Global standard for CTC electronic invoicing to fight VAT fraud
Peppol CTC (Continuous Transaction Controls) is a technical architecture developed in 2021 by PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) that seeks to set a new standard for pre-clearance e-invoicing regimes based on CTC. It aims to improve interoperability between national e-invoicing regimes, leveraging existing e-invoicing infrastructure and Peppol implementations.
Since April 2019, EU states must use Peppol standard for B2G invoicing. Italy has already introduced mandatory e-invoicing in 2019. Poland, France, Belgium and Romania have started their roll out – see global e-invoicing tracker. Many have been based on custom web services and XML for invoice reporting.
The European Commission is undertaking an e-invoicing and digital reporting requirements review this year to help standardise member states’ approach to VAT reporting. This as part of its wider VAT in the Digital Age reforms.
Read about our VAT e-invoicing product, which not only creates and submits e-invoices to global tax authorities, but is unique in providing full audit against local tax legislation. And since it is build on the same application as our VAT Filer, all of your sales or purchase e-invoices are fully reconciled to your VAT returns.
What is Peppol?
Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine (Peppol) is a e-document standard (Peppol Business Interpoperability Specifications BIS) and network platform (eDelivery Network) for procurement and document exchange established by the European Commission in 2008. It has now been adopted globally in over 40 countries (32 countries in Europe plus Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and USA). It increasingly will supplement and even replace national e-invoicing standards and platforms.
It enables the simple cross-border exchange of business documents – notably e-invoices – through a secure network. Peppol ID’s mean senders and receivers can securely recognise their counterparty. It is a faster and more secure alternative to paper or PDF invoices.
Peppol is based on three major pillars:
- the network (Peppol eDelivery Network).
- the document specifications (Peppol Business Interoperability Specifications ‘BIS’)
- the legal framework that defines the network governance (Peppol Transport Infrastructure Agreements – TIA)
What documents can be sent on Peppol?
There are no limits to business documents that can be sent, but the common examples are:
- Invoices
- Orders
- Shipping documents
- Timecards
- Goods catalogues
CTC e-invoicing and real-time models
| Invoice reporting model | Examples | Features |
| 1. Central platform exchange | Italy, Turkey | Platform responsible for invoice forwarding to customer |
| Customer or receiver may review and reject invoice | ||
| 2. Central clearance | Govt platform accepts invoices, validates, and buyer acknowledges invoice | |
| Brazil, Colombia | Pre-clearance variation - clearance before invoice exchange | |
| Chile, Costa Rica | Post-clearance - clearance short time after exchange | |
| Document types not regulated and therefore inconsistent and may resort to email and similar | ||
| 3. Decentralised clearance | Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, France | Certified e-invoice agent (PAC) submitts inoices |
| Document types not regulated and therefore inconsistent and may resort to email and similar | ||
| 4. Real time digital reporting | Spain, Hungary, South Korea | Invoice listing submitted immediately after invoice issued |
| No acceptance or regulation of invoice by tax authorities |
