How do I validate XRechnung invoices?

What XRechnung Validation Checks

XRechnung is Germany's national CIUS (Core Invoice Usage Specification) built on EN 16931. According to Invoice Navigator's validation engine, XRechnung 3.0.2 adds 147 rules on top of the base EN 16931 standard. These rules cover:

• Leitweg-ID — Mandatory routing identifier for B2G invoices (format: 0204:xxxxx-xxxxx-xx). Missing or malformed Leitweg-IDs are the #1 rejection reason.
• Scheme IDs — Buyer and seller identifiers must use approved scheme codes (e.g., 0204 for Leitweg, 9930 for German VAT).
• Tax categories — German-specific tax category codes and rates must be valid.
• Payment means — Payment method codes must match the German subset of UNTDID 4461.
• Currency — While EN 16931 allows any ISO 4217 currency, XRechnung invoices to German public authorities typically require EUR.

Common XRechnung Rejection Errors

Based on Invoice Navigator's analysis of validation failures across thousands of German invoices:

1. BR-DE-1 — Missing Leitweg-ID (Buyer Reference) — 23% of rejections
2. BR-DE-15 — Invalid Buyer Reference format — 12% of rejections
3. BR-CL-10 — Invalid MIME code for attachments — 8% of rejections
4. BR-DE-18 — Missing payment information — 7% of rejections
5. BR-CO-15 — Invoice total calculation mismatch — 6% of rejections

Auto-Remediation for XRechnung

Invoice Navigator's auto-remediation engine fixes structural XRechnung errors while preserving financial integrity. The engine auto-remediates 89% of the top 50 rejection errors, including: missing Scheme IDs (added automatically), incorrect date formats (converted to ISO 8601), malformed attachment MIME codes, and missing optional-but-expected fields. Financial fields (amounts, VAT rates, IBANs) are never modified.

Validating XRechnung via API

Send your invoice to Invoice Navigator's REST API:

POST /api/v1/validate
Content-Type: application/xml
X-Target-Format: xrechnung

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Invoice xmlns="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2">
  ...
</Invoice>

The response includes validation status, all rule violations with severity levels, auto-remediated fields, and a link to the Evidence Pack. Average response time: under 500ms.