E invoicing in the UK and Ireland: the deadlines, Peppol and what your ERP needs

What is e invoicing?

E invoicing, or electronic invoicing, means sending and receiving invoices as structured data that the buyer’s system can read automatically, rather than as PDFs or paper. A PDF sent by email does not count. Under the new mandates an invoice has to follow an agreed data standard, travel through an approved network, and in some countries be reported to the tax authority as it is issued.

The UK: mandatory from April 2029

• Announced at the 2025 Budget: from 1 April 2029, VAT invoices between businesses and to the public sector must be structured electronic invoices.
• In June 2026 the government confirmed Peppol as the network, using a decentralised model in which businesses connect through accredited access point providers rather than a central government platform.
• Invoices to consumers are outside the first phase, and there is no real time reporting to HMRC at launch, although HMRC is still assessing it.
• A detailed implementation roadmap, including any phasing, is expected alongside the 2026 Budget.

Ireland: phased from November 2028

• November 2028: large corporates, meaning businesses managed by Revenue’s Large Corporates Division, must issue electronic invoices and report them to Revenue in real time for domestic business to business sales.
• November 2029: the same requirements extend to all VAT registered businesses trading business to business within the EU.
• July 2030: full EU requirements apply to cross border business sales within the EU.

Revenue published the roadmap in October 2025. Invoices must follow the European standard EN 16931, and businesses will need to be able to receive structured invoices, not just send them.

The EU: VAT in the Digital Age

From 1 July 2030 the EU’s VAT in the Digital Age package makes electronic invoicing and digital reporting mandatory for cross border business sales between EU member states. UK businesses registered for VAT in an EU country should check how the rules apply to them.

What it means for your ERP

• Invoice data: your ERP or billing system has to produce invoices in the required structured format, with every mandatory field populated from clean master data.
• Connectivity: you will need a Peppol access point in the UK, and a route to Revenue’s real time reporting in Ireland, either built into your ERP or provided by a third party.
• Receiving: accounts payable needs to take structured invoices in automatically, which is also the biggest efficiency gain on offer.
• Customer and supplier data: VAT numbers, network identifiers and addresses must be right, because invalid data means a rejected invoice.
• Testing and timing: ERP vendors, access point providers and your own teams will all be busy at the same time, so the work is better started early than squeezed in late.

Energy suppliers billing business customers face the same requirements in their billing platforms, on top of the other changes due before 2030. See what energy suppliers must change before 2030.

Where to start

Start by finding out how many invoices you send and receive, which systems create them, and what your ERP vendor plans to support and when. That tells you whether e invoicing is a configuration exercise or a project, and it is the right moment to fix the invoice and master data problems that would otherwise turn into rejections. We can help you scope it, choose the approach and deliver it through ERP integration.

Common questions

When is e invoicing mandatory in the UK?

From 1 April 2029 for VAT invoices between businesses and to the public sector, with a detailed roadmap expected alongside the 2026 Budget.

Does the UK e invoicing mandate use Peppol?

Yes. The government confirmed in June 2026 that Peppol will be the network, with businesses connecting through accredited access point providers.

When is e invoicing mandatory in Ireland?

From November 2028 for large corporates’ domestic business invoices, November 2029 for all VAT registered businesses trading within the EU, and July 2030 for the full EU requirements.

Is a PDF invoice an e invoice?

No. A PDF is an electronic document, but an e invoice is structured data the buyer’s system can process automatically, following a standard such as EN 16931.

Do invoices to consumers have to be e invoices?

Not under the first phase of the UK mandate, which covers business and public sector invoices. Ireland’s roadmap also starts with business to business invoices.

Related reading: ERP integration, ERP accounting explained, ERP implementation consulting, supplier system changes before 2030.

If you want to know whether e invoicing is a quick configuration or a real project for your business, we can give you an independent answer and a plan, whatever ERP you run.

Book a confidential conversation