E-Invoicing in the EU: Country-by-Country Requirements (2026)
The three e-invoicing models in use across the EU, a table of every member state's public-sector and business-to-business requirements as published for 2026, and what Nordlet sends in each of them today.
In 2026 the EU has no single e-invoicing rule for trade between businesses. Italy, Poland, Romania, Belgium and Croatia require structured electronic invoices for domestic business-to-business sales; Germany and France are in the middle of phased mandates; Greece, Hungary, Spain and Portugal require invoice data to be reported to the tax authority in near real time; and the remaining member states require e-invoices only towards the public sector. All of this converges in 2030, when the VAT in the Digital Age package makes structured e-invoicing the default for cross-border trade inside the EU.
This article explains the three models that exist, then gives one table covering all 27 member states as published at the time of writing. National timetables have moved several times in the last two years, so treat every date as the published plan and check the administration's current page before you build to it.
What counts as an e-invoice
A PDF sent by email is not an electronic invoice in the legal sense. An e-invoice is issued, transmitted and received in a structured format that software can process without a person reading it. The EU reference for that structure is EN 16931, a semantic model of what an invoice contains, carried in one of two syntaxes: UBL 2.1 or UN/CEFACT CII. Country and network profiles (CIUS) narrow the standard for local use. Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is the profile most European exchange uses, and Peppol itself is the delivery network, not a format. The e-invoice glossary entry covers these definitions in more depth.
The three models
Post-audit, network delivery. The supplier sends the invoice straight to the buyer, usually over Peppol, and the tax authority sees nothing until it audits. Belgium's 2026 mandate, the Nordic public-sector systems, and most member states without a mandate work this way. The authority's control comes later, through the VAT return and the audit file.
Clearance. Every invoice passes through a government platform before or as it reaches the buyer, and the platform assigns it a reference. Italy's Sistema di Interscambio, Poland's KSeF and Romania's e-Factura are clearance systems. An invoice the platform has not accepted does not legally exist.
Real-time reporting. The invoice itself can be any format the parties agree, but its data must be reported to the tax authority within hours or days. Hungary's Online Számla, Spain's SII, Greece's myDATA and Portugal's billing communication are reporting systems. Several of them are now being extended into full e-invoicing mandates.
The distinction matters when you build: a clearance system can reject an invoice, so your issuing flow must handle a rejection after the number was assigned; a reporting system cannot, but it penalises late or missing reports.
What ViDA changes
Council Directive (EU) 2025/516, the VAT in the Digital Age package, entered into force on 14 April 2025.
- Already in effect: a member state may mandate domestic business-to-business e-invoicing without first asking the EU for a derogation. This is why national mandates accelerated through 2025 and 2026.
- From 1 July 2030: structured e-invoicing becomes the default for business-to-business supplies between member states, the buyer's acceptance is no longer required for a compliant e-invoice, and digital reporting of each transaction replaces the recapitulative statement (EU sales list). Domestic systems that exist by then must be made interoperable with the EU standard by 2035.
- From 2028: platforms facilitating short-term accommodation rental and passenger transport become deemed suppliers in a wider set of cases, with a member state option to defer to 2030. This is covered in our article on EU VAT for digital platforms.
The country table
B2G means invoices to public bodies. Under Directive 2014/55/EU every EU public authority has had to accept EN 16931 e-invoices since 2019 or 2020; the B2G column says whether suppliers are also required to send them. Each country name links to our developer guide for VAT in that country.
