Advice: broad rollout of e-invoicing and digital VAT reporting in the Netherlands
In its report on ViDA e-invoicing and digital reporting, EY advises the Dutch government to opt for a broad rollout covering both cross-border and domestic transactions. We set out the advice and the government's response.
ViDA
At the end of 2024 a package of VAT measures was adopted under the name VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA). Part of that package is mandatory e-invoicing and digital reporting for cross-border B2B trade within the EU from 1 July 2030. The VAT Directive allows the Netherlands and other member states to introduce this for domestic B2B transactions as well. On the instructions of the Ministry of Finance, EY examined whether such a broad rollout is desirable.
The EY report
EY advises the government to opt for a broad rollout. According to the report this delivers cost savings for business, higher VAT receipts (in other words less fraud and fewer errors) and better, more timely oversight of transactions by the Dutch Tax Administration. Because the tax authorities would have purchase and sales data almost in real time, they could in future offer a pre-completed VAT return.
To realise those benefits, it is important to depart from the European line as little as possible. EY therefore advises:
- keeping the e-invoicing requirements of the VAT Directive without additional national requirements
- not making acceptance by the customer a condition for e-invoicing
- prescribing the EN16931 standard for e-invoicing
- prescribing the UBL and CII syntaxes (technical XML formats) for e-invoicing
- prescribing Peppol, the existing international network for digital invoice exchange, for e-invoicing and digital reporting
EY regards the obligation to report incoming foreign purchase invoices within five days, the intra-Community acquisition report, as undesirable. In practice it is expected to lead to many errors and a heavy administrative burden. EY advises against introducing it for now, which the VAT Directive permits.
To avoid a big bang in which businesses have to change everything at once, EY proposes a phased rollout:
| Date | Obligation |
|---|---|
| 1 January 2030 | e-invoicing for domestic B2B transactions |
| 1 July 2030 | e-invoicing and digital reporting for cross-border EU transactions |
| 2032 | digital reporting for domestic B2B transactions |
The government's response
State Secretary Eerenberg (Finance) has said he will give the call for a broad rollout serious weight. The government expects to decide this summer. A draft bill will then go out for public consultation in the fourth quarter of 2026, on which businesses, trade associations and tax advisers can comment. For practitioners it matters that clarity comes soon, so that government and business have enough time to prepare for these far-reaching changes.
We follow developments around ViDA closely and will keep you informed.