Configuring ZUGFeRD E-Invoices

To support enterprise and public e-invoicing, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management can prepare electronic invoices.

Be aware that there are various e-invoice formats, distribution channels, and operators. As of v2.119, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management can produce electronic invoices in the ZUGFeRD/Factur-X format.

ZUGFeRD concepts

ZUGFeRD is a hybrid electronic invoice format: a regular PDF that a human can read, with the same invoice data embedded inside as structured XML.

JustOn Billing & Invoice Management generates ZUGFeRD 2.x/Factur-X aligned with the EN 16931 semantic model (ZUGFeRD catalog 3.0.1). It first renders the PDF/A-3 document (using the JustOn PDF service v3), then embeds the CII XML to form the final ZUGFeRD file. The content version type of the produced ZUGFeRD file is E-Invoice.

A ZUGFeRD file is a single PDF/A-3 document that contains:

the visual invoice (rendered from a Liquid template),
an embedded XML file (factur-x.xml) carrying the structured invoice data in UN/CEFACT Cross-Industry-Invoice (CII) syntax,
metadata declaring conformance level, version, and the embedded filename.

To correctly create ZUGFeRD files, the following conditions must be met:

PDF renderer v3
v3 Liquid template
E-invoice distribution channel Email

Prerequisites

Business entity: To create ZUGFeRD files with JustOn Billing & Invoice Management, you must properly set up your business entity as described in Preparing Business Entity.
Common e-invoice setup: Before configuring ZUGFeRD e-invoices, make sure to complete the common e-invoice setup.

Preparing Template

The base PDF must be produced by the JustOn PDF service v3. Older renderers (v1/v2) do not produce a PDF/A-compatible base, where the XML cannot be embedded.

Preparing a template to use the JustOn PDF service v3 involves the following steps:

Create a new template, clone an existing template, or open an existing template.

JustOn Billing & Invoice Management ships three default v3 (Liquid) invoice templates – one each for English (DefaultV3EN), German (DefaultV3DE) and French (DefaultV3FR) with a corresponding Liquid file attached. You can use them as a model or reference when defining your own template according to your use case and corporate identity.
In the Layout & Design section, click next to the PDF Renderer field and specify the value v3.

If you have cloned one of the default v3 templates, the PDF renderer is already set to v3.
Optionally, adjust PDF rendering options.

In the Layout & Design section, click next to the PDF Options field and specify options for the PDF output as required. The field value is in JSON notation, like
```
{
    "locale":"de-DE", 
    "currencyDisplay": "code"
}
```
Click Save to apply your template customization.

Enabling Invoices to Use ZUGFeRD

To produce ZUGFeRD or Factur-X e-invoices, invoices must must meet the following conditions:

Invoice Field	Required Value	Notes
E-Invoice Format	`ZUGFeRD`
E-Invoice Distribution Channel	`Email`	ZUGFeRD files can only be distributed by email.
Email File Types	`E-Invoice`	Sets the ZUGFeRD file as a mandatory email attachment.

The three fields must be populated correctly for the ZUGFeRD/Factur-X e-invoice generation and distribution to work. Invoices on which one of the values is missing or wrong will not produce ZUGFeRD/Factur-X e-invoices, or the distribution will fail.

The ON field mechanism is a likely option for having the e-invoice-specific fields set automatically when generating invoices. To make use of the ON field mechanism, you set the fields ON_EInvoiceDistributionChannel and ON_EInvoiceFormat on the invoice source object:

Click to enter Setup, then navigate to the object management settings of the invoice source object.
Click Fields & Relationships.

Create the following new fields.

API Name	Data Type	Required Value
ON_EInvoiceDistributionChannel	Formula(Text) Text(255) Picklist	`Email`
ON_EInvoiceFormat	Formula(Text) Text(255) Picklist	`ZUGFeRD`
ON_EmailFileTypes	Text(255) Formula(Text)	`E-Invoice`

For details, see Preparing E-Invoice Source Data and Email Attachments.