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E-Invoicing, UBL and Peppol: What Service Businesses Need to Know

"Do I have to send e-invoices?" is one of the most common invoicing questions in Europe — and the answer changes every year. The short version for service businesses, as of mid-2026: there is no single EU-wide B2B mandate yet, but the direction is unmistakable. Several member states already require e-invoicing, others are phasing it in, and the EU has set the destination. If you're setting up your invoicing today, treat e-invoicing as the default, not as a distant future.

Regulation moves fast; this article describes the situation as of mid-2026 and is not tax advice.

The terminology, first

An e-invoice is not a PDF sent by email. It's a structured data file that the recipient's accounting system can import and process automatically — no retyping, no OCR. The common format is UBL (Universal Business Language, usually UBL 2.1); across Europe, the standard EN 16931 defines which data an e-invoice must contain. Peppol is the delivery network that carries e-invoices securely from sender to recipient — think of it as what the banking network is for payments.

What's already mandatory?

  • Selling to the public sector: EU public authorities have been required to accept e-invoices for years, and many countries have gone further. In the Netherlands, for instance, e-invoicing has been mandatory for new central-government contracts since 2017, with many municipalities and agencies following. If you work for government clients, you're already in scope.
  • Germany: since January 2025, German businesses must be able to receive e-invoices, with the obligation to send being phased in. If you serve German clients, a PDF simply won't be enough for much longer.
  • Italy, France, Belgium and others: Italy has had a broad e-invoicing mandate for years; France, Belgium and several other member states are on similar tracks or further along.

What's coming: ViDA

In 2025 the EU adopted the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package. The core for invoicing: by 2030, digital reporting based on structured e-invoices is set to become the norm for cross-border B2B transactions within the EU, and member states gain the freedom to mandate domestic e-invoicing without needing separate EU approval. Some countries — the Netherlands among them, as of mid-2026 — haven't yet announced a domestic B2B mandate, but the infrastructure (Peppol, EN 16931) is in place and the momentum across neighboring markets makes the outcome predictable: Europe is moving toward structured e-invoicing as the standard.

The lesson from countries that have already made the switch: businesses that only tackled e-invoicing when forced to had the highest costs and the most stress; those who factored it into a regular software decision earlier barely noticed the transition.

What this means in practice for a service business

1. Choose software that includes UBL as standard. Every invoice should be available as UBL alongside the PDF — no surcharge, no add-on module. In Horixa, every invoice can be downloaded and sent as UBL 2.1 by default; larger clients and public-sector organizations can import it directly.

2. Keep your master data clean. A valid e-invoice requires correct data: your business registration number, VAT numbers (yours and your client's), and the right VAT treatment per line. That's the hidden upside of e-invoicing: it forces a tidy client database.

3. Think in both directions. Mandates often start with receiving. Ask your suppliers for UBL too — booking incoming invoices without retyping saves your bookkeeper time, and therefore saves you money.

4. Connect invoicing to your accounting. E-invoicing is part of a bigger shift: systems that talk to each other without manual work. A link between your invoicing and your accounting package (Horixa integrates with Moneybird, with more accounting platforms on the way) removes the last retyping step.

5. Don't wait for a deadline. There is zero downside to attaching UBL today: clients who can't use it simply use the PDF; clients who can will process your invoice faster — which demonstrably shortens payment times.

Frequently asked questions

Will PDF invoices become worthless? No. The PDF remains the human-readable version; the e-invoice (UBL) is the machine-readable version alongside it. Send them together and everyone can work with your invoice.

Does a small agency need to be connected to Peppol? For domestic B2B work in most member states, not yet (as of mid-2026). If you invoice governments or large organizations, it's increasingly requested. Choose software that keeps the path to Peppol open.

What must an invoice contain at a minimum? The standard invoice requirements in your country — typically: sequential (gapless) numbering, invoice date, your registration and VAT numbers, name and address of both parties, a description, and the amount and VAT rate per line. An e-invoice contains exactly the same data, just structured.

Does ViDA also apply to domestic invoices? The 2030 obligation targets cross-border EU transactions. For domestic invoices, each member state decides for itself — and ViDA makes it easier for them to take that step. Don't count on domestic B2B staying out of scope.

Invoices that are UBL-ready today — including gapless numbering and accounting integration? Try Horixa free for 14 days.