Dutch cabinet plans mandatory B2B e-invoicing from 1 July 2030
The Dutch cabinet wants e-invoicing to be mandatory for all B2B transactions from 1 July 2030, following the EU's ViDA directive. A bill is due before summer 2027. Only EN 16931 will be used. A decision on Peppol is still open.
The Dutch cabinet wants to make e-invoicing mandatory for all domestic and intra-Community B2B transactions from 1 July 2030. Digital VAT reporting for domestic transactions follows on 1 July 2031. Only the EU standard EN 16931 will be used. The cabinet has not yet decided whether to prescribe Peppol for invoice exchange.
The Dutch cabinet has chosen 1 July 2030 as the start date for mandatory e-invoicing in all B2B transactions, both domestic and intra-Community. State Secretary for Finance Eelco Eerenberg announced the decision in an outline letter sent to the House of Representatives on 11 September 2026. The measure still needs a law. The cabinet expects to submit the bill to the House before summer 2027.
The cabinet will require only the EU standard EN 16931 for all e-invoices, with no additional standards permitted. Businesses using the Dutch small business scheme (KOR) will be exempt from domestic e-invoicing obligations. They may still need to report intra-Community acquisitions. Existing invoicing exemptions will be retained where possible.
Timeline and reporting deadlines
- 1 July 2030: mandatory B2B e-invoice for domestic and intra-Community transactions
- 1 July 2030: digital reporting to the Dutch Tax Administration of intra-Community transactions, including acquisitions
- 1 July 2031: digital reporting of domestic transactions, using selected data fields from issued e-invoices
- Autumn 2026: public internet consultation begins
- Before summer 2027: bill submitted to parliament
- Before 1 July 2028: parliamentary process completed, two years before entry into force, leaving room for a test phase
Infrastructure decision still pending
The cabinet has not yet decided which infrastructure will be required for exchanging e-invoices. An EY study recommended prescribing the Peppol network for business-to-business exchange. Peppol is already mandatory in the Netherlands for invoicing central government. The cabinet is also considering the European Business Wallet, which is under development.
Further research runs until October 2026 on interoperability, the relationship between e-invoicing and digital reporting, secure data exchange, competition, and supervision. Sira Consulting is assessing administrative burden per business group. An SME test, a business impact assessment and an implementation test by the Tax Administration will follow.
Key requirements for businesses
The invoice deadline will be shortened to 10 days after the supply of goods or services, in line with the ViDA Directive. The Tax Administration will retain reported data for ten years. The bill will go to the Dutch Data Protection Authority for advice. A data protection impact assessment will also be carried out.
Businesses should map their current invoicing processes, whether PDF, paper, EDI or structured formats. Anything that does not comply with EN 16931 must change before 1 July 2030. Monthly summary invoices may need adjustment. Businesses trading with other EU countries should prepare for transaction-level reporting from 1 July 2030, including incoming intra-Community acquisitions.
What vendors and service providers should do now
Software vendors should make sure their products can create, validate and process EN 16931 e-invoices, both outbound and inbound. Data models should allow the fields of the EU reporting subset to be delivered separately. The technical connection with the Tax Administration has not yet been defined, so a modular build is advisable.
Peppol Service Providers should model scenarios in which Peppol is or is not prescribed, and in which the European Business Wallet plays a role. They should also prepare services for the link between e-invoicing and reporting, one of the topics in the follow-up research.
The decision follows the ViDA Directive. From 1 July 2030, businesses must report cross-border B2B trade within the EU per transaction, based on e-invoices in the EU standard. Member States may extend this to domestic transactions. The Netherlands is extending this to domestic transactions to prevent VAT fraud, strengthen the digital economy and reduce administrative burden over time.