With the “VAT in the Digital Age” package (ViDA), adopted by the EU in March 2025, it is clear: Germany’s e-invoicing mandate is not a national exception but part of a European development. From July 2030, cross-border B2B transactions will be subject to a digital reporting obligation – invoice data will be reported to the tax authorities per transaction, and the basis for this is the structured e-invoice. Existing national systems must be brought into line with the European requirements by 2035.
In practice this means: structured invoice data is not a one-off compliance project that you complete and file away. If you set up your invoice intake today so that every invoice is available as a clean, checked data record, you will meet future reporting obligations as part of the live process – rather than starting the next migration project towards the end of the decade.
In concrete terms: check whether your current process holds invoice data in structured form – not merely as a PDF in the archive. If in 2030 you have to report what you store today only as an image, you will be digitising twice.
Please note: this article reflects the legal position and administrative guidance as at the date stated and is no substitute for tax or legal advice.