How to Send a Peppol Invoice in Ireland

1. Check whether you actually need Peppol

Irish public bodies have had to be able to receive EN 16931 e-invoices since 18 April 2019 (central government) and 18 April 2020 (sub-central), under S.I. 258/2019 transposing Directive 2014/55/EU. Suppliers are not legally required to send e-invoices to public bodies, but several bodies prefer or require structured or Peppol invoices, so check your contract and purchase order terms. If you only invoice private businesses, Peppol is optional today. Revenue's roadmap starts on 1 November 2028 (Phase 1: domestic B2B e-invoicing and real-time reporting for large corporates, and every Irish business must be able to receive structured e-invoices), extends to all VAT-registered businesses for intra-EU B2B in November 2029 (Phase 2), and ViDA applies to all intra-EU cross-border B2B from 1 July 2030 (Phase 3).

2. Gather your invoice details

You will need: your company/trading name, address, and VAT number (a VAT number is required to create a Peppol invoice here, because your Peppol ID uses scheme 9935); the buyer's name, address, and Peppol ID (look it up in the Peppol Directory at directory.peppol.eu, or ask the buyer or check the purchase order; each HSE area, county council and ETB has its own ID); a purchase order number or buyer reference, which public bodies usually require; an invoice number, issue date, and due date; and each line item with description, quantity, unit price, and VAT rate.

3. Generate a UBL XML file

A Peppol invoice isn't a PDF — it's a structured UBL 2.1 XML document following the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 rules (itself built on the EU EN 16931 standard). Getting every mandatory field and identifier scheme right by hand is fiddly; a generator like PeppolInvoice.ie builds the file from a simple form. We recommend validating the file with your Access Point before relying on it.

4. Get a readable PDF version too

Keep a human-readable PDF alongside the XML — for your own records, for VAT compliance (Revenue requires records retained for six years), and for buyers who accept email invoices directly rather than requiring network delivery.

5. Deliver it

For actual Peppol network delivery, upload your UBL file to your own Peppol Access Point — a provider that transmits it to the recipient's own Access Point. PeppolInvoice.ie is not an Access Point and does not send invoices over Peppol. If the recipient doesn't require network delivery, you can simply email the PDF.

Do I need special software?

Not necessarily. Full ERP-integrated Peppol setups (SAP, Oracle, Sage) make sense for high-volume invoicers, but they're overkill if you only need to send a handful of invoices a month. A lightweight generator that produces a correctly formatted UBL file — without locking you into an accounting platform — is usually the faster, cheaper path for sole traders and small businesses.

Not sure your current process actually meets every mandatory field and VAT rule? Our Peppol e-invoicing requirements checklist breaks down what an EN 16931 / Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 invoice needs to contain.