Peppol in Ireland: How to Send and Receive E-Invoices Explained

staxo team, 2026-09-30

Some Irish public bodies have received e-invoices over Peppol since 2019, and Revenue has named the network as part of the plumbing for e-invoicing between Irish businesses. In plain terms, Peppol in Ireland works like a postal service for invoice data. Your accounting software writes the invoice in a standard structured format, a certified provider called an access point delivers it, and your customer's software reads it straight into their books with nobody retyping a thing.

The date that matters for almost every business is 1 November 2028. From then, all businesses in Ireland must be able to receive structured e-invoices, even if they are not yet required to issue them, according to Revenue's press release Revenue confirms large corporates for Phase One of VAT Modernisation. For most small firms, that is likely to mean a Peppol address and a provider who accepts invoices on their behalf.

Below: how an invoice travels, what an access point and a Peppol ID are, and what is still open. For dates and phases in full, see our guide to e-invoicing in Ireland for small businesses.

What Peppol is, in plain terms

Peppol is an international network for exchanging business documents such as invoices and credit notes. It fixes three things: a common document format, an address for each business on the network, and a group of accredited providers who carry documents between businesses.

The invoice format is called Peppol BIS Billing 3.0. According to the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 specification, it is the European standard EN 16931 expressed in the UBL syntax. So a Peppol invoice carries the supplier, the customer, each line, the VAT rate and the totals as labelled data a computer can read.

That link to EN 16931 is why Peppol keeps coming up. Revenue's page Large corporates for Phase One of VAT modernisation defines an eInvoice as one issued, transmitted and received in a structured format compliant with EN 16931, and states that PDFs and scanned paper invoices do not qualify. Our explainer on the EN 16931 e-invoice format in Ireland goes through the standard in detail.

The four-corner model: how an invoice travels

Peppol e-invoicing uses the four-corner model. OpenPeppol's About Peppol page describes buyers and suppliers connecting through any Peppol-accredited service provider, known as an access point. Each business deals only with its own provider, and the two providers deal with each other.

1. Corner 1, the supplier, raises the invoice in its software as normal, and the software builds the structured file.
2. Corner 2, the supplier's access point, checks the file against the format rules and looks up the customer's Peppol ID to find its provider.
3. Corner 3, the customer's access point, accepts the file and confirms delivery.
4. Corner 4, the customer, sees a bill ready to approve, with supplier, lines and VAT already filled in.

As with mobile phone networks, you and your supplier can use different providers and the invoice still arrives. Under Ireland's plan, a subset of the invoice data also goes to Revenue. Revenue has not yet said how that reporting will travel.

Peppol in Ireland today: public bodies since 2019

Peppol is already part of Irish public procurement. According to the European Commission's page eInvoicing in Ireland, central government bodies have had to receive EN 16931 e-invoices since 18 April 2019 and sub-central authorities since 18 April 2020, with Peppol BIS as the primary specification. For suppliers, sending e-invoices to public bodies remains voluntary. The national body in charge is the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), which became Ireland's Peppol Authority on 18 January 2018, according to OpenPeppol's Ireland country profile.

What Revenue has said about Peppol for 2028

Revenue's plan is set out in VAT Modernisation: Implementation of eInvoicing in Ireland. It says the new system will use existing infrastructure, including Peppol, and that Revenue is working with the OGP. The same document says tax rates, payment requirements and liability calculations remain unchanged.

From 1 November 2028, VAT-registered large corporates, meaning businesses managed by Revenue's Large Corporates Division, must issue eInvoices to Irish business customers and report a subset of each invoice's data to Revenue. Revenue's VAT Modernisation Timeline, updated on 20 July 2026, adds Phase 2 in November 2029 and Phase 3 in July 2030. In every phase, businesses must be able to receive and process eInvoices from any supplier mandated to issue them.

For a business that only trades within Ireland, no issuing date has been announced. Revenue's page What is VAT Modernisation? says the requirements will eventually cover all VAT-registered businesses, without a date for that group.

Receiving is still a real change. Today, under Revenue's guidance Other types of VAT invoices: electronic invoicing, electronic invoicing needs the agreement of both parties. Accountancy Europe's VAT in the Digital Age factsheet explains that EU rules now let Member States remove a customer's right to refuse an e-invoice for domestic supplies.

