E-invoicing mandates: 14 deadlines in nine countries over the next 12 months

E-invoicing mandates: 14 deadlines in nine countries over the next 12 months

In the next twelve months, businesses in nine countries face 14 separate deadlines to start issuing, receiving or reporting invoices electronically through a format or platform their tax authority sets. The first is in two weeks: by 30 October 2026, every business in the UAE with revenue of 50 million dirhams or more must have appointed an accredited e-invoicing provider. The last in the window is Spain's, on 6 October 2027, for businesses with turnover above 8 million euros.

We have reported most of these deadlines as news over the past month. Put side by side, they show that e-invoicing is no longer a feature of a few Latin American and European tax systems. It is becoming the normal way a VAT invoice exists, and the countries are not all building the same thing. A business that trades across borders, or a software buyer choosing an ERP or accounting package, needs to know which model each country uses, because that decides what the software must do.

This guide sets out the deadlines, the three models behind them, and what each means for the systems a business runs.

How we built it. We took every e-invoicing deadline in our news reports and checked each country's rules on the tax authority's or government's own pages, read on 14 October 2026: the UAE Ministry of Finance and Federal Tax Authority, Saudi Arabia's ZATCA, Malaysia's HASiL, the Philippine BIR, Belgium's FPS Finance, Poland's Ministry of Finance, France's tax administration, Germany's Federal Ministry of Finance, Croatia's Tax Administration, Pakistan's FBR, Kenya's KRA, the European Commission and HM Revenue and Customs. Where a page could not be read we say so. Penalty amounts are given only where we read them on an official page.

The next 12 months

Date	Country	Who must act	What happens
30 Oct 2026	UAE	Businesses with revenue of AED 50 million or more	Appoint an accredited service provider
2 Nov 2026	Greece	Businesses with 2023 revenue of up to €1 million	Mandatory e-invoicing starts, delayed from 1 October
31 Dec 2026	Philippines	E-commerce sellers (except micro), large taxpayers, users of computerised accounting	Issue e-invoices through a BIR-permitted system
1 Jan 2027	UAE	Revenue of AED 50 million or more	Go live
1 Jan 2027	Croatia	Taxpayers outside VAT	Issue and fiscalise e-invoices (VAT payers since January 2026)
1 Jan 2027	Germany	Issuers with prior-year turnover above €800,000	Paper and PDF invoices no longer allowed for domestic B2B
1 Jan 2027	Poland	Taxpayers invoicing up to PLN 10,000 gross a month	Small-volume relief ends; KSeF for everyone
31 Jan 2027	Greece	Businesses under €1 million	Transition period ends
1 Feb 2027	Saudi Arabia	Wave 25: VAT-able revenue over SAR 187,500 in any year from 2022 to 2025	Integrate with the Fatoora platform
31 Mar 2027	UAE	Businesses under AED 50 million and government entities	Appoint an accredited service provider
1 Jul 2027	UAE	Businesses under AED 50 million	Go live
1 Sep 2027	France	Small and micro businesses	Issue e-invoices through an approved platform (receiving since September 2026)
1 Oct 2027	UAE	Government entities	Go live
6 Oct 2027	Spain	Businesses with turnover above €8 million	Issue, send and receive e-invoices and report statuses and payments

After that window the dates keep coming: Germany's remaining small issuers from 1 January 2028, Spain's other businesses from 6 October 2028, the UK's mandate for all VAT invoices in 2029, and the EU's digital reporting for cross-border B2B trade from 1 July 2030.

Three models, three kinds of software change

The deadlines look alike, but the systems differ in one important way: whether the tax authority sees the invoice before the buyer does.

Clearance

The seller's system sends each invoice to the tax authority's platform, which validates it and returns a number or stamp before the invoice is valid. Saudi Arabia's Fatoora integration phase, Poland's KSeF, India's invoice registration portal, Pakistan's FBR integration, Kenya's eTIMS and Malaysia's MyInvois work this way. For software, clearance means a live connection to a government API, handling of rejections, and a plan for when the platform is down. Pakistan's rules, for instance, let a business cancel or edit a valid e-invoice made by mistake only within 72 hours.

Decentralised exchange through accredited providers

Invoices travel between the seller's and buyer's providers over a network, usually Peppol, and the tax authority receives data from the providers rather than holding up each invoice. The UAE uses a five-corner Peppol model, with the Federal Tax Authority as the fifth corner; Belgium uses Peppol between businesses; France routes invoices through approved platforms that pass data to the tax administration; Croatia uses registered intermediaries. For software, this means choosing and contracting a provider, and the provider market can be thin close to a deadline: the UAE listed 32 accredited providers in May 2026.

