XRechnung

This crate provides functionality to create invoices in the XRechnung format.

XRechnung is a German standard for electronic invoicing, which is based on the EN 16931 standard. It is used by public authorities in Germany to receive and process electronic invoices and is one of the allowed standards for electronic invoicing in Germany.

XRechnung documents can be created in the UBL (Universal Business Language) or (Cross Industry Invoice) CII format, which are both XML-based formats. This crate provides functionality to create XRechnung documents in the UBL format.

Limitations

• the focus is on creating invoices for freelancers and only the needed subset of the XRechnung standard is implemented
• right now, only hourly rate invoices are supported
  • all invoice items are billed as an amount in hours at an hourly rate
  • it is planned to extend the crate to support other items like travel or hardware expenses as well
• invoices are only created in the UBL format

Example

// load the configuration for a specific client from the configuration file
letconfig=xrechnung::config::load("examples/config.toml","Client Company")?;// create invoice metadata from the configuration, invoice number and dates
letbill=xrechnung::data::Bill::new("2025-0001".to_string(),// invoice number
chrono::NaiveDate::from_ymd_opt(2025,1,31).unwrap(),// issue date of the invoice
Some(xrechnung::data::Period{start: chrono::NaiveDate::from_ymd_opt(2025,1,1).unwrap(),// billing period usually ends on the issue date
end: chrono::NaiveDate::from_ymd_opt(2025,1,31).unwrap(),}),&config,);// create some invoice hours elements
// those elements could also be read from a CSV file or other data source
letinvoice_hours=vec![xrechnung::data::InvoiceLineElement{name: "Example Service".to_string(),quantity: 7.0,value: 110.0,date: Some("2025年01月02日".to_string()),},xrechnung::data::InvoiceLineElement{name: "Another Service".to_string(),quantity: 6.5,value: 110.0,date: Some("2025年01月03日".to_string()),},];// create XML structure for the invoice from the supplier, buyer, invoice metadata and invoice hours
letxml_root=xrechnung::create(config.supplier,config.buyer,bill,invoice_hours,None)?;// finally write the XML structure to a file
xrechnung::write("invoice.xml",&xml_root)?;

You need to provide a TOML configuration file like this (also available at xrechnung/examples/config.toml):

currency = "EUR"
vat_percent = 19.0
[supplier]
name = "Hans Muster"
tax_identification = "DE123456789"
phone = "+4932123456789"
email = "mail@supplier.example.com"
iban = "DE12345678111111111100"
bic = "DABCDEFFXXX"
[supplier.address]
address_line = "Supplier Street 1"
city = "Example City"
post_code = "54321"
country_code = "DE"
[[buyer]]
name = "Client Company"
tax_identification = "DE111111111"
email = "mail@client1.example.com"
reference = "12345"
due_after_days = 20
[buyer.address]
address_line = "Example Street 42"
city = "Example City"
post_code = "54321"
country_code = "DE"
[[buyer]]
name = "Another Client"
tax_identification = "DE111111111"
email = "mail@client2.example.com"
reference = "12349"
due_after_days = 30
[buyer.address]
address_line = "Another Street 10"
city = "Example City"
post_code = "54321"
country_code = "DE"

Command Line Application

This repository also contains a command line application for generating XRechnung files. It supports the following parameters:

Command line tool to create an XRechnung invoice from a CSV file with invoice hours
Usage: xrechnung_cmd [OPTIONS] --invoice-id <INVOICE_ID> --config <CONFIG> --buyer <BUYER> --issue-date <ISSUE_DATE> --invoice-hours <INVOICE_HOURS> --output <OUTPUT>
Options:
 -i, --invoice-id <INVOICE_ID> The unique number of the invoice
 -c, --config <CONFIG> Config file that provides supplier and buyer information
 -b, --buyer <BUYER> Buyer of the invoice
 -d, --issue-date <ISSUE_DATE> Issue date of the invoice
 -l, --invoice-hours <INVOICE_HOURS> CSV file that contains invoice lines of type 'billed hours'
 --invoice-others <INVOICE_OTHERS> CSV file that contains invoice lines of type 'other'
 -o, --output <OUTPUT> Output XML file for the invoice to be written
 -h, --help Print help
 -V, --version Print version

The invoice hours CSV file (also available at xrechnung_cmd/examples/invoice-lines.csv) could look like this then:

date,name,quantity,hourly_rate2025年01月02日,Example Service,7.0,110.02025年01月03日,Another Service,6.5,110.0