| Country | B2G | B2B mandate (as published) | Model and system | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Mandatory for federal suppliers since 2014 | None announced | Post-audit; Peppol available | ebInterface, Peppol BIS 3.0 |
| Belgium | Mandatory, phased since 2022 | Mandatory from 1 January 2026 between Belgian VAT-registered businesses; near-real-time reporting planned for 2028 | Post-audit; Peppol network | Peppol BIS 3.0 |
| Bulgaria | Authorities must accept | None announced | Post-audit | EN 16931 |
| Croatia | Mandatory since 2019 | Mandatory from 1 January 2026 between VAT payers, with e-reporting (Fiscalization 2.0) | Clearance and reporting; Porezna uprava CIS | EN 16931 UBL / CII |
| Cyprus | Authorities must accept | None announced | Post-audit | EN 16931 |
| Czechia | Authorities must accept | None announced | Post-audit | EN 16931, ISDOC in domestic use |
| Denmark | Mandatory since 2005 (NemHandel) | No general mandate; the Bookkeeping Act requires digital bookkeeping systems able to send and receive e-invoices, phased from 2024 | Post-audit; NemHandel and Peppol | OIOUBL, Peppol BIS 3.0 |
| Estonia | Mandatory since 2019 | No general mandate; since 1 July 2025 a buyer registered as an e-invoice recipient may demand one; a wider mandate has been discussed | Post-audit; operators and Peppol | Estonian e-invoice standard, EN 16931 |
| Finland | Mandatory since 2020 | No general mandate; since April 2020 a business buyer may demand an EN 16931 e-invoice | Post-audit; operators and Peppol | Finvoice, TEAPPSXML, Peppol BIS 3.0 |
| France | Mandatory since 2020 (Chorus Pro) | All companies must receive from 1 September 2026; issuing from 1 September 2026 for large and mid-size companies and 1 September 2027 for SMEs and micro companies, with e-reporting of other transactions | Approved platforms (PA/PDP) with a central directory; reporting to the tax authority | Factur-X, UBL, CII |
| Germany | Mandatory for federal suppliers since 2020; states vary | All businesses must receive since 1 January 2025; issuing mandatory from 2027 above €800,000 turnover and from 2028 for all | Post-audit for now; a reporting system is planned later | XRechnung, ZUGFeRD (EN 16931) |
| Greece | Mandatory, phased 2023 to 2025 | Invoice data reporting to myDATA mandatory since 2021; B2B e-invoicing being phased in from 2026, large taxpayers first | Real-time reporting moving to clearance; AADE myDATA | Greek CIUS (EN 16931), myDATA InvoicesDoc |
| Hungary | Authorities must accept | No e-invoice mandate; real-time invoice data reporting to NAV mandatory for all domestic invoices since 2020 and 2021 | Real-time reporting; NAV Online Számla 3.0 | NAV XML 3.0; EN 16931 optional |
| Ireland | Authorities must accept | A phased B2B e-invoicing and real-time reporting mandate has been announced to start in 2028 | Post-audit today; Peppol | Peppol BIS 3.0 |
| Italy | Mandatory since 2015 | Mandatory for B2B and B2C since 1 January 2019 | Clearance; Sistema di Interscambio (SdI) | FatturaPA XML |
| Latvia | Mandatory from 1 January 2025 | A B2B mandate is planned; the start date has been moved from 2026 | Post-audit; Peppol | Peppol BIS 3.0 |
| Lithuania | Mandatory through the national E.sąskaita platform | None announced | Post-audit; Peppol | Peppol BIS 3.0 |
| Luxembourg | Mandatory, phased 2022 to 2023 | None announced | Post-audit; Peppol | Peppol BIS 3.0 |
| Malta | Authorities must accept | None announced | Post-audit | EN 16931 |
| Netherlands | Mandatory for central government suppliers since 2017 | None announced; alignment with ViDA under consultation | Post-audit; Peppol | Peppol BIS 3.0, NLCIUS |
| Poland | Authorities must accept (PEF platform) | Mandatory from 1 February 2026 for large taxpayers and 1 April 2026 for all others | Clearance; Krajowy System e-Faktur (KSeF) | FA(3) XML |
| Portugal | Mandatory for suppliers, phased, with SME deadlines postponed | No structured-invoice mandate; certified invoicing software, QR code and ATCUD on every invoice, and monthly SAF-T billing communication are mandatory | Real-time reporting; AT e-fatura | SAF-T PT; CIUS-PT for B2G |
| Romania | Mandatory | Mandatory for B2B since 1 July 2024 and for B2C since 1 January 2025 | Clearance; RO e-Factura through ANAF SPV | UBL with CIUS-RO |
| Slovakia | Phased through the IS EFA platform | A B2B mandate has been announced for 2027 | Reporting through IS EFA planned | EN 16931 |
| Slovenia | Mandatory since 2015 (UJP) | A B2B mandate is planned; the start date has been moved to 2028 | Post-audit today | e-SLOG, EN 16931 |
| Spain | Mandatory since 2015 (FACe) | SII near-real-time VAT ledgers mandatory for large taxpayers since 2017; Veri*Factu certified invoicing systems from 2026 to 2027; a general B2B mandate awaits its implementing regulation | Real-time reporting; AEAT SII and Veri*Factu | Facturae, EN 16931 |
| Sweden | Mandatory since April 2019 | None announced; a government inquiry is under way | Post-audit; Peppol | Peppol BIS 3.0 |
How to read the table
- A clearance country decides whether your invoice exists. Build the issue flow so that the national reference (the SdI identifier, the KSeF number, the ANAF index) is stored on the invoice and the rejection path is handled.
