E-invoicing & Reporting · 01
What is e-invoicing
The shift that makes everything else possible: the invoice stops being a document and becomes data.
The one idea
An e-invoice is not a PDF or a scan — it's structured data (machine-readable, usually XML) that systems exchange and a tax authority can process automatically.
A PDF needs a human to read it. Structured data can be validated, reported and cleared by machine — which is exactly what lets authorities move to real time.
What makes it an e-invoice
A format
A defined structure — e.g. UBL, Factur-X/ZUGFeRD (a PDF with XML inside), or Peppol BIS — so any system reads the same fields the same way.
A channel
An agreed way to transmit it — a network like Peppol, or a national platform.
Machine-checkable
Because it's data, it can be validated against rules the moment it's created — no human in the loop.
A PDF emailed to a customer is not an e-invoice, even though it's electronic. The format is the point.