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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

EU e-invoicing roadmap 2025-2030

Between 2025 and 2030, Europe enters the industrialisation phase of B2B electronic invoicing. This page summarises the ViDA framework voted in 2025, the national timelines unfolding in parallel, and the structuring role PEPPOL plays in this shift.

The ViDA framework (VAT in the Digital Age)

The ViDA directive — VAT in the Digital Age — was proposed by the European Commission in December 2022 and formally adopted by the Council on 11 March 2025 after several negotiation cycles snagging on the calendar. The ViDA package rests on three pillars:

  • e-invoicing & digital reporting mandatory for intra-EU transactions, with near-real-time VAT reporting to the tax administration. Imposed format: EN 16931. Cross-border obligation effective date: 1 July 2030.
  • Platform economy: short-stay (Airbnb, Booking) and ride-sharing (Uber, Bolt) platforms become liable for VAT when the underlying providers are not. Phased entry into force 2028-2030.
  • Single VAT Registration: extension of the OSS/IOSS one-stop-shop to reduce multiple VAT registrations within the EU. Phased entry into force 2027-2030.

For EDI stakeholders, the first pillar matters most: from July 2030, every intra-EU B2B invoice must be issued in EN 16931 format and declared to the tax administration within a short delay (negotiated around two business days, settled at 10 days from the chargeable event).

Clearance (CTC) vs post-audit Two models. Under clearance, the tax authority validates the invoice in real time between supplier and buyer. Under post-audit, the invoice flows directly and the authority only receives periodic reports. ① Clearance / CTC — real time Supplier Tax authority validates · stamps an ID Buyer ② Post-audit — after the fact Supplier Buyer invoice direct Tax authority periodic report
Under clearance (Italy’s SdI, Latin America) the authority is in the loop in real time: no clearance, no invoice. Under post-audit (pre-ViDA Europe) the invoice flows freely and the tax office checks later via returns and SAF-T.

Country-by-country agenda

Italy — SdI, the pioneer (2014)

Italy is the European pioneer. The Sistema di Interscambio (SdI), operated by the Agenzia delle Entrate, has mandated e-invoicing for B2G transactions since June 2014, extended to B2B in January 2019 and to cross-border transactions in July 2022. The domestic format is FatturaPA, a proprietary Italian XML, structured similarly to UBL but not identical. An official gateway provides PEPPOL interoperability for cross-border flows.

France — PPF/PDP (rolling calendar)

France framed its scheme through ordinances 2021-1190 and the amending 2024 ordinance. The French model is decentralised: flows go through registered Plateformes de Dématérialisation Partenaires (PDP), and the Portail Public de Facturation (PPF) operates the VAT data concentrator for the administration. The mandate calendar, postponed several times, currently mentions September 2026 for mandatory reception (every company) and September 2027 for issuance (SMEs & VSEs). Large and mid-sized companies are already required to issue from September 2026. The calendar remains subject to change.

Germany — XRechnung and B2B 2025-2028

Germany adopted the Wachstumschancengesetz in March 2024, introducing a staged B2B e-invoicing mandate. 1 January 2025: obligation to receive structured electronic format for every company (suspension of the recipient pre-agreement previously required). 1 January 2027: issuance obligation for companies with turnover > €800,000. 1 January 2028: issuance obligation for every company. The imposed format is EN 16931, with XRechnung (the national CIUS) as the reference implementation for the public sector, PEPPOL-compatible.

Belgium — B2B on 1 January 2026

Belgium adopted the law of 6 February 2024 mandating the issuance and reception of structured invoices between VAT-liable persons established in Belgium on 1 January 2026. The designated channel is PEPPOL, and the required profile is PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0. The FOD Financiën operates a public access point for liable persons who do not have a private access point.

Spain — Crea y Crece

Spain passed the Crea y Crece law (Law 18/2022) in September 2022, introducing a mandatory B2B e-invoicing regime. The implementing decree went through several drafts and notifications to Brussels; its definitive publication and the turnover thresholds for entry into force — between 2025 and 2026 depending on turnover — remain to be confirmed at the time this page is written. Planned format: domestic Facturae, alignable to EN 16931.

Romania & Poland — Eastern pioneers

Romania rolled out its e-Factura system via the ANAF tax authority: B2G mandate since July 2022, B2B (reporting first) from January 2024, full B2B e-invoicing (with clearance) from July 2024. Domestic format based on UBL.

Poland announced its KSeF (Krajowy System e-Faktur) for 2024, postponed to 2026: issuance via KSeF mandatory for large taxpayers from 1 February 2026, extended to other companies from 1 April 2026. The format is the proprietary Polish FA(2), based on XML.

PEPPOL's structuring role

In this fragmented landscape, PEPPOL plays a structuring role on two levels. First, it is a common invoicing format (BIS Billing 3.0, EN 16931-compliant) on which several countries have aligned — Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany for its public sector. Second, it is a transmission network making cross-border flows interoperable without bilateral agreement.

Countries that adopted a closed national system (Italian SdI, French PPF, Polish KSeF) usually open gateways toward PEPPOL for cross-border: the PEPPOL identifier of a foreign supplier becomes an entry door into their national SdI/PPF/KSeF.

What remains unclear in 2026

Three zones of uncertainty are worth mentioning:

  • ViDA ↔ national-mandate articulation. Countries mandating from 2025-2026 are not doing so under ViDA (which only enters into force in 2030) but under Article 395 derogations of Directive 2006/112/EC. The eventual merger with ViDA still needs to be organised.
  • The digital-reporting threshold. ViDA fixes a 10-day delay for intra-EU invoice reporting; countries such as Italy demand near-real-time on their domestic market. Will harmonisation land at the strictest or the loosest? Trade- offs are expected in 2027-2028.
  • Sectoral exemptions. Some sectors (health, energy, credit) have specific VAT rules that make e-invoicing obligation complex to apply. Mandating countries usually grant exemptions, which are not yet harmonised at EU level.

Further reading