NemHandel automatic enrolment; Peppol consolidation by 2029; SAF-T expansion
Denmark has pushed back the next stage of its e-invoicing programme by two months, from 1 January to 1 March 2027.
The change affects Denmark’s campaign to increase voluntary B2B e-invoicing through the NemHandel network. It is not yet a general B2B e-invoicing mandate. Instead, Denmark is using its digital bookkeeping rules to make structured e-invoicing increasingly the default way businesses exchange invoices.
The Danish Business Authority is also moving ahead with the consolidation of Denmark’s existing e-invoice formats onto a common Peppol-based specification ahead of the EU’s ViDA reforms.
1 March 2027 – automatic NemHandel enrolment
From 1 March 2027, providers of registered digital bookkeeping systems will have new obligations designed to increase adoption of NemHandel.
Users must be informed that they will be automatically registered in the NemHandelRegister, Denmark’s directory for businesses able to exchange structured electronic invoices.
Businesses will have four weeks to opt out. If they do not, their bookkeeping-system provider must register them.
This is important because registration means a business is identifiable as capable of receiving structured e-invoices through NemHandel.
The Danish Business Authority wants to significantly increase NemHandel registration during 2027.
E-invoicing becomes the default choice
Denmark is also changing how bookkeeping software presents invoicing to users.
When a business manually creates an invoice, its bookkeeping system must identify whether the customer is registered in NemHandel. Where it is, issuing a structured electronic invoice should be presented as a clear and straightforward option.
So Denmark is stopping short of mandatory domestic B2B e-invoicing. Instead, it is embedding e-invoicing into normal accounting processes and making participation in the network the default.
The distinction may become less significant in practice as adoption increases. Large businesses are also being encouraged to request e-invoices from suppliers, while utilities and other businesses are being encouraged to issue them.
NemHandel and current e-invoice formats
NemHandel is Denmark’s common infrastructure for exchanging electronic business documents between companies and public authorities.
It currently supports:
- OIOUBL for domestic transactions
- Peppol BIS for European and international interoperability
- the NemHandelRegister for identifying recipients
- AS4-based electronic document transmission.
Digital bookkeeping systems are already required to provide functionality for sending and receiving structured electronic invoices.
PDF invoices sent by email do not qualify as electronic invoices for these purposes.
Denmark moving to a single Peppol specification
The dual-format model is now temporary.
Denmark plans to phase out its existing OIOUBL and Peppol BIS specifications and replace them with a single common e-invoice specification based on Peppol.
The transition is expected to start in mid-2028, with the existing formats phased out by mid-2029.
This should remove the distinction between Denmark’s traditional domestic OIOUBL environment and its Peppol-based international infrastructure.
The direction is towards a common interoperable model capable of supporting both Danish and EU invoice exchange.
Preparing for ViDA July 2030
The timing is significant.
Denmark expects to complete its format migration in 2029, approximately a year before the EU VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) reforms introduce mandatory structured e-invoicing and Digital Reporting Requirements for intra-EU B2B transactions from 1 July 2030.
Denmark is therefore not simply increasing domestic e-invoice adoption. It is progressively aligning its underlying infrastructure with the interoperable European environment required by ViDA.
Businesses operating across the EU will increasingly need to manage domestic e-invoicing requirements alongside the common ViDA framework.
SAF-T requirements also expand
The e-invoicing changes form part of Denmark’s wider digital bookkeeping programme.
Registered digital bookkeeping systems must support the updated Danish SAF-T 2.1 from 1 January 2027.
The expanded SAF-T framework is designed to support transaction-level accounting data and greater standardisation. It also provides a foundation for future automated reporting to public authorities.
Businesses using non-registered systems, typically customised ERP environments, remain subject to different requirements and can currently continue supporting the more limited SAF-T 1.0 header file.
The Danish Business Authority has not yet published the full timetable for further expansion of SAF-T reporting.
What businesses should do
Businesses using registered bookkeeping software should check their readiness to receive and process structured e-invoices before March 2027. Unless they opt out, registration in NemHandel will increasingly make them visible to suppliers as electronic invoice recipients.
Businesses operating their own or non-registered ERP systems should separately review their NemHandel connectivity and their ability to issue, receive and process the required structured formats.
They should also factor the 2028–2029 migration towards the new common Peppol specification into their e-invoicing roadmaps.
Denmark’s gradual route to digital VAT
Denmark is taking a different route from EU countries imposing a sudden universal domestic B2B e-invoicing mandate.
Its approach combines mandatory digital bookkeeping, e-invoice capability, default NemHandel registration, software-driven encouragement to use structured invoices, SAF-T standardisation and, ultimately, migration to a common Peppol specification.
By 2029, Denmark aims to have a much more standardised Peppol-based invoicing environment in place, leaving it well positioned for the EU’s ViDA e-invoicing and digital reporting requirements from July 2030
Read our Danish VAT guide here.
EU review of Digital Reporting Requirements
The EU is also reviewing EU e-invoicing options as part of its VAT in the Digital Age reforms
