XRechnung from Stripe invoices

Stripe creates invoices as PDFs. Since 2025, business customers in Germany can ask for a structured e-invoice, and from 2027 it becomes mandatory for many businesses. BelegDock adds the XRechnung to your Stripe invoices without you having to rebuild your billing: Stripe remains your invoicing system, and invoice numbers and amounts stay the same.

How it works

1. Connect Stripe. You connect your Stripe account by signing in with Stripe. BelegDock gets read-only access and writes nothing to your account.
2. Add your company details. Name, address, contact details and VAT ID or tax number. BelegDock compares them with the details on your Stripe invoices; if they differ, nothing is created.
3. Finalize the invoice. As soon as Stripe finalizes an invoice or credit note, BelegDock loads the complete document with all line items, taxes and discounts.
4. Create and validate the XRechnung. BelegDock writes the XRechnung in UBL format and has it checked by the official validator of KoSIT, the body that maintains the standard for Germany's federal and state governments. Only an accepted document moves on.
5. Send. Your customer receives an email with the unchanged Stripe PDF for reading and the XRechnung for further processing, in your design and from your sender address.

The status of every document is visible in the dashboard: waiting, validated, sent, delivered, or stopped with a reason. You can download the XML file and the validation report at any time.

What is taken from Stripe

• Invoice number, invoice date (finalization or Stripe's effective_at) and the service period of each line item
• Line items with quantity, unit price and discounts, including prorated subscription charges (prorations)
• Net or gross prices; gross prices are converted to net amounts as the EN 16931 standard requires and reconciled to the cent against Stripe's tax amounts
• VAT at 19% and 7%, several rates on one invoice, from Stripe Tax or manual tax rates
• Shipping costs, split across the tax rates of the goods
• Amounts already paid, payment terms, invoice description, footer and custom fields
• Stripe credit notes as corrective invoices that reference the original invoice

BelegDock does not calculate any tax itself. It checks whether Stripe's figures add up, and stops if even a single cent does not. There is no balancing line item that hides differences.

Reverse charge for EU services

When Stripe Tax charges a service to a business in another EU country under the reverse-charge procedure, the XRechnung gets VAT category AE, both VAT IDs and the note "Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers" (reverse charge). Requirement: Stripe has confirmed your customer's VAT ID through VIES. If the VAT ID is only entered but not confirmed, BelegDock stops the document. The EC Sales List (Zusammenfassende Meldung) remains your responsibility.

The buyer reference

XRechnung requires a buyer reference (BT-10): the order number, cost center or Leitweg-ID under which your customer files invoices. Enter it in Stripe as the metadata field buyer_reference on the invoice before you finalize it. BelegDock never makes up a reference.

What is not supported

Cases that cannot be derived reliably from Stripe's data are stopped by BelegDock with a reason, instead of sending a wrong e-invoice. These include currencies other than the euro, deliveries of goods to other EU countries, customers outside the EU, customer credit balances, overpayments and small businesses under § 19 UStG (Kleinunternehmer). The full list is on the scope page.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need new invoicing software for this? No. Subscriptions, invoices, number sequences and payments stay in Stripe.

Does my customer get two invoices? No. They get one invoice in two forms: the Stripe PDF and the XRechnung, with the same number and the same amounts. For your customer's accounting, the XML is what counts.

What about invoices I have already finalized? BelegDock processes invoices that are finalized after you connect.

And ZUGFeRD? For Stripe invoices, BelegDock creates an XRechnung, because the Stripe PDF stays unchanged. ZUGFeRD PDFs are available for invoices that BelegDock issues itself through the invoice API.