ZUGFeRD XML Embedder

The e-invoice is no longer a distant prospect in Germany. Since 1 January 2025 every domestic company in B2B must be able to receive and process structured e-invoices. The obligation to issue them phases in: from 2027 for larger turnovers, from 2028 for everyone. A PDF that merely looks like an invoice will no longer do. It needs machine-readable data. That is exactly what this embedder produces and validates.

ZUGFeRD and Factur-X are the hybrid format: an ordinary PDF a human can read, with an embedded XML file a machine reads. Both together in a PDF/A-3, the archival format that permits attachments. XRechnung is the pure XML variant that German authorities require in B2G traffic, addressed via the Leitweg-ID. Both follow the European standard EN 16931, which defines which fields an e-invoice must contain.

The embed tab turns your existing PDF into an e-invoice. You drop the PDF in and supply the invoice data - either through a small form that builds the XML for you, or by uploading a ready XML file. The embedder assembles a PDF/A-3 that carries the XML as an embedded attachment, with the correct metadata so invoicing software actually finds it. The PDF/A-3 assembly itself needs server-side crypto, the rest stays with you.

The validate tab is the other direction. Incoming e-invoices look like any other file at first, but whether the XML is actually correct you cannot see with the naked eye. The checker reads the CII XML and checks the essentials: is the profile (BASIC, COMFORT, EXTENDED, XRechnung) correctly stated in the URN? Are the legally indispensable elements present - invoice number, date, seller, buyer, lines, country codes? And does the invoice add up: do line sums, VAT breakdown and totals form a consistent picture, to the cent?

Staying honest matters: the validator is a pragmatic structural and arithmetic check, not a full Schematron or KOSIT validation. It catches the common and costly errors - missing mandatory fields, wrong profile, sums that do not reconcile, and for XRechnung the extra duties like buyer reference and seller contact. For the last mile before submitting to an authority, the official KOSIT validator remains the reference. But for daily work this check catches most of it, before your bookkeeping does.

Everything runs data-frugally. Validation happens regex-based directly in the browser, without your invoice data wandering anywhere. No account, no cloud, no invoice left lying elsewhere. So whether you are making an old PDF fit for the e-invoice mandate or securing an incoming invoice before booking it - the embedder covers both ends of the e-invoice chain.