Iceland (2021 eInvoicing Country Sheet)

Legislation

In January 2020, the Icelandic Ministry of Finance and Economics transposed EU Directive EU/55/2014 through Regulation 44/2019 by requiring all public entities on national and sub-central levels to be able and willing to receive and process electronic invoices (eInvoices) based on Technical Specification TS-236 published by Icelandic Standards, which implements the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 in Iceland.

National regulation 505/2013 stipulates the requirements for content and transmission of eInvoices to ensure the authenticity and traceability required by tax and accounting legislation. The regulation also defines the framework for establishing eInvoicing exchange between trading parties. The regulation applies to invoices in any digital format for both public and private organisations.

eInvoicing platform and eInvoicing management solutions

Since 2020, Iceland is a Peppol Authority represented by the Icelandic Accounting Authority (FJS) on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and Economic affairs. Relevant legislation references the TS-236 technical specification that is published by Icelandic Standards, which defines the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 as the relevant CIUS for compliance to the EN 16931 in Iceland. The Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 CIUS as published by Peppol contains conditional rules that only apply for domestic seller or when both seller and buyer located in Iceland.

Approach for receiving and processing eInvoices

Economic operators can either connect through the Peppol network or by using Icelandic eInvoicing service providers referred as Peppol Access Points to submit eInvoices. These providers provide free of charge services for economic operators up to a certain amount of eInvoices. Additionally, the Icelandic Accounting Authority (FJS) provides a web portal where eInvoices can be sent to all government organisations.

Iceland does not impose the use of eInvoices through legislation or regulations. Nevertheless, since the 30 June 2015, the City of Reykjavik and since the 1 January 2020, the Icelandic Accounting Authority (FJS), only accept eInvoices complying to TS-236 from economic operators. PDF invoices are not accepted. Several other municipalities have made similar requirements.

eInvoicing implementation in sub-central level contracting authorities 

There is distinction made between the central and the sub-central levels. All public authorities have to follow the guidelines of the Regulation 44/2019.

Status on the implementation of the European Standard on eInvoicing (EN)

The EN is fully implemented through the usage of Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 that contains additional country rules applicable in domestic trade.

Monitoring eInvoicing implementation 

There is no specific approach mentioned toward the eInvoicing monitoring yet. The monitoring so far should be via the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in place. 

Use of Core Invoicing Usage Specifications (CIUS) at national level

TS-236 is a technical specification that implements Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 in Iceland which contains national specifications that support Icelandic VAT invoice legislation and national business practices. 

Additional information

In 2020 the INV-18 project undertaken with the cooperation with CEF eInvoicing and eDelivery, delivered a report that involved 8 Icelandic public entities prepare their ERP systems to support the EN standard on eInvoicing and use Peppol eDelivery Access Points and Service Media Publisher (SMP) registry services and validations. 

VERIFIED

Last updated:  Jun 29, 2021 12:01