Post-audit with a structured format

Germany is the main example. There is no central platform. The invoice must be in a structured format under the European standard EN 16931, such as XRechnung or ZUGFeRD, and can be sent by any channel, including email. Since 1 January 2025 every domestic business in Germany has had to be able to receive one.

For a company with operations in several of these countries, the practical consequence is that no single e-invoicing connector covers them all. An ERP that handles Peppol in Belgium still needs a separate clearance integration for Saudi Arabia and Poland.

Country notes

UAE

The scheme covers B2B and B2G invoices, regardless of VAT registration; B2C is outside it for now. Each business gets a Peppol identifier through its provider. Under Cabinet Decision 106 of 2025, failing to implement on time costs 5,000 dirhams for each month or part of a month of delay, failing to issue or send an e-invoice 100 dirhams per invoice up to 5,000 dirhams a month, and failing to notify the authority of a system failure 1,000 dirhams a day. Penalties apply only from each business's own mandatory date. A voluntary phase has run since 1 July 2026.

Saudi Arabia

ZATCA brings taxpayers into the integration phase in waves by revenue and notifies each wave at least six months ahead. Wave 24, for revenue over SAR 375,000, had to integrate by 30 June 2026; Wave 25 halves that threshold.

Malaysia

MyInvois has phased in by revenue since August 2024, reaching businesses with up to RM5 million in January 2026. From 1 September 2026 the exemption threshold rose from RM1 million to RM3 million in annual income or sales. HASiL's specific guideline, version 4.9 of 7 September 2026, extends interim relief for the up-to-RM5 million group to 31 December 2027, later than the end-2026 date in its January release.

Philippines

Revenue Memorandum Circular 98-2026 of 22 September requires covered taxpayers to issue e-invoices on or before 31 December 2026, through software registered with the BIR and with a Permit to Issue, which takes up to 20 working days to evaluate. Word, Excel and Google Docs invoices do not count. A separate rule on e-invoicing service providers was announced for September and had not appeared when we checked.

Poland

KSeF receiving became mandatory for all taxpayers on 1 February 2026, issuing for the largest on the same day and for everyone else on 1 April 2026, with small-volume relief to the end of 2026. On 16 September 2026 the Ministry of Finance announced it would defer penalties for KSeF errors to the end of 2027; that needs a change in the law and was not yet law when we checked.

France

All VAT-liable businesses must be able to receive e-invoices since 1 September 2026, when large and mid-sized companies also began issuing them. Small businesses follow on 1 September 2027, with e-reporting of B2C and international transactions on the same calendar.

Germany

The Federal Ministry of Finance's FAQ, last updated in March 2026, says all issuers may choose paper or other invoices instead of e-invoices until 31 December 2026, and those with prior-year turnover up to €800,000 until the end of 2027. Existing EDI procedures may also continue to the end of 2027.

Belgium

Structured e-invoicing over Peppol has been compulsory for nearly all B2B transactions between Belgian VAT-liable businesses since 1 January 2026. The authority's tolerance for first offences ran only to 31 March 2026.

Croatia

Under Fiskalizacija 2.0, VAT-registered taxpayers have issued and received e-invoices through registered intermediaries since 1 January 2026; taxpayers outside VAT, including flat-rate craftsmen, must issue from 1 January 2027, using a free state app if they wish.

Spain

Order HAC/1028/2026, in force since 6 October 2026, sets the rules for the tax agency's public e-invoicing platform, which is optional; private software outside it must send the agency a UBL copy of each invoice (our report).

Pakistan and Kenya

Pakistan's deadlines for sales-tax registered persons to integrate with the FBR all passed by late 2025, and in September 2026 the FBR extended the rules to federal excise and Islamabad services tax and gave itself powers to seal premises of businesses that fail to integrate (our report). Kenya's eTIMS has applied to all businesses since 1 September 2023, and since 1 January 2024 expenses without a valid electronic invoice are not deductible.

The UK and the EU

The UK will mandate e-invoicing for all VAT invoices between businesses and to the public sector from 2029, with a roadmap promised at Budget 2026 and no exact date yet. The EU's VAT in the Digital Age package, in force since 14 April 2025, lets member states introduce domestic mandates without special permission and brings digital reporting for cross-border B2B trade from 1 July 2030.