Access points, Peppol IDs and the directory

• Peppol access point: the accredited provider that sends and receives Peppol documents for you and checks each one against the format rules.
• Peppol ID: your address on the network, also called a participant identifier. It is normally built from an official business identifier, and your provider registers it. Revenue has not yet said which identifier Irish businesses should use for domestic invoices.
• Directory and lookup: the record of which provider receives for each Peppol ID and which documents it accepts. A supplier's access point checks it before sending, which is how an invoice finds you.

Do you need your own access point?

For a small business, almost certainly no. Running an access point means becoming an accredited Peppol service provider and passing technical testing. The Accountancy Europe factsheet also notes that Member States must allow a business to use a third party, such as its accounting provider, for its e-invoicing and reporting obligations.

What your accounting software should handle

• Register and manage your Peppol ID.
• Receive Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 invoices and credit notes, and flag any that fail validation.
• Turn each one into a bill with supplier, lines, VAT and due date filled in.
• Keep the original structured file, since that file is the invoice.
• Send your own invoices over Peppol when a date applies to you.
• Take on reporting to Revenue once the technical specifications are published.

Our comparison of accounting software in Ireland covers the other Irish basics. If you are choosing now, staxo online accounting keeps your bills, VAT and ROS-ready figures in one place, which is where incoming e-invoices will need to land.

Receiving your first Peppol invoice: a Galway café example

Take Niamh, who runs a café off Shop Street in Galway. She is VAT-registered and trades only in Ireland. One of her suppliers, a national catering wholesaler, gets a letter from Revenue confirming it is a Phase 1 large corporate.

Before 1 November 2028, the wholesaler asks its customers for their Peppol IDs. Niamh asks her software provider, who registers an ID for the café, and she sends it to the wholesaler's accounts team. That is her whole set-up.

After the start date, the wholesaler raises its weekly invoice as usual. Its access point finds the café's ID in the lookup and delivers a Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 file to Niamh's provider. Next morning the invoice sits in her bills list with product lines, VAT and due date entered, and she approves it against the delivery docket.

Her other suppliers keep sending PDFs until a date applies to them, so for a while she runs both. Her own sales invoices, VAT rates and payment dates stay as they are.

Questions to ask a software or access point provider

• Are you an accredited Peppol service provider, or which accredited partner do you use?
• Can you register my Peppol ID, and which identifier will you base it on?
• Do you receive and send Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 invoices and credit notes?
• Will received invoices post straight into my purchase ledger with the VAT split out?
• What happens when an incoming invoice fails validation?
• How will you handle reporting to Revenue once the specifications are published?
• Is there a charge per invoice received or sent?

What is still to be confirmed

Revenue has said it will publish detailed guidance and technical specifications well in advance of each phase. They had not appeared when we checked on 29 September 2026, so five points remain open.

• Whether Peppol is the only route. Revenue's wording is infrastructure "including Peppol".
• The reporting route and data. Which subset of invoice data goes to Revenue, and how, is still to be specified.
• The identifier. Revenue has not said which business identifier Irish Peppol IDs should use.
• Support for receiving. Revenue says it is exploring options to make receiving as straightforward as possible, with guidance and supports before Phase 1.
• Penalties. As far as we can find, Revenue has not published e-invoicing penalties, and it says legislative changes are being prepared.

Questions go to vatmodernisation@revenue.ie, the mailbox named in Revenue's February 2026 press release. An answer from that mailbox is the most reliable way to settle a point your provider cannot.

What to do now

1. List your regular suppliers and mark any large national businesses that may be in Phase 1.
2. Put the questions above to your software provider and keep the answers in writing.
3. Choose a receiving route where invoices land in your books as bills.
4. Check your business details are correct everywhere, since your Peppol ID will be built from them.
5. Decide who approves incoming bills, and when.
6. If you trade with other EU businesses, plan for Phase 2 in November 2029 too.
7. Revisit your set-up when Revenue publishes its technical specifications.

Our checklist to prepare for e-invoicing in Ireland expands each step with examples. For what happens to the data on Revenue's side, see our guide to real-time VAT reporting in Ireland.

Receiving e-invoices is a short job when your books are online and your bills flow into one place. Create your staxo account and have purchases, VAT and ROS-ready returns in order before the first Peppol invoice arrives.