PEPPOL … another hill we have to overcome (At least in Europe).
From 1 January 2026, all B2B invoices must be sent via PEPPOL.
This has a lot of implications for developers who sell via a re-seller like Paddle, FastSpring, Apple (AppStore), …
The big difference is that we have to send an e-invoice, using PEPPOL network, to the re-seller before they can pay out.
In the current situation, they just pay an amount each month (read: revenue from the previous month). But that will not be allowed anymore from 1/1/2026. They must first report how much the revenue is, then you must send an e-invoice via the PEPPOL network to them. Only then are they allowed to make the payment. Otherwise it is expected to be illegal and penalties for each invoice not declared this way.
Is anyone already working on this? Any experience? According to my accountant, this is going to cause a lot of trouble for small developers living in EU. :-/
Regulations … regulations … you start to hate them as soon they are announced.
a) That’s the job of your ecommerce providers (Paddle, Fastspring, Apple etc.)
b) From what I read the timeframe is 2028 or so.
c) Small fishes like most of use are exempt.
Sadly not. You first need to ask them a statement with what they sold. Then you need to make the invoice and send it to PEPPOL. PEPPOL then sends the e-invoice to the e-commerce providers and only then they have to pay the invoice.
It is 1/1/2026 (Belgium). It may vary from country to country, it seems.
Nope. If you have VAT and do B2B, you need to comply with PEPPOL. There is no wayout or exception.
I see nothing in the process that makes it ‘a standard that will make it much easier to complete electronic transactions worldwide.’
It’s already easy.
This makes it messy.
There is nothing that can’t be messed up by having someone set up a new ‘middle man’
It is only in Belgium, not the whole EU, as far as I know.
PEPPOL uses UBL scheme for e-invoices, so the only additional point for developers is to find a PEPPOL access point not to expensive…
What that means for non European sellers selling to European clients? That’s something just messing the life of the euro zone people invoicing others, correct?
Well, the problem is not the e-invoice in itself and sending it to PEPPOL. That is the easy part.
But the problem is that you may not be payed in advanced (read: before you send the e-invoice to PEPPOL). Most ecommerce providers just do a payout (they do not wait for your invoice).
From what I understand PEPPOL is part of the e-invoice concept of Europe. It’s strictly B2B and not B2C. I do not see how you are supposed to write an invoice when you are not the one creating the invoice at all. This is solely the job of the ecommerce provider.
I don’t think we are on the same track. Let me re-explain the problem.
If you sell your software and use an ecommerce provider (Paddle, Apple AppStore, FastSpring, …) your are doing business with them. Meaning B2B
To comply, you always need to make an invoice to the party that needs to pay you.
Each month your ecommerce provider will pay you an amount of the revenue they created with your software. For that amount you have to make an invoice to ecommerce provider. At least if you do official business
That does not answer my question, and I do B2B and invoices under my local rules. No PEPPOL or whatever jurisdiction inventions compliant. Plain simple invoices and local fiscal documents.
"official business’ may be key here.
I do B2B all the time, and only B2B , because of the VATMOSS legislation (although to be honest I do wonder if anyone has actually been fined for not charging VAT ‘properly’ in all EU countries).
To avoid the stupidly complex VAT rules, I have been paying ecommerce providers to do what I was doing easily before VATMOSS, since 2015
But the Belgian angle seems keen to talk about government and official ‘business customers’, who (unlike end users) always require an invoice before they pay, and often delay paying until it squeaks.
Paddle, FastSpring et al take their monthly sales, calculate how much of it is owed, and just send it.
I wouldn’t know what to invoice them unless they told me in advance, in which case as Beatrix says, they may as well generate the invoice for me too.
It’s used here in the UK for dealings with the Health service.
The UK Govt is currently chewing over expanding the use.
The bureauc-rats in Bruxelles are constantly thinking about ways on how to get their hands on the money of the citizens… it is not about making it easier for the taxpayers. This is just one good example why I’m strictly against any steps of my country, Switzerland, to join the EU. It is overboarding bureaucracy, nothing else.
Yes, correct. That is what now happens. They make a Tax Invoice but with PEPPOL this is not valid anymore. You have to make an invoice to them instead (not the other way around). And that makes in complicated.
So if your country were you are living and have a VAT and that country obliged to use PEPPOL, you have a problem.
B2B with PEPPOL:
For Belgium, France and Holland this is 1/1/2026
Italy it already is with SDI (compatible with PEPPOL) (2019)
Finland it already is from 6/4/2021
Germany it is 1/1/2028 (unless your income is higher than 800.000eur … in that case it is 1/1/2027
Spain ‘soon’
Sorry, but this is not correct. You dont have to use PEPPOL here in Germany in 2027 or 2028, you only have to use e-invoices instead of paper invoices/PDF invoices.
A gov portal to send a copy of the e-invoice to is planned for 2030 or later - it is mandatory by EU laws in 2032.
Local laws in other european countrys are different, but the final goal is to defeat vat fraud.
