UK E-Invoicing 2029: What Finance Teams Should Do Now
From 1 April 2029, e-invoicing becomes mandatory for all B2B and B2G VAT invoices in the UK. A PDF sent by email will no longer count as a valid VAT invoice; it must be a structured, machine-readable e-invoice.
What has been confirmed
• Start date: 1 April 2029.
• Scope: business-to-business and business-to-government VAT invoices. Business-to-consumer sales are not in the initial scope.
• Format: structured e-invoices replace paper and PDF as valid VAT invoices.
• Model: a decentralised model where businesses exchange invoices through their chosen software providers, most likely over the Peppol network, not one government portal.
• Next milestone: a detailed roadmap is due at the Budget in November 2026, which may confirm a phased rollout with larger businesses first.
Why 2029 is closer than it looks
E-invoicing is not a software switch. It touches every system and person that handles an invoice:• Your accounting or ERP system must create and receive structured e-invoices.
• Your suppliers must send them, and your customers must be able to receive yours.
• Approval workflows built around inboxes and PDFs need rebuilding.
• Supplier and customer data spread across spreadsheets needs cleaning up.
Done properly, that is a 12 to 18 month process project. Firms that start in 2028 will be competing for the same consultants and software providers as everyone else.
Your 2026 to 2027 checklist
1. Map how an invoice moves through your business today, from received to approved to paid.2. Ask your accounting or ERP provider about their e-invoicing and Peppol roadmap.
3. List every manual step: re-typing, copying between Excel and systems, chasing approvals by email.
4. Clean up supplier and customer master data in one trusted source.
5. Watch the November 2026 Budget for the detailed rules and any phasing.
The upside
Companies that move early do not just comply. They get faster approvals, fewer errors, quicker payments and cleaner finance data, years before competitors who wait.How depluy helps
Depluy prepares the processes around your invoicing system, so the 2029 switch is a non-event:• Automated approvals: invoice approval workflows in Microsoft 365 instead of email chains.
• Integration: connecting your ERP, Excel sources and SharePoint so invoice data is entered once.
• Finance visibility: a simple app or dashboard showing every invoice's status.
• Secure cloud foundation: Microsoft 365 and Azure configured with the right access and UK GDPR-aligned data protection.
We document everything, so your team can run it without us.
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