What is e-invoicing software?

E-invoicing software creates, sends, receives or processes invoices as structured data, usually XML following the European standard EN 16931, instead of paper or PDF. In practice it is several tools working together: the invoicing or accounting software that creates the file, a network provider that delivers it, and something that turns received invoices into booked bills.

Do I need a Peppol access point to receive e-invoices?

Only where invoices travel over Peppol, as in Belgium. You do not usually connect to Peppol yourself: you use a certified Peppol service provider, often built into your accounting or e-invoicing software, which registers you so suppliers' providers can find and deliver to you.

Does my accounting software already handle e-invoicing?

Often partly. Many accounting packages can create a compliant invoice file or connect to a network provider for sending. Check separately whether it can receive on the channel each client's country uses, read the XML into a bill with correct line coding, and keep the original file.

What does e-invoicing implementation involve for an accounting firm?

Map each client by country and obligation, check what their accounting software already supports, choose a network provider or platform per country, register the client, test with one real supplier, set up how received e-invoices are checked and booked, and keep a route for PDFs and scans from suppliers who are not yet sending e-invoices.

Which e-invoicing software is used in Belgium and the Netherlands?

Belgium has required domestic B2B e-invoices over Peppol since 1 January 2026, and the government lists both paid and free Peppol-ready solutions on its e-invoicing portal. The Netherlands has proposed domestic B2B e-invoicing from 1 July 2030, so for Dutch clients the question today is mostly about receiving Belgian and other foreign e-invoices.

E-invoicing software: what accounting firms need

Short answer: e-invoicing software is not one product. It is a chain of four jobs: creating a structured invoice file, delivering it over the channel the country requires (Peppol, a government clearance platform or an approved platform), turning received e-invoices into booked bills, and archiving the original file. Most accounting firms need the first two for clients who issue, and all of them need the last two, because received e-invoices still have to be checked, coded and booked.

This article is an overview, not tax advice. Dates are as published on 28 October 2026; see our e-invoicing deadlines tracker for changes.

What does e-invoicing software actually do?

An e-invoice is an invoice as structured data, not a picture of one. In the EU the reference is the European standard EN 16931, which defines the business terms an invoice carries and allows two main XML syntaxes: UBL and UN/CEFACT CII. Countries then publish their own usage specifications on top, such as XRechnung in Germany or Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 in Belgium. Hybrid formats like ZUGFeRD and Factur-X put the XML inside a PDF.

So "e-invoicing software" can mean any of these:

Job	What it does	Who usually provides it
Create	Produces an EN 16931 invoice file (UBL, CII or a national variant)	Invoicing or accounting software
Deliver	Sends and receives the file over the required channel, registers the business on it	Peppol service provider, approved platform, or the tax authority's own system
Process	Reads received invoices line by line, checks them, codes them, gets them approved and booked	Accounting software, AP or capture tools
Archive	Keeps the original file, not just a PDF rendering, for the retention period	Accounting software, document archive or the platform

Vendors often bundle two or three of these. Very few do all four well across several countries, which matters when a firm serves clients in more than one.

How do e-invoices travel?

There are three common models in Europe, and the channel decides what software a client needs.

Peppol (the four-corner model). The supplier sends invoice data to its certified Peppol service provider. That provider looks up the buyer in Peppol's registries, converts the invoice to the Peppol BIS format and delivers it to the buyer's service provider, which passes it to the buyer. Neither business connects to the network directly. Belgium uses Peppol for domestic B2B invoices since 1 January 2026, and its government guide sums up the process as three steps: choose e-invoicing software, let that software register you on Peppol, then send and receive.

Clearance through the tax authority. The invoice passes through a government system before it counts as issued. Poland's KSeF and Italy's SdI work this way. Software must connect to that system, and received invoices are fetched from it.

Approved platforms. France has required all businesses to be able to receive e-invoices since 1 September 2026, with large and mid-sized companies issuing through an approved platform (plateforme agréée) from the same date and smaller ones from 1 September 2027. See our France page for what that means for firms.

For a country-by-country view of who must do what and when, see B2B e-invoicing in Europe.

What to check before you choose

For an accounting firm, the right question is less "which tool is best" and more "what covers my clients' countries and fits into the books we already keep". A checklist:

Formats in and out. UBL and CII at minimum, plus the national variants your clients meet: XRechnung and ZUGFeRD for German suppliers, Factur-X for French ones, Peppol BIS 3.0 for Belgian ones, FA(3) for Polish KSeF.
Channels per country. Is the provider a certified Peppol service provider? Does it connect to KSeF or an approved French platform where needed? One provider per client is easier to manage than three.
Registration handled for you. Peppol registration, platform enrolment and changes when a client changes software should not fall on your team.
Many clients, one login. Can the firm see every client's incoming e-invoices without switching accounts? This is the same multi-client problem described in our multi-client invoice workflow guide.
Received invoices become bills. Reading the XML is not the same as booking it. Check that lines, VAT rates per line and totals land in the accounting software with sensible coding, and that someone approves before anything posts.
Validation and rejections. What happens when a file fails validation, or a supplier sends the same invoice twice: once as XML and once as a PDF by email?
PDFs and scans still work. Mandates arrive country by country. Suppliers abroad, small suppliers and transition rules mean PDFs keep coming for years.
The original file is kept. Where e-invoicing is mandatory, the XML is the invoice. A PDF view of it is not a substitute in the archive.
Where data is processed. Ask for the hosting regions in writing, especially for EU clients.

Implementing e-invoicing across a client base

A practical sequence that works for most firms:

Map clients by country and obligation: who must receive now, who must issue and from when. Belgium, Poland, Germany (receiving since 1 January 2025) and France are the usual first groups.
Check each client's accounting software. Many packages already create compliant files or have a built-in network partner. Use what exists before adding a tool.
Choose the channel per country and, where possible, one provider that covers several.
Register the client on Peppol or the platform, and confirm the registration is correct.
Test with one real supplier and one real customer before switching everyone.
Set up how received e-invoices are processed: who checks them, how they are coded, who approves, how duplicates are caught.
Keep the PDF route open for everything that is not yet an e-invoice, so the team runs one process, not two.

Benelux note. Belgian clients need a Peppol-ready solution now. Dutch clients face a proposed domestic mandate from 1 July 2030, but already receive e-invoices from Belgian suppliers. See Belgium and the Netherlands.

Where Invoreg fits

Invoreg covers the processing step. It reads received XML e-invoices (XRechnung, ZUGFeRD/Factur-X, Peppol UBL) alongside PDFs, scans and phone photos, reads every line including the VAT rate per line, suggests coding from the client's history, flags duplicates against bills already in the accounting software, and registers the bill only after a person approves it. Firms see every client organisation in one queue. It is not a Peppol service provider or a clearance connector, so you still need one of those for sending and for the network side.

If received invoices are where your team spends its time, try it on your own invoices: the first 20 invoices are free.

E-invoicing software: what accounting firms need to send and receive e-invoices