Holvi is your e-invoicing software
From 1 January 2025, anyone who is self-employed must be able to receive e-invoices. With the invoice features in Holvi, you’ll be ready for it.
- Send e-invoices
- Import e-invoices (from 2025)
- Directly in your business account
- No separate tool needed
Like fax – only better.
E-invoices will soon be mandatory
From January 2025, all companies and anyone who is self-employed in B2B business within Germany will have to accept e-invoices – with only a few exceptions such as for small-value invoices.
If you’re self-employed it might be hard to know what to expect: but when the first e-invoice arrives, you’ll at least need a suitable tool to open and check it. The invoice function in Holvi business accounts makes this possible.
The roadmap to e-invoicing
2020
Invoices to federal authorities can only be sent as e-invoices from 27 November 2020.
2025
From 1 January, all companies must be able to receive e-invoices. Transitional periods still apply for sending.
2027
Companies with a turnover of more than 800,000 euro can only send e-invoices in B2B business.
2028
E-invoice becomes fully mandatory: all companies can only send e-invoices in B2B business.
From 2025
Upload and display e-invoices in Holvi
From 2025, your business partners can send you e-invoices – and you will have to accept them!
With the e-invoice software in Holvi, you’ll be able to open and pay e-invoices received from 2025 onwards.
We are currently working on:
- Uploading e-invoice files to Holvi
- Displaying and checking invoice data
- Initiating payments in the business account
- Sending files to accounting via reports and connections
- Storing e-invoices in Holvi for 10 years in a GoDB-compliant way
Send e-invoices easily with Holvi
Sending e-invoices to companies is still voluntary until 2028. Invoices sent to federal authorities have needed to be e-invoices since 2020.
Holvi makes it easy for you to create e-invoices:
- Send electronic invoices directly to federal authorities or companies via our e-invoice partner network
- Or create an e-invoice as a PDF file in hybrid ZUGFeRD format with XML part (from 2025)
- Directly in your business account
- No need for a separate e-invoice program
- Fewer errors, so you get paid faster
- Real-time notifications about payments
Create XRechnung or ZUGFeRD
Sending an electronic invoice to the federal government or a company is simple.
This is how it works:
1. Write the invoice directly in Holvi
2. Select e-invoice as the dispatch method
3. Enter the recipient’s address (routing ID) and send
4. Alternatively, you can download or send in an email a hybrid PDF in ZUGFeRD format
Receive and send e-invoices
Without having to worry about the technical details
All-in-one account
Integrated e-invoice function in your Holvi account – just one login
Fair pricing
The Holvi Pro business account includes many e-invoices – at no extra cost!
E-invoicing keeps your books up to date
When all your e-invoicing is in your Holvi Pro account, your data syncs to income and expense reports for easy bookkeeping and cash flow control.
- Real-time VAT balance – Holvi’s VAT calculator lets you know what you owe, or what you can claim back!
- 30-day balance forecast – our smart graph shows a balance projection based on upcoming payments in and out
Your e-invoice software at a glance
- Upload, check and save received e-invoices in compliance with GoDB (from 2025)
- Write e-invoices in ZUGFeRD format (ideal for B2B invoices) or as XRechnung (standard for federal and local authorities)
- Fulfill e-invoicing obligations
- Stay informed about incoming payments in real time
- Up to 500 e-invoices included – at no extra cost
- Receive a sales tax preview in real time
‘I can e-invoice from Holvi quickly by choosing from my product inventory. Everything works together – payments, invoicing, accounting. And I get notified as soon as the invoice is paid. Clear and simple.’
Albert Virtanen, Marketing Consultant
Open a business account with
e-invoicing software
Get ready for e-invoicing: Test the Holvi Pro business account
including e-invoices for 30 days free of charge.
FAQs – Holvi e-invoicing
You can currently send e-invoices with Holvi. From 2025, you can also use Holvi to upload and display e-invoice files that you have received by email, for example.
The core of an e-invoice is a machine-readable XML file, which is almost impossible to read without the appropriate software. If you receive such an e-invoice, you will need an e-invoicing software.
There are also hybrid e-invoice formats that consist of a PDF view with an embedded machine-readable part. Only the machine-readable part is legally binding. E-invoice software is therefore also recommended in this case. With the e-invoice function in Holvi, you can easily display and validate this content.
With the Holvi Pro and Holvi Pro+ price models, you can send up to 500 e-invoices per month free of charge. Beyond that, we charge €0.50 per e-invoice sent according to our price and service list.
If you save and send a conventional invoice as a PDF, it is not yet an electronic invoice! To fulfill the mandatory e-invoicing towards authorities, you must create an electronic invoice with structured XML data, for example with the e-invoicing feature in Holvi. The only way to send electronic invoices is with an e-invoice programme, such as the one integrated in your Holvi account.
The requirement to send electronic invoices is based on EU Directive 2014/55/EU. On 4 April 2017, this directive was implemented by the German E-Invoice Act. On 6 September 2017, the E-Invoice Regulation was adopted. Since the Federal Government and states must already receive e-invoices, the obligation for contractors – i.e. companies and self-employed people – will now also come into effect on 27 November 2020. More information can be found in the German government’s FAQs on e-invoice regulation.
No. Whether your invoice recipient uses XRechnung or ZUGFeRD format doesn’t affect you, as the choice of format is made in the background. You simply enter the recipient’s address and click ‘Send’. Everything else takes care of itself.
The ‘X’ in XRechnung stands for the XML data it contains. XML is a machine-readable markup language (Extensible Markup Language).
ZUGFeRD stands for Zentraler User Guide des Forums elektronische Rechnung Deutschland.