Embedded XML Attachments for E-Invoices in Sales Pack

[hi-ko]

Starting 2027, in the EU even small organisations need to issue invoices electronically in accordance with the EN 16931 standard. Therefore, we are currently evaluating the use of EspoCRM to create and send our invoices.
However, depending on the business contract we also need to attach timesheets to the XML invoices. Has anyone already customized the Salespack so that “attached documents” (BT-125) can be included or is there already somthing like this on the roadmap?

[yuri]

Hi,

Currently in Sales Pack we have UBL implementation of EN 16931 E-Invoices. But the ZUGFeRD standard (which is PDF + XML attachment) requires CII. Hence, we would need to implement CII first. But it's not that trivial to do. It's something that we want to do in the future, but currently there's no timeline for this.

[hi-ko]

Hey yuri,
thanks for the prompt feedback!
My question was not about ZUGFeRD and to attach an xml invoice to a pdf. I meant the other way around to add binary attachments into the xml invoice. In Germany we can choose between EN 16931 (XRechung) and Zugferd/CII (Cross Industry Invoice), so EN 16931 would also fit.
Both variants support to attach additional document (e.g. time sheets) attached as base64 sting in a xml element. For EN 16931 that xml element is cac:AdditionalDocumentReference

Regardless of whether the invoice is created in accordance with EN 16931 or as a cross industry invoice, my question was whether anyone has already customized the sales module to add binary attachments into the electronic invoice or if this feature is on the roadmap since we need to generate time sheets and add them as AdditionalDocument. At least for public services there is no way to provide required additional documents independant from the xml.

[yuri]

You can do it by customizing the E-Invoice preparator. https://forum.espocrm.com/forum/deve...-in-sales-pack

The library we use supports invoice attachments with the 'addAttachment' method. It should be quite trivial to do.

Note that this customization way is bound to the used E-Invoicing library, we cannot guarantee that the API won't ever change.

[emillod]

Hi,
we already implemented support for ZUGFeRD format for Sales Pack invoices. We also have time tracker extension where you can track time. Since we already worked with sales pack, you can contact us through e-mail, maybe we'll be able to help you.