E-invoicing, NemHandel and Peppol: how to send and receive

What is an e-invoice?

An e-invoice is an invoice as structured data: every field, from invoice number and date to each line's amount and VAT, sits in a fixed format that the recipient's accounting application reads directly. The formats are standardised. In Denmark, OIOUBL has been the standard for many years, and in Europe it is Peppol BIS Billing, built on the common European norm for e-invoices. Both are variants of the same underlying language, UBL.

The difference from a PDF is what the recipient can do with it. A PDF must be opened, read and typed in. An e-invoice lands in the recipient's system with supplier, amount, due date and lines in place, ready for approval and payment. It saves time at both ends and removes typing errors, which is why large and public recipients require it.

NemHandel and Peppol

An e-invoice is not sent like an email to an address you type yourself. It is sent through a network that looks the recipient up by a registered id and delivers the document to the recipient's system. NemHandel is the Danish network, run by the Danish Business Authority, where Danish businesses and public authorities are registered on their CVR number or their EAN number. Peppol is the European network on the same principle, which Danish recipients are increasingly joining too.

Sender and recipient each have an access point, a provider connected to the network. Your accounting application hands the invoice to its access point, the network finds the recipient's access point, and that one delivers the invoice into the recipient's system. You do not need to know which network the recipient is on: the access point looks it up and chooses. It is the recipient's id that has to be right.

When the customer requires an e-invoice

Public authorities in Denmark, from municipalities and regions to ministries and public institutions, must receive invoices electronically and reject invoices on paper and as PDF. They are identified by an EAN number, also called a GLN, a 13-digit number the public customer gives you when ordering. Without the EAN number the invoice cannot be delivered, and without delivery it is not paid. Ask for the number before you send, and record it on the customer in your accounting application.

Private businesses can receive e-invoices on their CVR number if they are registered in NemHandel or Peppol, and many larger businesses ask for it. If the customer is not registered, you send the invoice as a PDF by email instead. The rules on public payments are on virk.dk.

Send an e-invoice from Veneti

1. 1

   Activate e-invoicing under Integrations

   The owner or an administrator activates e-invoicing once. The company is registered on NemHandel and Peppol on its CVR number, so it can both send and receive.

2. 2

   Set the customer's e-invoice address

   On the customer you choose the type, CVR number, EAN number, SE number or P number, and enter the number. A public customer always has an EAN number.

3. 3

   Create the invoice

   Create a customer invoice as always, with lines, VAT codes and payment terms. Veneti numbers it automatically in the same sequence as your other invoices.

4. 4

   Choose Send as e-invoice

   Before sending, Veneti checks that the customer's address can be reached on the network, and tells you if it cannot. So you know before the invoice is sent, not a week later.

5. 5

   Send

   Veneti builds the document in the Peppol BIS format, hands it to the access point, and the network delivers it, converted to OIOUBL where the recipient requires it. The invoice is booked to Debtors, and when the payment arrives at the bank it is settled against the invoice.

6. 6

   Credit notes the same way

   If an invoice must be credited, the credit note is sent as an e-invoice to the same address and in the same number sequence.

Receive e-invoices from your suppliers

Once e-invoicing is activated, your suppliers can send to your CVR number, and the invoices land directly in the journal as supplier invoices with supplier, amount, due date and lines read from the document. The original XML document is kept beside the invoice's PDF and travels with the voucher when it is booked, so the legal original is always there.

The supplier is told through the network: that the invoice was received, again when it is booked, and that it was rejected if you delete it without booking it. That is the acknowledgement larger suppliers expect, and you need do nothing to send it. The invoice is suggested an account and a VAT code like any other supplier invoice and stands ready to be booked and paid. The E-invoicing page describes the feature; to try it, Get started.

Questions