E-invoices in English and for customers abroad
You also invoice customers outside Germany and need invoices in English, with the right tax details, delivery terms and a bank account that suits the customer country? Language, delivery terms and bank account are set per customer or per country, and you choose the VAT treatment deliberately for each invoice.
How it works
Enter your VAT ID, optionally your EORI and AEO number, and any further bank accounts. For each bank account you enter countries in which it should additionally appear. Optionally switch on “Invoice language automatically by customer country”.
You choose the invoice language, German or English, per invoice, per business partner or in the import column “sprache”. With the profile switch it follows the country of the customer: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg get German, all other countries get English.
You choose whether it is an intra-Community supply, reverse charge, an export supply or a non-taxable transaction. The program does not choose this for you, but it checks the mandatory details for the treatment you chose.
Where needed, enter the delivery address, delivery terms (for example Incoterms) and the currency. For a foreign currency the official ECB rate is filled in for you.
The PDF is created in the chosen language. In the e-invoice data, the fixed texts about payment and tax exemption are then in English as well.
What exactly is supported
German and English
There are two invoice languages, no others. The language applies to the text of the PDF, the date format (14 Feb 2026) and the number format (1,234.50). If you use your own Word template you can store an English one as well and adjust the labels per language. Via the interface, English applies only with invoice.language: "en"; without it the invoice stays German.
Which texts become English
In an English invoice, the following are in English in the XML: the fixed sentences of the payment terms including the early payment discount sentence, the reason for the tax exemption, the reasons for discount, surcharge and allowance, the mandatory seller details, and notes on advance payments and seal. Your own texts, such as item descriptions, header text and delivery terms, stay exactly as you enter them. Codes stay unchanged.
Eight treatments to choose from
Standard, small business, reverse charge, intra-Community supply, other tax exemption under section 4 UStG, export supply to a third country, zero rate and not taxable (place of supply abroad). Each treatment writes the matching tax category into the XML, where provided the exemption code (for example VATEX-EU-IC) and the exemption reason, and a note into the PDF.
What each treatment requires
Intra-Community supply: the VAT ID of the customer. Reverse charge: the VAT IDs of seller and customer. Export supply: the VAT ID of the seller. Not taxable: a tax number or register number of the seller, because the program leaves the VAT ID out of this e-invoice, and the combination with XRechnung is not permitted. If something is missing, an error message appears before creation.
Delivery address and country of delivery
You enter a different delivery address in the invoice; it appears in the PDF and the XML. For an intra-Community supply without a delivery address of its own, the program writes the address of the customer into the XML as the place of delivery, because EN 16931 requires a country of delivery there.
Delivery terms, EORI, AEO
You enter delivery terms such as “FCA München (Incoterms 2020)” as free text (up to 300 characters), per invoice, as a default on the business partner or in the import column “lieferbedingungen”. In the XML they appear as a note with subject AAR. EORI and AEO numbers are stored in the profile and appear in the footer of the PDF, not in the XML.
An additional account for certain customer countries
Each company can have up to 30 bank accounts. For each one you enter countries in which it is shown in addition, for example NL, BE, LU. It then appears for customers in those countries on the invoice, in the XML as a second transfer account, on the payment page and in the seal. For credit notes and direct debits it is omitted.
Official rate filled in automatically
The invoice form offers 29 foreign currencies with an official ECB rate. If the exchange rate is missing, the ECB rate for the date of supply is filled in, as a daily rate or as a monthly average (corresponding to the VAT conversion rate of the German Federal Ministry of Finance). Source and rate date appear on the document, and you can enter a rate of your own. The VAT is also shown in euros.
Typical pitfalls with invoices abroad
Nobody chooses the VAT treatment for you
An invoice to a customer abroad with 0 % VAT under “Standard” is not created. The program points out that this would otherwise become a zero rate and names the suitable treatments: within the EU, intra-Community supply for goods and reverse charge for services; outside the EU, export supply for goods and “not taxable” with place of supply abroad for services. Which treatment applies for tax purposes is something you clarify with your tax adviser.
