Structured e-invoices by email for buyers that are not on Peppol

Not every buyer who needs a structured e-invoice is on Peppol. Some mandates don't prescribe a channel: in Germany, for example, an XRechnung or Peppol BIS invoice sent by email counts as an e-invoice for domestic B2B, and a PDF does not. Other buyers simply want the XML, so their accounting software can import the invoice instead of someone typing it over from a PDF. You can now send these buyers a structured e-invoice by email, on its own or as a fallback for Peppol.

What changedCopy Anchor Link

• Structured documents by email: On a send with recipient: null, set doctypeId to the format you want, such as Peppol BIS 3, or XRechnung for German buyers (see the German formats guide). The invoice is written in that format, validated as it would be for a Peppol recipient, stored with the document, and attached to the email as XML, next to the PDF when you generate or attach one. A document that fails validation is refused with a 400 that lists what to fix. Without doctypeId, the email carries the PDF as before.
• Buyer's electronic address: An e-invoice names the buyer's electronic address. Without a Peppol recipient, Recommand takes it from buyer.enterpriseNumber with enterpriseNumberScheme, else buyer.vatNumber (with its country prefix), else the first address in email.to. Peppol BIS does not accept an email address there, so for a buyer without a usable VAT or company number, choose a format that does, such as XRechnung or CII.
• Email fallback without a Peppol attempt: When Peppol confirms that a buyer is not registered, the email fallback goes out straight away, with the XML attached, and the Peppol delivery reports recipient_not_found, so you can see why the invoice went by email.
• French regulated invoices cannot be sent by email only: they have to go through an accredited platform over Peppol.

Why this mattersCopy Anchor Link

You can reach every business customer, on Peppol or not, with a structured e-invoice through one API call. Address the buyer on Peppol, for example by its VAT number, and add an email address: buyers on Peppol receive the invoice over Peppol, and the others receive it by email with the XML, without you checking first who is on Peppol.

What you need to doCopy Anchor Link

Nothing, unless one of these applies:

• You already pass doctypeId on email-only sends, for example the default Peppol BIS 3 identifier. Those invoices are now validated and the email carries the XML as well. A Peppol BIS invoice for a buyer without a usable VAT or company number is refused with a 400: add the number, or leave doctypeId out to keep sending a PDF only.
• You act on delivery failures. A send to an address that is not on Peppol now reports recipient_not_found, where it used to report transport. Without email delivery, the response stays a 422, and its message now says the recipient is not registered on Peppol.

The email delivery guide covers both routes in detail, and the German getting started guide shows them for German buyers.