Receive & validate e-invoices

What happens to every incoming document

1. 1 · Security checkFile size, format, XXE/DTD defense — manipulated files are rejected before anything is processed.
2. 2 · ValidationFull EN 16931 check with the same engine as on the outbound side. Valid documents → archive; faulty ones → quarantine with the specific error codes.
3. 3 · Duplicate detectionSame supplier, same invoice number? The second upload is rejected (409) — no double posting, no double payment.
4. 4 · Pre-accountingCoolHanX proposes a tax category and SKR account — learned from your earlier decisions. Only what you confirm is applied.
5. 5 · Anomaly checkAn unusually high amount from a regular supplier? A deviating currency? Negative totals? Such documents are flagged for review — purely advisory, the decision is yours.
6. 6 · Processing statusEvery document carries „unprocessed/processed“ — nothing slips through, and the cockpit shows open items at a glance.

From intake to payment — the recommended flow

1. Check the cockpit: „Unprocessed“ shows new valid documents. 2. Open the document: review the visual view and the pre-accounting proposal, note the anomaly markers. 3. Confirm the category (one click, learns as it goes). 4. Authorize payment in your banking — the checked IBAN and amount are in the document. 5. Mark as processed. At month’s end everything goes to the firm together via EXTF — the whole cycle takes under a minute per document.

Quarantine instead of silent errors

Faulty incoming invoices don’t disappear and are not „somehow posted anyway“: they sit in quarantine, with the file name and the EN 16931 error codes. This lets you ask the supplier precisely for a correction — and gives you the evidence for why a document was not processed.

From practice

A trading company started receiving the first XRechnungen from its major suppliers in January 2025. Before: XML attachments no one could open. With CoolHanX: upload, automatic validation, pre-accounting proposal, monthly handover to the tax advisor — and two duplicates that the software caught before they were paid twice.

Frequently asked questions

Why receiving is an input-VAT question

Receiving is not just a formality: from a proper incoming invoice you derive your input VAT deduction (§15 UStG). If a mandatory detail is missing or the invoice is formally faulty, the input VAT deduction can be at risk — in the worst case only years later during a tax audit. That is why CoolHanX checks every incoming document against EN 16931 and the BR-DE rules and records the validation report in an audit-proof way: you see immediately whether a document is eligible for input VAT, instead of hoping so.

Retention of incoming documents — GoBD applies in both directions

The eight-year, immutable retention in the original format (§147 AO, GoBD) expressly covers incoming invoices too. An email folder or a printout is not sufficient: what counts is the structured XML in the original. CoolHanX places every valid incoming document into the WORM archive with a checksum and timestamp — and quarantine, too, remains as evidence of why a document was not processed.

ZUGFeRD intake: the XML is authoritative

If you receive a ZUGFeRD invoice (a PDF with embedded XML), CoolHanX extracts the XML and validates it like any XRechnung — because legally and for accounting purposes it is the structured data set that counts, not the pretty PDF view. If PDF and XML differ, the XML prevails; the PDF remains visible as an attachment.

The recommended monthly rhythm

In practice many businesses batch their intake weekly: open „Unprocessed“ in the cockpit, check the pre-accounting proposal and anomaly markers, confirm the category (the system learns as it goes), mark as processed. At month’s end everything goes to the firm together via a DATEV posting batch — a closed, traceable cycle with no lost documents.

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