ViDA e-invoice deadline 2030: what will change cross-border

Short answer: cross-border B2B from July 1, 2030

The EU's ViDA, or "VAT in the Digital Age" rules set a single date for cross-border B2B sales: July 1, 2030. From this date, an invoice issued to a company in another Member State must be a structured e-invoice and its data must be transmitted to the tax authorities essentially at the time of issuing the invoice. The legal basis is Council Directive (EU) 2025/516, adopted on 11 March 2025 and entered into force on 14 April 2025.

Confusion usually arises with the year 2035. This is not the start of cross-border reporting. It is worth keeping three dates separate:

• July 1, 2030: EU-wide digital reporting of cross-border B2B transactions based on a mandatory structured e-invoice.
• January 1, 2035: deadline for those Member States that already had their own real-time transaction-based reporting, previous Council authorisation or implementing legislation adopted before 2024 – they must align their domestic e-invoicing and reporting with the EU framework.
• Domestic dates: they come from each country separately. From 14 April 2025, member states may make domestic e-invoices mandatory under the conditions set out in the directive, so there is no single 2030 deadline for domestic invoices.

Which transactions are covered by ViDA and which are not?

The scope of reporting is determined by Article 262 of the VAT Directive. Directive 2025/516 as amended From 1 July 2030, it covers four things: intra-Community supplies of goods, transfers of goods to another Member State (sending your own goods without selling them), intra-Community acquisitions and cross-border reverse charge transactions for goods and services listed in the directive. Reverse charge refers to a situation where VAT is charged by the buyer, not the seller – a typical case is the sale of a service to a VAT taxable person in another Member State.

Excluded are purely domestic B2B invoices (these are regulated by each country), sales to private individuals (B2C) and trade outside the EU. Member States have some options when it comes to reporting on the acquisition side, so the exact form of the buyer's obligation may vary from country to country.

The practical idea is simple: if your invoice has the VAT number of a company in another member state, this invoice will most likely be within the scope of reporting in 2030.

Does a small business have a turnover limit or exemption?

This is where the most common mistake is made. ViDA does not set a turnover threshold, minimum invoice amount or number of employees for cross-border reporting. The starting point is every taxable person registered for VAT, with the transaction-specific exemptions listed in the directive.

Example: An Estonian OÜ, with three employees and an annual turnover of 180,000 euros, sells goods to a Latvian company for 1,200 euros. This is an intra-Community supply of goods – in 2030, this invoice must be issued in a structured format and its details must be transmitted to the tax authorities. If the same OÜ sells a spare part to the same customer the following week for 40 euros, the same rule applies. There is no small amount exemption.

On the other hand, a domestic invoice of 1,200 euros made to a customer in Tallinn is not subject to reporting under Article 262. Its fate is decided by Estonia through its own legislation.

What does the 2030 process actually require?

Three technical requirements and two clocks.

Let's start with the format. The invoice must be prepared, transmitted and received in a structured electronic format that allows for automatic electronic processing. A PDF invoice that you simply send to the customer by email does not meet this definition in itself. The invoice must comply with the European e-invoice standard and its syntaxes listed in Directive 2014/55/EU - in practice this means the EN 16931 data model. Member States may allow other standards only for domestic transactions that do not fall under Article 262. ViDA itself does not mandate the use of Peppol; Peppol is a channel and in some countries a national requirement, not a requirement of the Directive.

Customer consent is no longer an issue. From 1 July 2030, the prior consent of the recipient, whether a taxable person or a non-taxable legal entity, may no longer be required to send an e-invoice that complies with the EU standard. The customer cannot say, „Please send us a PDF.“.

The invoice clock is ticking for ten days. The invoice for intra-Community supplies of goods exempt from VAT under Article 138 and for the aforementioned reverse charge transactions must be issued no later than 10 days after the chargeable event occurs – in other words, the supply. A summary invoice for the calendar month that meets the conditions must be issued within 10 days of the end of the month.

The reporting clock runs separately. The seller generally submits transaction data when the invoice is issued or should have been issued. In the case of purchases, the recipient typically submits data within 5 days of receipt of the invoice, and the five-day rule also applies to invoices prepared by the buyer on behalf of the seller.

And the consequence goes straight to the money. If the data of an intra-Community transaction is not provided or is incorrect, the tax authorities may withdraw the Article 138 exemption if the seller cannot properly justify the shortcomings. This means VAT on your own account instead of 0% - the reporting error becomes a tax expense.

