Fundamentals

The pillar guide

E-invoicing explained: structured invoices, mandates, formats and software - A practical introduction to e-invoicing, including structured invoice data, mandate models, invoice formats, delivery networks, validation, tax reporting, accounting workflows and software.

Working guides in this topic

• A brief history of structured invoicing, without a mandate calendar - From EDI to EN 16931 to Peppol and real-time reporting, as a sequence of ideas, not a list of deadlines.
• B2B, B2G and B2C invoicing in one view - Three transaction types, three different obligation patterns, and why a format that works for one may fail for another.
• Data in motion: why the invoice is a record, not a file - The thesis of this guide: an invoice travels as data through systems, and every stage can change what the next system can do.
• E-invoicing glossary in plain language - Semantic model, syntax, profile, access point, validation and status, each defined by what it does in an exchange.
• E-invoicing myths that waste implementation time - A PDF is enough, one format works everywhere, and validation is a single pass, each tested against what actually happens.
• Invoice anatomy: reading a structured invoice field by field - Document id, parties, lines, totals and status, read in the order a receiving system checks them.
• Questions to ask before any implementation - Scope, buyer, format, route and evidence, asked in that order, before any software is chosen.
• Structured invoice vs PDF: what a system can do with each - How a structured e-invoice differs from a PDF, and why searchable text is not the same as machine-readable data.
• What does not automatically count as a structured e-invoice - A PDF made on a computer, a scanned image and an emailed spreadsheet are not structured invoices by themselves.
• Who participates in an exchange, and what each party owes - Seller, buyer, provider, network and tax authority, and the hand-off each one is responsible for.

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