On October 21, 2026, the Irish tax authority published an updated implementation paper, VAT Modernisation: Implementation of eInvoicing in Ireland, 2026 Update, that gives more detail on Ireland’s planned e-invoicing and real-time reporting mandate.
Peppol
Previously, the tax authority had indicated that the new system would leverage existing infrastructure, including Peppol. The updated implementation paper goes further and identifies Peppol as the default method for exchanging e-invoices.
Businesses can agree to use another routing method to exchange invoices. In-scope suppliers, however, must report to the tax authority through Peppol, using a Peppol service provider.
Five-Corner Model
The paper sets out the five-corner model that the tax authority intends to use. Under this model, the supplier’s service provider sends the e-invoice to the customer’s service provider. It also reports the required subset of invoice data to the tax authority.
E-Invoice Format
E-invoices must comply with European Standard EN 16931. Scanned documents (images or paper invoices), Word documents, and PDFs sent by email are not considered e-invoices for the purposes of the mandate.
Implementation Timeline
The previously announced phased implementation timeline remains unchanged:
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1 November 2028: Phase 1 for VAT-registered large corporates, with all Irish businesses required to be capable of receiving structured e-invoices.
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1 November 2029: Phase 2 extends the domestic requirements to VAT-registered businesses engaged in intra-EU trade and the additional Large Corporates Division population.
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1 July 2030: Phase 3 introduces the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) requirements for intra-EU B2B transactions.
Who is in Phase 1 and Phase 2?
The tax authority uses two dates to identify businesses in the Large Corporates Division.
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A business in the Division on January 1, 2027, is in Phase 1, even if it later moves to another division.
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A business that joins the Division after that date and is still there on January 1, 2028, is in Phase 2.
Final regulations and technical specifications have not yet been published.
For future updates on Ireland and similar developments in other countries, follow our Regulatory Analysis page.