Not all technical details are yet on the table. The Commission Implementation Strategy of 24 September 2025 foresees the completion of the explanatory notes for digital reporting in the last quarter of 2026 and the central VIES IT development by 2026–2030. So: get ready for data, not one specific button press.

What are the domestic deadlines in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania?

The Baltic Triad is moving at three different speeds, and your company is likely to be affected by both – both the local rule and 2030.

Country	What applies	From
Estonia	An accounting entity registered in the commercial register as the recipient of an e-invoice may request an e-invoice from the seller; an invoice that complies with the requirements of EN 16931-1 is considered to be properly prepared.	1.07.2025
Latvia	Structured e-invoices in the G2G, B2G and G2B segments	1.01.2025
Latvia	Submission of e-invoice data for these segments to VID	1.01.2026
Latvia	Domestic B2B e-invoice + submission of data to VID (voluntary 1.01.2026–31.12.2027)	1.01.2028
Lithuania	VAT payers submit data on issued and received invoices to VMI as an i.SAF register	already valid

The Estonian model is recipient-centric: the obligation arises when the buyer has registered as the recipient of the e-invoice. Accounting Act gives him the right to request an e-invoice from 1 July 2025 and links compliance with the EN 16931-1 format.

Latvia is taking the path of obligation. VID e-invoice page According to the law, a structured e-invoice must be in XML format that complies with the Latvian national standard and the PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 specification, and the e-invoice must be submitted to the VID once, no later than five business days after the day of its sending. If you have a subsidiary registered in Latvia or you sell to a Latvian state institution, this rule is a matter for you today, not 2030.

In Lithuania, submitting invoice data to the tax authorities is a long-standing practice – VAT payers submit registers of issued and received invoices VMI data submission environment via. The content is familiar, in 2030 the channel and speed will change.

Practical preparation for 2026–2030

Four years sounds like a long time, but most of the work is organizing data, which can be done immediately and in small steps.

• VAT numbers times: Every EU business customer must be registered with a valid VAT number. 2030 reporting links the invoice and the number – an old or incorrect number means an error.
• Make a list of transactions: Write down which of your sales are intra-Community supplies of goods, which are cross-border reverse charge services, which are domestic and which are B2C. This list will later be your scope map.
• Check the details: Does your invoice have all the mandatory EN 16931 details as structured data fields, not just as PDF text? The most common missing fields are the buyer identifiers, delivery date, and tax reference fields.
• Shorten the time it takes to issue an invoice: The 10-day rule doesn't fit with the habit of filing invoices in a pile at the end of the month. Review who actually issues invoices in your company and when.
• Ask the software provider specifically: whether the business software can create an e-invoice in EN 16931 format, whether it has an ERP interface with the operator, and what tax administration interfaces are planned. A general „we support e-invoices“ is not the answer.
• Map broadcast channels: In Estonia, the e-invoice recipient indication in the commercial register, in Latvia, XML and VID API, in Lithuania, VMI data representation. Each channel means one setting, the existence of which is worth checking before the client requests it.
• Keep an eye on domestic changes and the Commission's explanatory notes on digital reporting, which are allowed by the end of 2026.

If your company sells goods or services to a company in another member state, then July 1, 2030 is not an optional date. However, organizing data and the invoicing process is exactly the same work, which reduces manual work already today.

Read also: English · Latvian · Lithuanian

Last checked: September 15, 2026

FAQ

When does ViDA's cross-border e-invoicing and digital reporting obligation come into effect?

The EU-wide obligation for cross-border B2B transactions will enter into force on 1 July 2030 under Council Directive (EU) 2025/516. From that date, an invoice issued to a company in another Member State must be a structured e-invoice compliant with the EN 16931 standard and its data must be transmitted to the tax authorities in real time.

Are there any turnover- or volume-based exemptions for small businesses from the ViDA e-invoicing requirement?

ViDA does not impose a turnover threshold, minimum invoice amount or employee number threshold for cross-border reporting. The obligation extends to any VAT taxable person who carries out cross-border B2B transactions within the EU, regardless of the size of the transaction.

By what date must a cross-border B2B e-invoice be issued and submitted to the tax authorities?

Invoices for supplies of goods and reverse charge transactions must be issued no later than 10 days after the transaction. The seller must provide the transaction details to the tax authority at the time of issuing the invoice; failure to provide the details may result in the tax authority canceling the 0% VAT exemption.