Electronic invoicing becomes mandatory for VAT invoices
The government has confirmed that from April 2029, VAT invoices between businesses will need to be issued electronically, in a set structured format, rather than as PDFs or on paper. A detailed roadmap, including the technical standards, is due to be published at the Budget on 28 October 2026.
An e-invoice is not a PDF sent by email. It is structured data sent from one system to another, which the receiving business’s software reads automatically. For many businesses the change will be handled through their accounting software, but it will affect how invoices are created, sent, received and checked, and which software providers businesses come to depend on. The detail of how it will work in the UK is still to be set out.
- Watch the Budget on 28 October for the roadmap and timetable.
- Check whether your accounting software already supports e-invoicing, and what it charges for it.
- If you issue or receive a high volume of invoices, start thinking now about how that process would change.