The invoice arrives before the business is ready
In the trades the e-invoice does not arrive via a big IT project but through the back door: the plumbing wholesaler switches, the building-material dealer switches, suddenly XRechnung lie in the mailbox.
The business then has a problem it did not order. Since 1 January 2025 it must be able to receive and process these invoices — regardless of whether it ever writes an e-invoice itself.
Why “no ERP” need not be a disadvantage
Many trades businesses think they now need expensive industry software with all the trimmings. They do not.
Receiving is a clearly delimited task: accept, make readable, validate, approve, archive, hand to the tax advisor. A focused invoice intake is enough for that. Introducing a big ERP just to accept supplier invoices is like buying an excavator to dig a hole for a fence post.
The typical workflow in a trades business
Work happens on site, paper piles up in the office — or its digital equivalent. Realistic is a lean path: invoices land at a fixed address, are made readable and validated automatically, the boss or office staff approves them between two appointments on the phone, and at month-end everything goes bundled to the tax advisor.
No media break, no note chaos, no lost XML. That is feasible, even without your own accounting.
The interface to the tax advisor is the crux
Most trades businesses do not post themselves — the tax advisor does. Precisely that is why the hand-over decides the effort.
If the business delivers a complete, orderly package — original, preview, assignment — the firm saves time and the business saves queries. If it delivers a shoebox of PDFs, photos and XML files, it pays for the disorder in the end via the firm's bill.
What a trades business should do this week
Short and without an IT project:
- Set up a fixed invoice address and tell the most important suppliers.
- Make sure XRechnung are displayed readably and archived in the original.
- Name one person responsible for approval — with a deputy.
- Agree a uniform hand-over format with the tax advisor.
- Do not rush sending for now — secure intake first.