Self-billing support
Self-billing is a process where the buyer issues and sends an invoice on behalf of the supplier to the supplier through the Peppol network. The invoice refers to goods or services that the buyer has received and is responsible for documenting. In Peppol this process is defined in the Peppol BIS Self-Billing 3.0 specification, which ensures interoperability and VAT compliance across participating countries. Self-billed invoices must contain the same required data elements as standard invoices, including buyer and supplier identifiers, tax details, and references to the underlying commercial transaction. Before self-billing can be used, the supplier and buyer must have a prior agreement that explicitly authorizes the buyer to issue invoices on the supplier’s behalf, as required by VAT and e-invoicing legislation. This prior agreement is handled outside Maventa between the parties themselves.
To sum up, legally and according to Peppol standards, the buyer creates the invoice on behalf of the supplier, and the supplier is the recipient. The supplier remains the legal seller, and VAT liability stays with the supplier.
From an accounting perspective:
- The supplier has self-billing invoice as an incoming invoice. Recording it as sales
- The buyer is responsible for issuing it in their system, but does not “receive” it. Since the buyer already generated the invoice, the supplier does not issue another invoice for the same transaction.
Integrators need to make sure this distinction is clear, so there is no confusion about who handles what in accounting system.
There is nothing special required in terms of our REST API for sending self-billing invoices, as long as the generated Peppol BIS 3.0 XML is valid and includes the mandatory type code, customization ID and Profile ID indicating self-billing:
* <cbc:CustomizationID>urn:cen.eu:en16931:2017#compliant#urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:selfbilling:3.0</cbc:CustomizationID>
* <cbc:ProfileID>urn:fdc:peppol.eu:2017:poacc:selfbilling:01:1.0</cbc:ProfileID>
* <cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>389</cbc:InvoiceTypeCode>
To receive self-billing invoices, the receiving company must be able to accept this document type through Peppol. This is separate from standard invoice receiving and requires that the receiving party’s Peppol profile explicitly indicates support for self-billing invoices.
Self-billing invoices (and credit notes) must therefore be enabled in the receiving party’s Peppol profile registration before they will be delivered correctly via the Peppol network.
To enable self-billing receiving, you need to register a dedicated profile for the company that will receive self-billing invoices. This is separate additional profile registration from the current basic INVOICE_AND_CREDIT_NOTE profile.
Call POST /v1/company/profiles to create a new profile for Peppol self-billing receiving
Required information:
- Supported company profiles
-
SELF_BILLING_INVOICE- for receiving self-billing invoices -
SELF_BILLING_CREDIT_NOTE- for receiving self-billing credit notes
-
- Network:
PEPPOL
Once this profie is created, use GET /v1/company/profiles to verify that the profile has been activated for the PEPPOL network. When active company is set up to receive self-billing invoices and credit notes. This extra separate registration is necessary because not all ERPs support self-billing by default.
Self-billing via Peppol allows buyers to issue compliant electronic invoices on behalf of suppliers, but requires:
- A prior commercial agreement between buyer and supplier.
- Proper Peppol BIS Self-Billing 3.0 XML with correct type codes and identifiers.
- Supplier Peppol profile registration supporting self-billing invoices and self-billing credit notes.
By following these setup steps and ensuring compliance with Peppol and VAT requirements, you can reliably send and receive self-billing documents through the Peppol network.