Rueckfrage@dfs.de. 

Before sending an Xrechnung invoice, we recommend that you validate that it complies with the legal requirements. The following German link, for example, is useful for this purpose: E-Rechnungs-Validator.

Further information about the XRechnung can be found in German here: XRechnung - XStandards Einkauf.

An optimised invoice processing workflow reduces the processing time of your invoice and therefore facilitates on-time payment of your invoice amount in accordance with the contractual terms. The quality of the invoices submitted is a critical factor in achieving a high degree of automation, while at the same time securing a reduction in manual workload on both sides.