EU VAT invoice requirements: Article 226 fields and the move to e-invoicing

If you sell to customers in the European Union, your invoices are legal documents. The EU VAT Directive (Council Directive 2006/112/EC) sets out what a VAT invoice must contain, and member states are now moving from PDF invoices to structured electronic invoices exchanged over networks such as Peppol.

This article explains the mandatory fields under Article 226, when a simplified invoice is allowed, and how the e-invoicing wave affects Shopify stores.

Disclaimer: this is general information, not tax or legal advice. National rules add their own details — always confirm with your accountant or local tax authority.

Who needs to issue a VAT invoice?

In broad terms, a VAT-registered business must issue an invoice for supplies to other businesses and to public bodies, for certain distance sales and intra-community supplies, and whenever a member state requires it. Many countries don’t require a full invoice for everyday sales to consumers, but customers can often request one — and a complete invoice is always the safe default.

The mandatory invoice fields under Article 226

Article 226 lists the details a full VAT invoice must contain. Here they are in plain language:

1. Date of issue.
2. A sequential number that uniquely identifies the invoice, based on one or more series.
3. The supplier’s VAT identification number.
4. The customer’s VAT identification number when the customer is liable for the VAT (reverse charge) or for intra-community supplies of goods.
5. Full name and address of both the supplier and the customer.
6. Quantity and nature of the goods supplied, or the extent and nature of the services.
7. Date of supply (or of the payment on account), where it differs from the issue date.
8. Taxable amount per VAT rate or exemption, the unit price excluding VAT, and any discounts or rebates not included in the unit price.
9. The VAT rate applied.
10. The VAT amount payable.

Some invoices also need a specific mention:

• “Reverse charge” when the customer accounts for the VAT.
• An exemption reference — the applicable provision, or a statement that the supply is exempt.
• “Self-billing” when the customer issues the invoice on the supplier’s behalf.
• “Cash accounting” when VAT becomes chargeable on receipt of payment.
• Margin scheme mentions for travel agents, second-hand goods, works of art, collector’s items and antiques.
• The tax representative’s details (VAT number, name and address) where a representative is liable for the VAT.

Simplified invoices (Article 226b)

Member states may allow a simplified invoice for low-value sales — generally where the amount does not exceed €100 — and for corrective documents. A simplified invoice needs only:

• the date of issue;
• identification of the supplier;
• identification of the type of goods or services supplied;
• the VAT amount payable, or the data needed to calculate it;
• for a corrective document, a specific and unambiguous reference to the original invoice.

Simplified invoices are not allowed for intra-community supplies of goods or for some cross-border cases, so check before relying on them.

Credit notes and corrections

A refund doesn’t delete the original invoice. Issue a credit note (or corrective invoice) that references the original invoice number, shows the corrected amounts and the VAT adjustment, and carries its own sequential number.

How to make your Shopify invoices Article 226-ready

Most of the checklist comes down to your template:

• Show your legal business name, address and VAT number in the header.
• Make sure invoice numbers are sequential and never reused.
• Break down tax per rate in the totals, and show unit prices excluding VAT for B2B orders.
• Capture the customer’s company name and VAT number for business buyers.
• Add a “Reverse charge” note on qualifying B2B cross-border sales.
• Issue a credit note for every refund, referencing the original invoice.

EZ Order Printer templates include blocks for your tax number, registration number and bank details, per-rate tax lines, customer company details, and dedicated refund / credit note documents — and every label can be rewritten to match local wording such as “Rechnung” or “Facture”.

From PDF to e-invoicing: what’s changing

An e-invoice in the regulatory sense is not a PDF. It is a structured file — typically UBL or CII XML following the European standard EN 16931 — that the buyer’s system can process automatically. Several countries now require this format for business-to-business sales:

Country	What applies
Italy	Mandatory e-invoicing through the national SDI platform since 2019
Germany	All businesses must be able to receive e-invoices since January 2025; issuing becomes mandatory in phases from 2027
Belgium	Structured B2B e-invoices via Peppol mandatory since January 2026
Poland	National KSeF platform mandatory in phases from February 2026
France	From September 2026 all businesses must be able to receive e-invoices; large and mid-sized companies must issue them, smaller ones from 2027

Timelines move, so treat this table as a snapshot (September 2026) and check your country’s latest guidance.

What is Peppol?

Peppol is an international network for exchanging e-invoices. Instead of emailing a PDF, you send a structured invoice through a certified access point, which delivers it to the buyer’s access point. Belgium uses Peppol as its national standard, and many other countries accept or encourage it.

ViDA: the EU-wide direction

The VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package, adopted in 2025, makes e-invoicing the default in the EU. Member states can introduce domestic e-invoicing mandates without special permission, and from July 2030 structured e-invoicing with digital reporting becomes mandatory for intra-EU B2B transactions.

What this means for Shopify merchants

• Selling mainly to consumers? A complete, well-formatted PDF invoice remains the norm for B2C in most countries today.
• Selling to businesses in Belgium, Poland, Italy or France? Your B2B invoices may need to be structured e-invoices sent through the national platform or Peppol, not just PDFs.
• Planning ahead: make sure your invoice data is complete now — VAT numbers, sequential numbering, per-rate tax — because every e-invoice format relies on the same fields.

Structured e-invoicing and Peppol delivery are on the EZ Order Printer roadmap. Today the app helps you get the content right: complete, branded, multi-language invoices and credit notes with the VAT details EU customers expect.

Install EZ Order Printer to make your invoices EU-ready — free during early access.