Receiving e-invoices: a checklist for small businesses

To get ready to receive e-invoices, connect through a Peppol provider, register your Peppol ID, tell your suppliers, decide who checks each incoming invoice, run a test with one supplier, and agree where the structured files are kept and how they reach your accountant.

Sending e-invoices gets most of the attention, but receiving is where small businesses tend to be caught out. Once a country requires e-invoices between businesses, as Belgium has since 1 January 2026 for VAT-registered Belgian businesses (see the Belgian e-invoicing mandate), your suppliers may start sending them before you are ready. This checklist covers what to settle, in order.

The checklist

#	Task	Done when
1	Choose how you connect	You know which provider receives for you
2	Register your Peppol ID	Your ID can be looked up on the network
3	Check the document types	Invoices and credit notes are both accepted
4	Name who processes invoices	One person, and a backup, own incoming bills
5	Clean up supplier records	VAT numbers and names match your suppliers' details
6	Tell your suppliers	Each supplier has your Peppol ID and your buyer reference rules
7	Run a test	One real invoice arrived, was checked and was paid
8	Agree the review routine	Everyone knows the checks before approval
9	Decide where files are kept	The structured files are stored for the period your country requires
10	Plan for the exceptions	You know what to do with PDFs that still arrive

Getting connected (items 1 to 3)

Choose how you connect. You receive through a Peppol provider's access point, either built into your invoicing software or contracted directly. What a Peppol access point is compares the options.

Register your Peppol ID. It is usually a company or VAT number with a scheme code in front, and your provider registers it. Until it is registered, suppliers' software cannot find you and their invoices cannot be delivered over Peppol.

Check the document types. Your registration tells senders which documents you accept. Make sure credit notes are on the list as well as invoices, or a supplier's correction may have nowhere to go.

Getting your house in order (items 4 to 6)

Name who processes invoices. E-invoices arrive in software, not in someone's mailbox, so decide whose job it is to look at them, and who covers holidays.

Clean up supplier records. Incoming invoices are matched to suppliers by details such as the VAT number. Fix duplicates and missing VAT numbers now, and an incoming invoice finds its supplier without guesswork.

Tell your suppliers. Send each one your Peppol ID, the company name and VAT number to put on the invoice, and any reference you need on it, such as a buyer reference or a project code. Ask them to stop sending PDFs for invoices that must now be structured.

Proving it works (items 7 and 8)

Run a test. Ask one friendly supplier to send their next invoice over Peppol, then follow it all the way: received, checked, approved, paid. A problem found on one invoice is cheap; the same problem across every supplier is not.

Agree the review routine. Structured does not mean correct. Check that the invoice is addressed to you, that you know the supplier, that it is not a duplicate, and that the lines and VAT match what you agreed. What happens when a Peppol invoice arrives walks through those checks, and through what to do when one is wrong.

Keeping it tidy (items 9 and 10)

Decide where files are kept. The structured file you received is the invoice; a PDF view is a copy for reading. In the EU, VAT rules ask that an invoice's origin, content and legibility stay intact for the whole period you must keep it, and each country sets that period. Agree where the files live and how your accountant gets them.

Plan for the exceptions. Not every supplier will send over Peppol: a supplier abroad, or one outside your country's mandate, may still email a PDF. Decide how those are handled so they don't slip through. Why a PDF invoice is not an e-invoice explains the difference.

Who to involve

Receiving e-invoices touches more people than it seems. Bring them in early, and the switch is a non-event:

• Whoever pays the bills. They will see the invoices arrive and need to trust what they see.
• Your accountant or bookkeeper. Agree how the structured files and their payment status reach them, and whether they want the files themselves or a periodic summary.
• Whoever orders from suppliers. They know which reference a supplier should quote, and they are the people suppliers will ask.
• Your software or provider contact. Keep a name and an address for questions about registration and failed deliveries.

Frequently asked questions

How do I give suppliers my Peppol ID?

A short email to each supplier works: your Peppol ID, your legal name and VAT number as they should appear on the invoice, and any reference you need. Adding the ID to your own invoices and order emails helps new suppliers find it too.

Do I still need to accept PDF invoices?

Often, yes. Suppliers outside a mandate, such as many suppliers abroad, may keep sending PDFs. Accept them through your usual process, and keep checking whether a supplier should have sent a structured invoice instead.

Can my software read every incoming e-invoice?

Peppol invoices follow shared rules built on the European standard EN 16931, so software that supports them can read the supplier, the lines and the VAT. The EN 16931 standard explains what those rules cover.