- A reporting country wants the data on time. Build the report as a step after issue, with the deadline tracked per invoice.
- A post-audit country with a Peppol mandate wants the invoice to reach the buyer through the network. Build Peppol participant lookup into partner records.
- Every country in the table accepts EN 16931 from suppliers to public bodies, so Peppol BIS 3.0 is the one format that works everywhere for B2G.
What Nordlet sends today
Nordlet treats an invoice as structured data first and a document second, so each national format is a rendering of the same invoice, and each delivery goes out under the company's own credentials configured in Settings → Compliance.
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, everywhere. Issued invoices and credit notes render as EN 16931 UBL (credit notes as CreditNote documents with type code 381) and are sent through the company's own Peppol access point, or through the platform's built-in one when the company has none. Participant identifiers are derived from the partner's Peppol ID, VAT code or registration code, in that order.
National gateways. For a company registered in one of these countries, the e-invoice endpoints render the national format and deliver it to the national system:
| Country | System | What Nordlet renders and sends |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | Sistema di Interscambio | FatturaPA, delivered over the SdICoop SOAP channel with the company's certificate, or through its PEC mailbox |
| Poland | KSeF | FA(3), validated against the official schema, sent to the KSeF API 2.0 with the company's credentials |
| Romania | RO e-Factura | UBL with the CIUS-RO customization, sent to the ANAF REST interface with the company's OAuth tokens |
| Hungary | NAV Online Számla 3.0 | Invoice data report in NAV XML, sent with the company's technical user |
| Greece | AADE myDATA | InvoicesDoc records, sent with the company's myDATA credentials |
| Croatia | Fiskalizacija | Fiscalisation request to the tax authority's CIS service over a two-way TLS connection |
| Spain | AEAT SII and Veri*Factu | SII ledgers of issued and received invoices, and Veri*Factu billing records |
| Portugal | AT e-fatura | SAF-T PT billing file communicated to the tax authority |
| France | Chorus Pro and approved platforms | Factur-X (CII) |
Every renderer returns warnings for anything the invoice data cannot supply, such as an Italian Natura code it had to infer from the VAT scheme or a Romanian county missing from the address, instead of inventing a value that would pass validation and be wrong. Each send is recorded in the audit log with the national reference and status, and the invoice carries the gateway's state so a rejection can be acted on.
Everywhere else, Nordlet sends Peppol. No national gateway is registered for a country that has no clearance or reporting system, because there is nothing to send to.
Nordlet never registers itself with an administration as a sender or intermediary. The certificates, tokens and technical users belong to the company, which is how the mandates above are written.
FAQ
Is business-to-business e-invoicing mandatory across the EU in 2026?
No. In 2026 it is mandatory for domestic trade in Italy, Poland, Romania, Belgium and Croatia, phased in Germany, France and Greece, and not required in the other member states. Invoice data reporting is separately mandatory in Hungary, Spain (large taxpayers) and Portugal. The EU-wide default for cross-border trade arrives on 1 July 2030 under ViDA.
Does a PDF invoice count as an e-invoice?
Not under a national mandate, and not under the VAT Directive from 1 July 2030. An e-invoice must be in a structured format that software can process. A PDF with an embedded XML file, such as Factur-X or ZUGFeRD, does count, because the XML is the invoice.
What is the difference between Peppol and KSeF or SdI?
Peppol is a delivery network: the invoice goes from the supplier's access point to the buyer's access point and the tax authority is not involved. KSeF and SdI are clearance platforms run by the tax authority: the invoice is sent to the platform, which accepts or rejects it and passes it to the buyer. A company in Poland or Italy must use the national platform for domestic invoices; Peppol remains useful for cross-border and public-sector invoices.
Do I need a different system for each country?
Not if the system treats formats as renderings of one invoice. The data an EN 16931 invoice needs is the same everywhere; what differs is the syntax, the national extensions and the delivery channel. Nordlet renders Peppol BIS 3.0 for every company and the national format for the nine countries with a clearance or reporting system.
What should I do if my country's date in the table has changed?
Check the administration's own page and build to that. Several timetables in this table have already moved once (Latvia, Slovenia, Spain, Portugal), and more will move before 2030. The date at the top of this article shows when the table was last revised.