Borderless ambitions but national obstacles
Europe’s e-invoicing operators want to see a connected digital ecosystem for trade, one where businesses and service...
The e-invoice in Europe
Iceland
Iceland has had mandatory e-invoicing in the public sector since 2020. Public authorities only accept invoices in electronic format. In the private sector, developments are more mixed - a large share of invoices are still sent as PDFs via email or on paper - but the share of structured e-invoices is gradually increasing.
The facts
Digital developments are moving fast and are accelerated by the ViDA reform, which makes e-invoicing mandatory for all cross-border transactions within the EU from July 2030.
This guide presents the domestic situation regarding e-invoicing in each country.
B2G
Since January 1, 2020, e-invoicing is mandatory for all public authorities in Iceland. According to the EU country report on e-invoicing for Iceland (2023), 92% of all incoming invoices to Icelandic public authorities were in XML format in 2022.
B2B/B2C
When it comes to business-to-business invoicing, around 52% of all invoices are electronic and structured, according to data from Unimaze. The rest are PDF invoices sent by email or paper invoices. There are no official statistics, but several suppliers estimate that around 40% are PDF and around 8% paper invoices (2023). Although not yet mandatory for businesses, the use of e-invoices is steadily increasing in the private sector.
FORMAT
The formats accepted for electronic invoices in Iceland are primarily UBL 2.1 and Peppol BIS Billing 3.0. Invoices are sent either via the Icelandic national e-invoicing system or the Peppol network.
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