The Leitweg-ID (routing ID) enables the addressing and forwarding of the electronic invoice to the various invoice recipients:

The ID has the following structure:

Element 1 of the Leitweg-ID represents the state or federal government code.

• 01 Schleswig-Holstein
• 02 Hamburg
• 03 Lower Saxony
• 04 Bremen
• 05 North Rhine-Westphalia
• 06 Hesse
• 07 Rhineland-Palatinate
• 08 Baden-Wuerttemberg
• 09 Bavaria
• 10 Saarland
• 11 Berlin
• 12 Brandenburg
• 13 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• 14 Saxony
• 15 Saxony-Anhalt
• 16 Thuringia
• 99 Federation
  • 991 – direct federal administration or a constitutional body and receives electronic invoices via the ZRE.
  • 992 – indirect federal administration or federal state and receives electronic invoices via the OZG-RE.
  • 993 – indirect federal administration and receives electronic data via its own solution (neither ZRE nor OZG-RE).

Download: Leiweg-ID Specifikation: Version 2.0.2 – from 28.07.2021

The Leitweg-ID is specified in the standard XRechnung in the field BT-10 Buyer Reference and must be transmitted as mandatory information on every e-invoice.

If you submit your invoice to platforms such as ZRE or OZG-RE, it is mandatory to enter the Leitweg-ID in the “Buyer Reference” field (BT-10).

If you send the invoice directly to the client by e-mail, the use of the Leitweg-ID is optional. Clarify directly with the client whether the routing ID is required or not.

The invoice transmission to ZRE and OZG-RE can be done via:

• PEPPOL
• Email
• Upload

Peppol (“Pan-European Public Procurement Online”) refers to an infrastructure established in Europe and increasingly also internationally for the secure transmission of data in the context of electronic procurement.

Peppol enables automated sending, transmission, receipt and processing of electronic invoices.

The invoice sender should only establish a connection to the PEPPOL network or PEPPOL access point. The transmission of the invoice to the invoice recipient is automatic.

The Peppol network is used by the invoice receipt platforms ZRE and OZG-RE to enable suppliers as invoice senders to send electronic invoices automatically.