+ 49 721 50 955 0
e-Invocing with VDA 4938
The German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) was founded in 1901 by German automotive companies and was one of the first associations to develop its own EDI formats. Over the course of time, already established standards had to be adapted in order to comply with new tax and legal requirements. These requirements were supposed to be achieved by introducing VDA 4938.
About the association
The VDA represents the association interests in public and also takes responsibilty for the standardization of various logistics processes. The development of uniform message standards that meet the special requirements of participants in the automotive industry began in 1977 even before the EDIFACT standard was developed.
About the standard
Compared to EDIFACT and X12, the VDA standard uses so-called fixed-length format elements with constant length instead of segments or separators. If a data record does not have the required length, blanks are used to close the existing gaps.
Do you already know our e-Invoicing eBook?
Message Types
VDA standards have been defined for a large number of different processes including inquiries, offers, delivery call-offs, delivery notifications, incoming messages, outgoing messages, dispatch data and other data transmissions. Each VDA message standard has a unique identification number with four digits. The file format 4905, for example, is a delivery forecast.
Among the best known standards are VDA 4906 (remote data transmission of invoices) and VDA 4908 (remote data transmission of credit notes). However, the use of these two standards is not recommended due to their age. Instead, the e-invoice standard VDA 4938 should be used. By developing VDA 4938, invoices and credit notes follow a uniform structure. Using VDA 4938 also referred to the requirements of applicable legal and tax requirements.
VDA 4938
VDA 4938 can be divided as a message standard into four different components.
- Part 1: Guidelines for the design of electronic exchange processes by EDIFACT. Recommendations, guidelines, model agreements and checklists for the integration of partners
- Part 2: Defines the actual EDI specifications or implementation guideline based on EDIFACT INVOIC D07A
- Part 3: Use of an XML specification for the integration of small and medium-sized companies in the automotive industry
- Part 4: Specification for mapping freight invoices based on EDIFACT INVOIC D13A
- Part 5: Standardized exchange of messages and warnings in case of errors
Learn more about the INPOSIA e-Invoicing solution
Muzaffer Havcarci
INPOSIA e-invoicing Specialist
