Following consultation, the Government has confirmed it will introduce mandatory e-invoicing for all VAT invoices from April 2029.
In January 2026, the Government will launch a period of collaboration with stakeholders to design and develop the UK’s e-invoicing regime. This will include the software sector and Making Tax Digital (MTD) providers to ensure there is a range of e-invoicing solutions. An implementation roadmap will be published at Budget 2026.
April 2029 may seem a long way away, but it makes sense for businesses to start thinking about this sooner rather than later. This is a huge change to the current invoicing regime and is the next step on the digital highway that started with the digital filing of returns and the MTD for VAT rules about the process of return preparation.
The advantages of e-invoicing include the likelihood of faster payments and a more streamlined process with fewer opportunities for human error and fraud. HMRC will no doubt hope this will reduce the VAT gap. Storage, printing and postage costs associated with issuing paper invoices will also go. Set against that are the software and training set-up costs required for a new invoicing system and its integration with existing platforms, potential security risks associated with sending sensitive information electronically, and the risk that invoices may be filtered into customers’ spam folders.