What to ask a software or service provider

1. Which countries' mandates does the product support today, and through which model: a clearance connection, a Peppol access point, or an approved platform?
2. Is the provider accredited where accreditation is required, as in the UAE, France and Croatia, or does it rely on a partner? Ask for the partner's name.
3. How are rejections from a clearance platform handled, and how fast are corrected invoices resubmitted?
4. What happens during a government platform outage? The Philippine rules allow a manual BIR-authorised invoice that must later be replaced; the UAE fines failure to notify the authority of a system failure.
5. Does the price change per invoice or per country? Clearance connections are often billed by volume.
6. Where are the invoice records stored, and for how long? Pakistan's rules, for example, require six years.

Invoicing and accounting software in our catalogue

Our accounting software and ERP software categories list the products that most businesses will connect to these systems. Every deadline in this guide also appears in our change calendar, which we update as new dates are announced.

Sources

• UAE Ministry of Finance, targeted amendments to the e-invoicing system decisions (May 2026; read 14 October 2026): https://mof.gov.ae/en/news/ministry-of-finance-announces-targeted-amendments-to-einvoicing-system-decisions/
• UAE Ministry of Finance, Ministerial Decision 244 of 2025: https://mof.gov.ae/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Ministerial-Decision-No.-244-of-2025-on-the-Implementation-of-the-Electronic-Invoicing-System.pdf
• UAE Ministry of Finance, Electronic Invoicing Guidelines version 1.1 (1 June 2026): https://mof.gov.ae/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/UAE-Electronic-Invoicing-Guidelines_V-1.1-01June2026.pdf
• UAE Cabinet Decision 106 of 2025 on violations and penalties: https://mof.gov.ae/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Cabinet-Decision-Violations-and-Penalties-eInvoicing-final-version-en-8.12.25.pdf
• ZATCA, Wave 25 of e-invoicing integration (24 July 2026): https://zatca.gov.sa/en/MediaCenter/News/Pages/Wave25-E-invoicing.aspx
• HASiL, e-invoice implementation timeline (updated 30 August 2026): https://www.hasil.gov.my/en/e-invois/pelaksanaan-e-invois-di-malaysia/garis-masa-pelaksanaan-e-invois/
• HASiL, media release on the exemption threshold (30 August 2026): https://www.hasil.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/20260830-Kenyataan-Media-HASiL_AMBANG-PENGECUALIAN-E_INVOIS-DINAIKKAN.pdf
• HASiL, e-Invoice Specific Guideline version 4.9 (7 September 2026): https://www.hasil.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/IRBM-e-Invoice-Specific-Guideline.pdf
• BIR, Revenue Memorandum Circular 98-2026 (22 September 2026): https://bir-cdn.bir.gov.ph/BIR/pdf/RMC%20No.%2098-2026%20redacted.pdf
• FPS Finance Belgium, when e-invoicing is mandatory, and tolerance period (read 14 October 2026): https://einvoice.belgium.be/en/article/when-e-invoicing-mandatory
• Polish Ministry of Finance, KSeF key dates (modified 29 May 2026): https://ksef.podatki.gov.pl/informacje-ogolne-ksef-20/podstawy-prawne-oraz-kluczowe-terminy/
• Polish Ministry of Finance, deferral of KSeF penalties to end of 2027 (16 September 2026): https://www.gov.pl/web/ias-rzeszow/przedluzenie-odroczenia-kar-za-bledy-w-stosowaniu-ksef-do-konca-2027-r
• French tax administration, Je découvre la facturation électronique (modified 26 May 2026): https://www.impots.gouv.fr/professionnel/je-decouvre-la-facturation-electronique
• German Federal Ministry of Finance, FAQ on the e-invoice (March 2026): https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/FAQ/e-rechnung.html
• Croatian Tax Administration, eRacun issuers and recipients (updated 17 April 2026): https://porezna-uprava.gov.hr/hr/izdavatelji-i-primatelji-eracuna-te-obveza-izdavanja-eracuna-azurirano-7-11-2025/8048
• FBR Pakistan, SRO 1413(I)/2025 and Sales Tax General Order 01 of 2026: https://download1.fbr.gov.pk/Docs/2026331133557466STGO01of2026.pdf
• Kenya Revenue Authority, Electronic tax invoicing for non-VAT registered persons: https://www.kra.go.ke/news-center/public-notices/2077-electronic-tax-invoicing-for-non-vat-registered-persons
• European Commission, VAT in the Digital Age (read 14 October 2026): https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/taxation/vat/vat-digital-age-vida_en
• HM Revenue and Customs, Promoting electronic invoicing consultation response (updated 26 November 2025): https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/promoting-electronic-invoicing-across-uk-businesses-and-the-public-sector/outcome/promoting-electronic-invoicing-across-uk-businesses-and-the-public-sector-consultation-response
• TrustList reports on the UAE, Philippines, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Pakistan deadlines, linked from the change calendar.