Across Europe, electronic invoicing via Peppol is shifting from optional to mandatory. In Slovakia it becomes law on 1 January 2027 under act no. 385/2025 Coll. (an amendment to the Slovak VAT Act no. 222/2004, published 19 December 2025) — so the 1 January 2027 start date comes from the statute, not from estimates. Germany’s own mandate is already partly in force, and the EU-wide ViDA framework follows in 2030.
What the Slovak mandate actually requires
From 1 January 2027 two duties apply at once:
- Issuing (§ 85o): Slovak-established VAT payers must issue structured e-invoices — XML per the European standard EN 16931 (Peppol BIS Billing 3.0) — for domestic B2B and B2G supplies, including advance payments. An emailed PDF or a paper invoice no longer qualifies for in-scope supplies. The issuing deadline is 15 days.
- Receiving (§ 71 par. 5): everyone on the receiving end of an in-scope supply must be able to receive the e-invoice via the delivery service. Per the Financial Administration’s guidance this covers every legal person and every taxable person — including non-VAT-payers, sole traders, liberal professions and property landlords.
Invoices travel through the delivery service (§ 76a) — certified providers on the Peppol network, which the Financial Administration calls digitálny poštár (“digital postman”). Sending through any other channel (email, EDI) is legal only with the recipient’s consent, and even then the document must be EN 16931 XML. New to the topic? Start with What is Peppol and how does it work.
Timeline — the key dates
- 1 January 2026 — delivery service + voluntary phase: the delivery-service provisions took effect; during 2026 e-invoices can be sent via the service voluntarily (no recipient consent needed). Practical rollout runs from Q2 2026.
- 1 January 2027 — mandatory start: issuing becomes mandatory for VAT payers on domestic B2B/B2G supplies, and virtually all businesses must be able to receive.
- 1 July 2030 — phase two: per the Financial Administration, the mandate is expected to extend to cross-border transactions (aligned with ViDA, directive 2025/516); Slovakia’s VAT control statement and recapitulative statement are due to be abolished from the same date.
There are no “waves” during 2027–2028 — the single domestic go-live is 1 January 2027.
Who is affected, and the exemptions
Issuing applies to VAT payers. Exemptions: supplies exempt under §§ 28–43 and 47 of the VAT Act and cases covered by a simplified invoice (e.g. cash-register receipts). B2C sales are out of scope. Receiving capability is required of virtually every business: companies, sole traders (including non-VAT-payers), e-shops, manufacturers, service firms and accounting offices invoicing for clients.
Reporting, penalties and archiving
Your provider automatically reports the prescribed invoice data to the Financial Administration — handing the e-invoice to the delivery service fulfils the reporting duty (the “5-corner” model). Fines run up to €10,000 per violation and up to €100,000 for repeated violations, with relief for corrected obvious errors and demonstrable provider outages. E-invoices must be archived for 10 years in XML. You can check whether a company is already on the network with our free Peppol ID checker.
Germany and the rest of the EU
Germany is one step ahead: since 1 January 2025 every business established in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices for domestic B2B; issuing becomes mandatory from 1 January 2027 for companies whose previous-year turnover exceeded €800,000, and from 1 January 2028 for all. Structured e-invoicing is also live in Italy, Poland, France, Belgium and Romania, and ViDA makes digital reporting the EU-wide norm for cross-border B2B from 2030. One Peppol connection covers all of these markets at once.
How to prepare — at no cost and without stress
- Register your company — just an email and a company ID; we register it as a Peppol participant.
- Receive for free — receiving e-invoices is free forever with Verteco (up to 1,000 received invoices a month), no card on file.
- Switch on sending when you need it — one click, no second registration, no migration.
Verteco operates its own Slovak Access Point, certified by the Slovak Financial Administration (EFSK000031, seat PSK001128) with 19/19 OpenPeppol conformance tests in production — a certified “digital postman”, not a reseller. Statutory tax reporting (C5 / TDD) is prepared and submitted for you automatically.
See the e-invoicing pricing, compare how to choose an Access Point, or simply activate your free inbox and tick the mandate off your list.
