Next on the digital horizon – e-invoicing
Last Updated on 3 July 2026
Any sole trader or company freelancer will know how important it is to get invoicing right. One missing code number, or the wrong format, and you might not get paid.
I even have a whole helpsheet on late payments and how to avoid them >
The government has been consulting on the next step in invoicing – e-invoicing.
What is e-invoicing?
E-invoicing refers to the way sellers and buyers can invoice each other through a common digital system.
In theory, you click and send an invoice at the press of a button. The payer clicks a button at their end and it gets paid straight away, all done by computers talking to each other.
No inputting of information. No extra processes. All the relevant address, bank and Purchase Order information (etc.) will have been set up in advance to a common international standard.
Sounds too good to be true?
Who knows! Anything software-y tends to sound great until you realise there might be an extra cost.
Whether this is something everyone wants is another matter. But the government seems to be pushing ahead following the consultation in 2025.
You can read more on gov.uk here:
Is this the same as ‘Making Tax Digital’?
This is nothing to do with the current Making Tax Digital (MTD) plans, which will be a big change to the way sole traders and landlords will report tax information, starting in April 2026 for many..
But this feels like a natural extension of MTD.
If you’re a sole trader and haven’t got your head around Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, you need to start getting up to speed now.
More in my MTD section here >
No doubt e-invoicing would be integrated into the kind of ‘cloud accounting’ software like FreeAgent, QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, etc.. They can all generate ‘normal’ invoices already.
And it’s interesting to see that a visit to one of these software providers by the relevant minister is mentioned in the consultation announcement.
When might this happen?
April 2029 is being mooted for all business-to-business VAT invoices.
A lot has to be sorted first – eg if this is integrated into software, providers will have to be onboard. But once people are used to using MTD software, having it as an add-on might not scare the horses.
But will it benefit me?
The government is couching this as having two possible benefits to the likes of you and me:
- Get paid quicker
- Less paperwork
Let’s see.
What do you think?
The full consultation outline is on gov.uk here >
NB: David Thomas Media Ltd is not responsible for the content of other sites nor any financial advice provided by them.
Posted on 16 February 2025
