E-Invoice Studio: XRechnung & ZUGFeRD from Excel or CSV

About the E-Invoice Studio: XRechnung & ZUGFeRD from Excel or CSV

Turn an Excel or CSV list into e-invoices: XRechnung (UBL or CII), a ZUGFeRD / Factur-X PDF (profile EN 16931, or with an XRechnung inside) or UBL to EN 16931 — one file per invoice, all in one ZIP with a check report per file and an overview of the batch. The studio maps your columns (and remembers the mapping), groups the rows into invoices, numbers them from your own numbering series and checks every written file with the same rules as the XRechnung validator.

It keeps what a business needs for the next run in this browser: your company details and bank account, saved customers (with Leitweg-ID and preferred format) and saved items, the register of issued invoices with one-click credit notes, and a backup file to carry everything to another device. Nothing is uploaded.

Common uses

• Freelancers and small firms that write their invoices in Excel and need them as XRechnung or ZUGFeRD once e-invoicing is compulsory.
• Bakeries, wholesalers and services that bill deliveries once a month: one collective invoice per customer from the delivery list.
• Suppliers of public bodies with many Leitweg-IDs: saved customers get XRechnung with the right ID every time.
• Moving an export from a shop or an older invoicing program into e-invoices, with a check report for every file.

Preparing the sheet

• One row per line item: item (Bezeichnung), quantity, unit, net unit price and VAT rate. Rows with the same invoice number form one invoice; a row with an empty number belongs to the invoice above.
• Customers by number or name. With a customer number only, the name, address, VAT ID, Leitweg-ID, e-mail and format come from the saved customers; values in the sheet take precedence. The same goes for items and their number.
• Numbers and dates as you write them: 1.234,56 or 1,234.56 (detected, or chosen), 06.10.2026 or 2026-10-06; Excel date cells are read as dates.
• VAT as 19, 7 %, 0,07 or as a category: AE or Reverse Charge, K (intra-EU supply), G (export), E or steuerfrei, O (not subject to VAT). A bare 0 is refused, because it does not say which of these applies.
• Units such as Stk, Std, Tag, kg, m², pauschal, or a UN/ECE code (HUR, H87, LS).
• Optional columns: document type (Rechnung, Rechnungskorrektur, Korrektur, Abschlagsrechnung), the invoice referred to, order number, delivery date or period, due date, discount per line, shipping, a note, and a line amount that is compared with quantity × price.

Numbering, register and credit notes

• A numbering series is a pattern such as RE-{YYYY}-{NNNN}; with {YYYY} every year starts at 1. Invoices and credit notes have their own series. Numbers from the sheet can be kept instead.
• Numbers are taken only by invoices without errors, in the order of the sheet, so a failed row never leaves a gap; numbers already in the register are skipped.
• The register lists every downloaded invoice. Running the same sheet again on the same day gives the same invoices their old numbers instead of new ones.
• Rechnungskorrektur erstellen prepares a credit note (type 381) for the whole invoice, with the original invoice’s number and date (BG-3). In everyday German it is often called a Gutschrift; in VAT law a Gutschrift means an invoice issued by the buyer (self-billing), which the studio does not make.

Germany: which format for whom

From 1 January 2027 businesses with more than €800,000 turnover in the previous year must issue e-invoices to other businesses in Germany, from 1 January 2028 all others (small amounts up to €250 gross and small businesses are among the exceptions); receiving them is already required. XRechnung and ZUGFeRD from version 2.0.1 qualify, except the MINIMUM and BASIC-WL profiles; the XML is the invoice, and in a ZUGFeRD PDF the embedded XML counts where it differs from the page. Public bodies usually ask for XRechnung with their Leitweg-ID. Source: the BMF’s questions and answers on e-invoicing.

Belgium, France and the UK

• Belgium requires structured e-invoices between VAT-registered businesses, exchanged through the Peppol network (einvoice.belgium.be). The studio’s UBL (EN 16931) has the right structure, but Peppol BIS Billing adds rules that are not all checked here, and sending needs a Peppol access point.
• France routes e-invoices between businesses through platforms approved by the tax administration (plateformes agréées): every business must be able to receive them, large and mid-sized companies issue them already, and small and micro businesses must issue them from 1 September 2027 (impots.gouv.fr). The formats are UBL, CII or a mixed format of structured data and a readable image, such as Factur-X (impots.gouv.fr); French particulars such as the SIREN number are not checked here, and the file has to go through your platform.
• United Kingdom: the government has announced that all VAT invoices must be issued as e-invoices from 2029, and public bodies covered by the Procurement Act 2023 must already accept e-invoices that comply with EN 16931 (gov.uk).

Kurz auf Deutsch

Das E-Invoice Studio macht aus einer Excel- oder CSV-Tabelle viele E-Rechnungen auf einmal: XRechnung (UBL oder CII), ZUGFeRD-PDF oder UBL, jede Datei mit eigenem Prüfbericht, alle in einer ZIP-Datei. Spalten werden erkannt und die Zuordnung gespeichert; Rechnungen entstehen je Rechnungsnummer, je Zeile oder als monatliche Sammelrechnung je Kunde. Kunden, Artikel, Nummernkreise und das Rechnungsregister mit Rechnungskorrekturen bleiben in diesem Browser; eine Sicherungsdatei nimmt alles mit. Die Prüfung ist eine Basisprüfung, keine rechtliche Validierung. Für eine einzelne Rechnung gibt es den XRechnung-Generator.

Limitations

• The checks are basic checks, not a legal validation: MySmartCoPilot’s own implementation of the EN 16931 rules plus the XRechnung rules after KoSIT. A receiver’s validator has the final word.
• The studio makes files; it does not send them: no e-mail, no Peppol, no French platform, no upload to public portals. There is no DATEV export; the overview and the register are CSV files that many programs can import.
• An e-invoice is issued by the supplier. Turning invoices you received into XML does not make them e-invoices of your supplier.
• One seller per browser, invoices in euros, net unit prices; no attachments (BG-24), no payee or tax representative, no item identifiers such as GTIN. Up to 1,000 invoices and 5,000 rows per run.
• Settings, customers, items and the register are kept in this browser’s storage, which is limited and can be cleared; download a backup now and then. The register does not replace keeping the invoice files themselves.
• The ZUGFeRD PDFs are written as PDF/A-3 but are not certified here by a PDF/A validator. The PDFs draw Latin script; other characters appear as “?” and are listed.

Privacy

Your sheet, your customers and your invoices are read and made in your browser and are not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot. Settings, customers, items, column mappings and the register stay in this browser’s local storage until you delete them (Einstellungen → Alle Daten des Studios löschen) or clear the site’s data.