Creating an invoice

The second route through the portal: build a compliant e-invoice from a form. Without signing in and without a quota — creating invoices anonymously is deliberately not counted.

Step by step

1. Open the tool. The “Create e-invoice” tile, or /en/create.
2. Choose the format first. The note on the page explains why: “Please choose the target format first – the input fields depend on it.” Each invoice type has its own sub-page, for instance /en/create/xrechnung.
3. Fill in the form. It is divided into six sections: Key data, Parties, Line items, Payment, Further details and Format & create. The form adds up the totals as you go; what counts is the server’s own calculation.
4. Create. The resulting invoice is validated before it is handed over.
5. Collect the result. You receive the XML of your target format. Only with ZUGFeRD is there a genuine choice in the last section: “XML (ZUGFeRD/CII) – machine-readable” or “PDF with embedded invoice (ZUGFeRD/Factur-X)” — the latter a hybrid PDF.

Why the format comes first

The form hides whatever the chosen format cannot carry. Otherwise you would enter details that are silently discarded on generation. FA_VAT, for example, knows neither a due date nor free-text payment terms, FatturaPA no alternative payee, Facturae no account holder.

Two things that surprise people at first

Result pages are transient

A result lives for 30 minutes in memory; after that the page reports “This result has expired or is unknown.” Download whatever you want to keep — or, with an account, save it to the archive.

Large files take time. From 4 MB the upload field announces the wait: “Large file (…). Processing may take a few minutes.” The file is accepted regardless; do not reload the page while processing is under way.

If something is missing

The server checks everything else collectively — on submission you get all shortcomings at once, not one after another. Which rule sits behind which message is listed under Creating: format, sections and mandatory fields.

With an account it gets more convenient

Seller and payment details then come from the invoice-issuer record, the invoice number is pre-suggested, and a quick-start block takes customer and article from the master data. Archive and finalising come on top. See Anonymous use or an account?.