ViDA is here. What changes for your invoices, ERP and accounting

The EU's ViDA package changes VAT rules in stages.

Before an ERP team picks a date or an interface, it has to separate three flows that the package treats differently.

• domestic invoicing
• cross-border B2B transactions
• platform sales

Match the timetable to the transaction

OSS and IOSS clarifications apply from January 2027. Single VAT Registration measures follow in July 2028, together with rules for short-term accommodation and road passenger transport platforms, though Member States may defer those platform measures until January 2030. Digital reporting for cross-border B2B transactions starts in July 2030.

Confirm domestic scope and effective dates under the relevant country's law. The EU timetable alone does not set the deadline for every Slovak invoice.

Define the message and delivery contract

EN 16931 defines an e-invoice semantic model. UBL and CII are supported syntaxes. The applicable profile adds its own rules and required fields, while delivery requirements are specified separately, so where structured invoicing is required, no PDF made for human readers will replace the data message.

An XML export alone does not prove correctness.

Map partner identifiers, VAT components and currency to their sources, then do the same for order references. Give each field an owner. Before replacing the ERP, check whether the current supplier can add the required profile and interface. Use that finding alongside migration costs, support and the other requirements.

Test failure as well as normal delivery

• Send a standard invoice and a credit note, then one foreign-currency document. Check totals and references to the original.
• Send the same message twice. The importer must not create a second invoice.
• Interrupt the connection after acceptance. Delivery status should prevent blind retries.
• Omit a required field, then correct the rejected document. Give the error an owner and a traceable state.

Take retention periods and archive access from applicable law. Keep acknowledgements and corrections, and test archive recovery, because documents that go missing in the migration will not survive an audit.

Our software modernization service starts with the current process. A technical assessment can establish the interface and data changes needed for a specific scheme.

For changes around an existing ERP, see enterprise system modules and integrations.