Mandatory e-invoicing from 2027: Is your business prepared?

Timeline

• From 1 January 2027: Businesses must issue e-invoices to other businesses. Until 2030, this will in practice apply when the recipient is registered to receive e-invoices in the ELMA/Peppol directory. Other recipients may still receive invoices as PDF files.
• From 1 January 2028: The buyer’s organisation number must be included on all invoices issued to businesses.
• From 1 January 2030: All businesses must use an electronic accounting system and be able to receive e-invoices.

Format and exemptions

The approved format is EHF (Peppol BIS Billing 3.0), transmitted via the Peppol network. PDF and paper invoices are not considered e-invoices. Other structured formats, such as EDIFACT, may be used by agreement with the recipient until 2030, giving businesses with established EDI solutions time to transition.

The rules apply to all businesses in Norway that are subject to bookkeeping requirements, including foreign-owned businesses. Exemptions are limited. Businesses that are unable to complete the transition in time may, in certain cases, apply to the tax office for a temporary exemption, but the conditions are strict.

What happens if you do not comply?

The e-invoicing requirement will be enforced in the same way as other breaches of the bookkeeping rules. The Norwegian Tax Administration may issue an order requiring the business to correct its practices within a specified deadline and may impose a recurring coercive fine if the order is not complied with.

What should you do now?

EHF is well established in Norway and has been mandatory for invoicing the public sector since 2019. For most businesses, the transition should therefore be straightforward. The required functionality is usually already built into Norwegian systems and simply needs to be enabled.

The need to act is most urgent for foreign-owned companies. If invoicing is managed through a group-wide system abroad, EHF often has to be configured centrally, and both technical clarifications and decision-making processes can take time.

“The format itself is rarely the challenge. What tends to hold companies back is where the decision-making authority lies. For many of our international clients, the invoicing system is managed from a head office abroad, and that is where this needs to be addressed now. We have helped several international groups with this transition, and those that start this autumn will find the move to the new requirements in 2027 straightforward.”

Please feel free to contact us if you would like to learn what these requirements mean for your Norwegian business.