Tools
The e-invoicing checklist
You know a mandate is coming and want to know what to have ready before it lands. Work down this list. Every item links to where on this site you check it.
No dates appear on this page. Every one of them lives on the country page it belongs to, next to the source it comes from and the date someone last checked it.
1. Find your obligation and its date
Start with the e-invoicing checker for your country, or every deadline in date order if you want the wider picture first. Both name whether the obligation is to receive, to issue, or both, and from when.
2. Check whether you can already receive one
In several countries the obligation to receive a structured invoice starts before the obligation to issue one, so this is worth checking even if your issuing date is still far off. Open a file you have already been sent with the e-invoice viewer and see whether it reads. The checker and the deadline page above both say which date applies to receiving in your country.
3. Check what you issue against the rules
There is no single mandated European format. EN 16931 is the standard that defines what an invoice must say, and it is carried in two XML syntaxes, OASIS UBL 2.1 or UN/CEFACT CII. UBL 2.1 vs CII explains the difference. National mandates then name their own accepted formats on top of that, among them XRechnung, ZUGFeRD and Factur-X. Run a document through the e-invoice validator to check it against the EN 16931 rules, or use the matching format-specific check if your country or your counterparty names XRechnung, ZUGFeRD, Factur-X or Peppol BIS.
4. Confirm which format your counterparties accept
Passing the EN 16931 rules is not the same as matching what the business on the other end of the invoice will accept. A national mandate or a network profile can require a narrower format than the standard allows, which is why a valid EN 16931 invoice can fail a Peppol check. Ask your counterparty before you assume UBL or CII on its own is enough.
5. Find out whether your country names a channel
Some countries require invoices to move through a specific platform or channel; some name none at all. This is set per country, and the checker page for your country states which applies. EUInvoice does not transmit an invoice over any network on your behalf, so if a channel is required, it sits outside what this checklist item can complete for you.
6. Have the buyer details on file
The buyer's identifiers are fields on the invoice itself, so you need them in hand before you can issue one at all. The EN 16931 business rules name which fields have to be present, and what gets checked before issuing walks through how they are checked.
7. Know what to do when one was wrong
An issued structured invoice is not edited after the fact. Correcting an invoice you have already issued covers why a correction is a separate document rather than a change to the original, before you need it rather than after.
What this does not cover
It does not cover e-reporting obligations, archiving requirements or the separate rules for invoicing a public-sector buyer (B2G). EUInvoice is not an approved e-invoicing platform, a Peppol access point or any other exchange system; the tools above read and check documents, they do not send them anywhere.