ViDA 2026 work program: the SME VAT timeline to 2030

Short answer: 2026 is a preparation year, not a new EU deadline

On 22 May 2026 the European Commission published the 2026 work program for ViDA (VAT in the Digital Age), the EU package that moves VAT reporting onto digital, transaction-level data. It is the Commission's own implementation plan, not a new reporting duty for your company. Nothing in that document requires an SME to file a new return or issue an e-invoice in 2026. The substantive change for cross-border B2B sales starts on 1 July 2030: mandatory e-invoicing plus transaction-based digital reporting, known as Digital Reporting Requirements or DRR. The dates in between affect narrower groups, namely users of OSS and IOSS in 2027, then platforms and the single-registration rules in 2028. A domestic e-invoicing mandate is a separate track entirely. Each Member State sets that one itself.

What the work program actually builds

The program continues the implementation strategy published in September 2025, and it gathers together the technical work that has to be finished before the 2030 obligation can function at all: a common electronic reporting message within the meaning of Article 263(4) of the VAT Directive, the architecture and access rules for a central VIES, the functional and technical specifications, and explanatory notes on e-invoicing and DRR. Those are Commission milestones, not filing deadlines for a business.

The practical conclusion is simple. As of 2026 the final data fields and format details are still not fixed, so there is no point buying a solution today because it is labeled "ready for 2030".

The ViDA dates are worth putting in your calendar

• January 1, 2027: OSS (the One Stop Shop, the single portal for declaring VAT on cross-border B2C sales) is extended to B2C supplies in the electricity charging sector, and the legal clarifications affecting OSS and IOSS users take effect.
• 1 July 2028: platforms for short-term accommodation and road passenger transport come under the new deemed supplier rules, which means the platform, not the host or driver, is treated as the supplier for VAT. A Member State may postpone that measure until 1 January 2030. The same date brings the core Single VAT Registration changes, including a mandatory reverse charge where the supplier is not registered in the country of the supply.
• 1 July 2030: cross-border B2B transactions come under DRR, and the e-invoice becomes the default way to invoice.
• January 1, 2035: Member States that already run their own real-time, transaction-level reporting must align it with the EU system.

The detailed rules for the special schemes are already moving: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1869 updates the implementing rules for the VAT special schemes and introduces the scheme for transfers of own goods, meaning stock you move to yourself in another country. If you hold inventory in another Member State, that is the closest thing to a real change on your horizon.

What changes in 2030 for a cross-border B2B seller

Council Directive (EU) 2025/516, which amends the VAT Directive, requires that for covered intra-Community B2B transactions the invoice must be electronic and must comply with the European e-invoicing standard and the syntaxes permitted under Directive 2014/55/EU. A PDF attached to an email is not an e-invoice in this sense. A machine-readable, structured invoice is.

The timing tightens too. The invoice has to be issued within 10 days of the chargeable event, and a summary invoice within 10 days after the end of the calendar month. The seller transmits the transaction data when the invoice is issued or should have been issued. The buyer reports a covered acquisition within five days of receiving the invoice, and the same five-day rule applies to a self-billed invoice. From 1 July 2030 you no longer need the recipient's consent to send an e-invoice that meets the EU standard, provided the customer is a taxable person or a non-taxable legal person.

Is there a threshold or an SME exemption?

Well. Directive 2025/516 sets no turnover threshold and no general SME exemption for cross-border digital reporting. The obligation attaches to the transaction, and it arises for any taxable person making covered intra-Community B2B supplies or acquisitions. If you sell to a business customer in Latvia or Finland, being small does not help.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania start from different places

ViDA does not impose a single date for domestic B2B e-invoicing. Member States may introduce a domestic mandate on their own terms as of ViDA's entry into force on 14 April 2025. Estonia has no general domestic obligation today: an accounting entity registered as an e-invoice recipient can require an e-invoice, and the seller then has to send one. Changes to the VAT Act are worth following in the government's draft legislation system.

Latvia is moving faster. The Accounting Law requires that invoices issued to another company registered in Latvia (state budget institutions aside) be structured e-invoices from 1 January 2028, and that those companies submit structured e-invoice data to the tax authority VID from the same date. In Lithuania no B2B mandate has been adopted. Check that with VMI rather than reading it off an EU timeline.

A practical list for 2026–2030

• Map your flows: write down which EU business customers you sell to, who you buy from, and where you hold stock in another Member State.
• Separate PDF from e-invoice: check what share of your invoices already moves as machine-readable data and what share is still a PDF.
• Ask your software two questions: can it issue invoices in the European standard format, and can the data be validated?
• Clean up the data: the customer's VAT number, the place of supply and the dates need to be correct before reporting becomes automatic.
• Track the two tracks separately: national law changes on one side, the EU's final specifications on the other. Make the investment decision once the second one is settled.

Also available in: in Estonian · Latvian · Lithuanian

Last reviewed: September 21, 2026

FAQ

Will ViDA's 2026 work program bring new obligations to small businesses?

No, the 2026 Work Programme is an internal technical action plan of the European Commission and does not impose any new reporting or e-invoicing requirements on businesses. Mandatory cross-border B2B e-invoicing and digital transaction reporting will only start on 1 July 2030.

Will there be an exemption or turnover threshold for SMEs in cross-border e-invoicing in 2030?

Directive 2025/516 does not provide for a turnover threshold or a general exemption for small enterprises. The obligation is transaction-based and extends to all taxable persons making covered intra-Community B2B supplies or acquisitions.

By what date will cross-border B2B e-invoices be issued in 2030?

According to the directive, a compliant structured e-invoice must be issued no later than 10 days after the transaction occurred. Transaction data is transmitted at the same time as the invoice is issued, and the buyer must confirm the purchase within five days.