E-INVOICE - How to detect and handle failed invoices

Sending invoices

While using E-INVOICE DE, a failed outgoing e-invoice can be reported in three places, depending on where it failed. Check them in this order:

• the API response
• the TRANSACTION::INVOICE Record 
• the E_INVOICE::TRANSMISSION Record

A TRANSACTION::INVOICE in state COMPLETED does not by itself mean the invoice was sent. Always check its logs too. Log entries with "severity": "ERROR" mean the invoice was not processed. WARNING entries are informational only.

Step 1: Check the API response

If the request doesn't match the API schema, for example a field with the wrong format or an empty value, it's rejected with HTTP 400 (E_BAD_REQUEST). The message names the field. No Record is created. Fix the request and send it again.

Example message:

"message": "request validation failed: Error at \"/content/operation\": ... Error at \"/document/references/buyer\": doesn't match schema due to: minimum string length is 1"

Step 2: Check the TRANSACTION::INVOICE Record

If the request is accepted (HTTP 200), the invoice content is checked against the rules of the chosen format. If a rule is not met, the Record still shows COMPLETED, but content.logs contains an ERROR entry and content.used_in is missing. The invoice was not generated or sent.

{
  "content": {
    "type": "TRANSACTION::INVOICE",
    "state": "COMPLETED",
    "mode": "FINISHED",
    "logs": [
      {
        "message": "invalid gobl invoice: ordering is required (BR-DE-15)",
        "severity": "ERROR"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Step 3: Check the E_INVOICE::TRANSMISSION Record

If there is no ERROR log, retrieve the transmission Record using content.used_in.id:

GET /records/{used_in.id}

• COMPLETED: the e-invoice was handed over for delivery. For email, there is no confirmation that it reached the recipient's inbox, and later bounces are not reported.
• FAILED: the e-invoice could not be generated or delivered, and it did not reach the buyer. The reason is in content.logs.

Common error messages

How to send a failed invoice again

An invoice that failed in step 2 or 3 was not issued and did not reach the buyer. Don't create a credit note (CORRECTION) for it. Send it again instead:

1. Fix the cause shown in the ERROR log, for example add the missing field or correct the recipient's email address. Change nothing else.
2. Create a new INTENTION::TRANSACTION.
3. Create a new TRANSACTION::INVOICE with the corrected payload and a new idempotency key. Keep the same invoice number, and if you set document.issued_at, keep its original value.

Receiving invoices

Incoming invoices are received over Peppol as Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 (see Receiving invoices for more details). Other document types, including XRechnung, are rejected by the Peppol network before they reach fiskaly, so no Record is created for them.

Each received invoice is stored as an E_INVOICE::RECEPTION Record in state COMPLETED. This confirms receipt, not that the content is correct: problems in a received invoice are not flagged on the Record. You can retrieve the XML of each received invoice for your own processing with:

GET /records/{reception_record_id}?compliance-artifact