Australia — Peppol, ATO and the B2G mandate

Australia joined OpenPeppol in October 2019 jointly with New Zealand, under ATO and DTA governance. The B2G mandate took effect on 1 July 2022 for Commonwealth agencies; B2B remains voluntary but growing.

Regulatory timeline

• 25 February 2019 — Trans-Tasman e-Invoicing Arrangement. ANZ agreement between Australia and New Zealand to jointly adopt PEPPOL as a common e-invoicing framework.
• 30 October 2019 — OpenPeppol membership. ATO and MBIE (NZ) become Peppol Authorities for their respective jurisdictions.
• 22 May 2020 — Listing of the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 AU-NZ Customisation. Official publication of the ANZ profile adapted to GST and ABN/NZBN identifiers.
• 28 November 2020 — 5-day payment policy announcement. The Morrison government announces that Commonwealth agencies will pay Peppol invoices ≤ AUD 1M within 5 days from July 2022.
• 1 July 2022 — Commonwealth B2G mandate. The 100+ entities in the PGPA Act perimeter must be able to receive Peppol invoices, with the 5-day payment policy.
• 20 February 2024 — Peppol PINT. Progressive switch from Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 to Peppol PINT, the consolidated international standard; the aunz profile is one of the first to convert.
• 15 May 2024 — Federal Budget 2024-25. The Albanese government allocates AUD 23.3M over 4 years to extend Peppol adoption to SMEs (ATO Strategic Implementation Plan).
• 2025-2026 — B2B consultation. ATO and Treasury consult on a potential B2B receive mandate and digital reporting; no go-live date set.

Technical schema

The format mandated in B2G is Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 (UBL 2.1 EN 16931 compliant) with the AU-NZ customisation, identified by:

• Historical Peppol BIS CustomizationID: urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:3.0 or the AU-NZ version: urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#conformant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:billing:international:aunz:3.0.
• Peppol PINT CustomizationID (since 2024): urn:peppol:pint:billing-1@aunz-1.
• EndpointID scheme: 0151 (ABN AU) or 0088 (GS1 GLN).

Peppol PINT AU example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Invoice xmlns="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2"
         xmlns:cac="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonAggregateComponents-2"
         xmlns:cbc="urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonBasicComponents-2">
  <cbc:CustomizationID>urn:peppol:pint:billing-1@aunz-1</cbc:CustomizationID>
  <cbc:ProfileID>urn:peppol:bis:billing</cbc:ProfileID>
  <cbc:ID>INV-2026-0042</cbc:ID>
  <cbc:IssueDate>2026-05-16</cbc:IssueDate>
  <cbc:DueDate>2026-06-15</cbc:DueDate>
  <cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>380</cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>
  <cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>AUD</cbc:DocumentCurrencyCode>
  <cbc:BuyerReference>PO-789</cbc:BuyerReference>
  <cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
    <cac:Party>
      <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="0151">53004085616</cbc:EndpointID>
      <cac:PartyLegalEntity>
        <cbc:RegistrationName>Ediverse Demo Pty Ltd</cbc:RegistrationName>
        <cbc:CompanyID schemeID="0151">53004085616</cbc:CompanyID>
      </cac:PartyLegalEntity>
      <cac:PartyTaxScheme>
        <cbc:CompanyID>53004085616</cbc:CompanyID>
        <cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>GST</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme>
      </cac:PartyTaxScheme>
    </cac:Party>
  </cac:AccountingSupplierParty>
  <cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
    <cac:Party>
      <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="0151">98765432101</cbc:EndpointID>
      <cac:PartyLegalEntity>
        <cbc:RegistrationName>Commonwealth Agency Demo</cbc:RegistrationName>
        <cbc:CompanyID schemeID="0151">98765432101</cbc:CompanyID>
      </cac:PartyLegalEntity>
    </cac:Party>
  </cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
  <cac:TaxTotal>
    <cbc:TaxAmount currencyID="AUD">100.00</cbc:TaxAmount>
  </cac:TaxTotal>
  <cac:LegalMonetaryTotal>
    <cbc:PayableAmount currencyID="AUD">1100.00</cbc:PayableAmount>
  </cac:LegalMonetaryTotal>
</Invoice>

Submission flow

The flow follows the standard four-corner PEPPOL model: the supplier hands off at the outbound Access Point (AP), which queries the PEPPOL SML to discover the recipient's SMP, then routes AS4 to the inbound AP which delivers to the recipient agency.

┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐
│ AU supplier  │───>│ Peppol AP        │───>│ Commonwealth │
│ (ERP)        │UBL │ (Link4, Xero,    │UBL │ agency       │
│              │PINT│ MessageXchange…) │PINT│ (gateway)    │
└──────────────┘    └─────────┬────────┘    └──────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
                ┌──────────────────────────┐
                │ Peppol SMP / SML lookup  │  ← ABN scheme 0151
                │ + sync MLR receipt       │     within seconds
                └──────────────────────────┘

Accredited Access Points in Australia include Link4, Xero, MessageXchange, OFX, Storecove, Pagero. ATO maintains an official registry on the eInvoicing portal. The MLR (Message Level Response) acknowledgement is synchronous and confirms fourth-corner receipt within seconds.

Validation

• ATO — eInvoicing: ato.gov.au/.../einvoicing.
• List of accredited APs: ato.gov.au/.../getting-set-up-with-einvoicing.
• Peppol AU validator: Peppol PINT and BIS Billing 3.0 AU-NZ profiles available at itb.ec.europa.eu/invoice/upload.
• Peppol Authority AU charter: softwaredevelopers.ato.gov.au.

Common pitfalls

1. BIS Billing 3.0 vs PINT confusion. During the 2024-2026 transition, both profiles coexist. An AP that claims PINT support but receives a BIS 3.0 invoice must reformat or reject — behaviour to validate with the AP provider.
2. ABN scheme 0151 vs other schemes. Scheme 0151 is the official Peppol identifier for ABN. Setting 9931 (EU VAT) or 0088 (GLN) for an Australian recipient causes a SMP discovery failure.
3. GST 10% — single rate but 4 categories. Australian GST is 10% but four categories exist: GST applicable (Standard Rate), GST-free (health, education, finance), Input Taxed (residential rent, financial services), Out of Scope. The cac:TaxCategory/cbc:ID tag must map to S, Z, E, O respectively.
4. 5-day payment ≠ B2B obligation. The 5-day policy applies to payments by Commonwealth agencies, not to B2B issuance. European vendors often assume an issuance obligation that does not yet exist in Australia.
5. Parallel Single Touch Payroll Phase 2 reporting. For payroll, STP Phase 2 requires real-time reporting to ATO via Software Service Providers, in proprietary JSON. This is distinct from Peppol invoicing: do not conflate.

Cross-links

• PEPPOL — network used.
• EN 16931 — underlying semantic norm.
• UBL 2.1 — XML syntax.
• New Zealand — Trans-Tasman partner.
• Official sources: ato.gov.au, dta.gov.au, finance.gov.au.