EU customers without a VAT ID
A tax-exempt intra-Community supply is only possible to businesses with a valid VAT ID. For an EU customer without a VAT ID and 0 % under “Standard”, the program asks you to add the number or correct the tax rate. Whether a stored number is valid is not checked when an invoice is created. For that there is the VAT ID check: it checks stored customer numbers regularly via EU VIES and reports it when a previously valid one becomes invalid.
Advance payment with intra-Community supply
An advance payment or instalment invoice with an intra-Community supply needs a delivery date in the e-invoice (BR-IC-11), otherwise recipient systems reject it. The program therefore asks for the expected period of supply, in the import in the columns “leistung_voraussichtlich” and “leistung_voraussichtlich_bis”.
Your own texts are not translated
Only fixed program texts follow the invoice language. Item descriptions, header and footer text and delivery terms that you enter yourself stay unchanged, so for English invoices you need English descriptions. The payment terms in the profile can be stored separately for German and English.
The automatic setting is off by default
The profile switch “Invoice language automatically by customer country” is initially switched off. A language setting on the business partner takes precedence over the automatic setting. Via the interface, an invoice without invoice.language stays German.
German and English only
Customers in France, Spain or Italy get English with the automatic setting, not their national language. There are no further invoice languages.
Foreign currency and exchange rate
If an issuer based in Germany does not invoice in euros, the VAT must also be shown in euros, and an exchange rate is mandatory for that. If no official rate can be retrieved, enter it by hand, otherwise the check rejects the invoice. Official rates exist only with the euro as tax currency.
Price
In the credit model an English invoice costs 1 credit, exactly as much as a German one. Surcharges apply only for optional extras such as your own Word template or the authenticity seal. Credits are available from EUR 9.00 net for 100 credits, they do not expire, and you start with 10 free credits.
Frequently asked questions: e-invoice in English
Can I create an invoice in English, and does the XML become English too?
Yes. You choose the invoice language per invoice, per business partner, via an import column or automatically by customer country. The PDF then appears in English. In the embedded XML, the fixed texts for payment terms, early payment discount, tax exemption, discount and surcharge are in English as well. Your own free texts stay unchanged, and codes such as VATEX-EU-IC do anyway.
How do customers abroad automatically receive English invoices?
Switch on “Invoice language automatically by customer country” in the profile. Customers outside Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg then receive English, unless the business partner has a language of its own. The same rule applies to imports; the column “sprache” takes precedence.
Which VAT treatment applies to my delivery abroad?
You decide that together with your tax adviser; the program does not take the tax assessment off your hands. You can choose intra-Community supply, reverse charge, export supply, not taxable, other tax exemption under section 4 UStG and zero rate. The program checks the mandatory details for each treatment and rejects an invoice with 0 % to a customer abroad as long as no treatment is chosen under “Standard”.
Where do I enter Incoterms, EORI number and place of delivery?
Incoterms go into the field for delivery terms on the invoice (free text, up to 300 characters), alternatively on the business partner or in the import column “lieferbedingungen”. You enter the EORI and AEO numbers in the profile; they appear in the footer of the PDF, not in the XML. You enter a different delivery address in the invoice; it appears in the PDF and the XML.
Can I show customers in certain countries a different bank account and invoice in a foreign currency?
Yes. For each bank account you store countries in which it additionally appears on the invoice, in the XML, on the payment page and in the seal. For foreign currencies the program fills in the official ECB rate, as a daily rate or monthly average depending on the profile setting, and shows source and rate date on the document.
Do I have to send customers abroad an e-invoice?
We do not give legal advice on that; it depends on the country of your customer. Technically the invoice is a PDF/A-3 with embedded XML according to EN 16931: your customer sees an ordinary PDF, and a system with e-invoicing capability reads the XML. Whether your customer requires a particular form is best clarified with them.
Further reading
E-invoices in English for your customers abroad
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