Many invoicing solutions advertise Factur-X support, but compliance depends on more than generating a PDF with embedded XML.
Few actually pass all three validation levels.
The three levels
Factur-X conformity requires passing all of these:
- XSD validation: the XML structure is syntactically correct
- Schematron validation: EN16931 business rules are respected
- PDF/A-3 validation: the PDF document is archivable with the XML correctly embedded
Where most solutions fail
PDF/A-3 is often the real challenge.
Many PDF generators produce valid-looking invoices but do not generate a PDF that fully satisfies the PDF/A-3 requirements expected by Factur-X.
The XML can be perfectly structured. The invoice can still be rejected.
The combination that works
- mPDF generates the invoice PDF
- factur-x (Python) injects the EN16931 XML and produces a compliant PDF/A-3 document
Result: XSD ✅ Schematron ✅ PDF/A-3 ✅
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