E-invoicing and Peppol with Business Central in the UK

Business Central handles Peppol through Microsoft’s E-Document app, which supports the PEPPOL BIS 3.0 format as standard and reaches the Peppol network through a connector to an external e-invoicing service, which needs a contract with that provider. Microsoft’s e-invoicing FAQ does not list the UK among its country localisations, so a UK company uses the standard E-Document app, which Microsoft says is available across all localisations.

This guide sets out what gov.uk has confirmed about the UK mandate, what Microsoft’s own documentation says about e-invoicing in Business Central, and what receiving e-invoices alongside PDFs means for an AP team. Every source was checked on 16 October 2026.

What has gov.uk confirmed about UK e-invoicing?

• The Budget 2025 document (26 November 2025) says that from April 2029 businesses will be required to issue all VAT invoices as e-invoices, with an implementation roadmap to be published at Budget 2026.

• The Tax update 2026 summary (23 June 2026) announced that Peppol will be the core interoperability network for e-invoicing in the UK.

• The Budget is on 28 October 2026, as set out in the Chancellor’s letter to the Treasury Committee of 31 July 2026.

The formats, the exact rules for connecting and any phasing are still to come in the roadmap. Our guide to the UK e-invoicing mandate covers what is settled and what is open.

What does Microsoft say about e-invoicing in Business Central?

Microsoft’s Electronic Invoicing FAQ, last updated 19 January 2026, says:

• E-invoicing runs through the E-Document app, a standard framework available across all localisations.

• The latest Peppol version in the standard version of Business Central is PEPPOL BIS 3.0. Some localisations add their own formats.

• The built-in Peppol support uses APIs from a set of external e-invoicing services. The connectors are already technically enabled, but you need a contract with the service provider, and using the service may cost extra.

• Microsoft adds country e-invoicing localisations based on when B2B requirements take effect. The FAQ covers Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Mexico, India, Italy, Australia and New Zealand, and does not mention the UK.

Microsoft’s guide to setting up e-documents shows PEPPOL BIS 3.0 as one of the Document Format options on an e-document service.

Do you need a Peppol access point for Business Central?

Yes, if you want to send or receive over Peppol. Business Central does not join the network on its own: the connector links your E-Document Service to an external service, and that service is the Peppol access point. You choose the connector on the E-Document Services page and sign a contract with its provider. Our explainer on whether you need a Peppol access point covers what an access point does and who needs one before 2029.

What is a Peppol ID in Business Central?

Microsoft’s page on using e-documents in the purchase process, updated 2 October 2026, says that when an e-document arrives, Business Central matches it to a vendor by checking these in order:

1. GLN, from the Vendor card.

2. VAT Registration No., from the Vendor card.

3. Participation Identifier, from the Service Participant page, using the E-Document Service Participation field on the Vendor card.

4. Name and address, from the Vendor card.

On a Peppol service, the Participation Identifier holds the supplier’s Peppol participant ID. Your own Peppol ID, the address suppliers send to, is registered on the network through the provider behind your connector. OpenPeppol’s Peppol Directory lets you look a business up by name or endpoint ID, though listing is optional, so not every Peppol receiver appears there.

How do received e-invoices become purchase invoices?

From the same Microsoft page, the receiving steps are:

1. On each vendor’s Receiving FastTab, set Receive E-Document To as Purchase Invoice or Purchase Order. Choosing Purchase Order makes Business Central try to update an existing order for that vendor.

2. Collect incoming documents with the Receive batch job on the Job Queue, or choose Receive on the E-Document Service page. Microsoft notes the batch job works only in countries or regions where the functionality is available.

3. With automatic processing, Business Central creates a purchase draft. If you require confirmation first, choose View extracted data and check the details.

4. Review the draft, choose Create Document, then review and post the purchase invoice. The E-invoice Lines FastTab shows the imported lines in a readable form.

Microsoft says the most common error is Business Central not recognising a vendor’s lines. For lines posted to a G/L account, use Map Text to Account. For items, map the vendor’s item numbers to yours with item references.

What changes for an AP team receiving e-invoices alongside PDFs?

E-invoicing stays voluntary for most UK suppliers until April 2029, so a Business Central team that starts receiving over Peppol will still receive PDFs from everyone else. Handling both is where the practical questions sit:

• Two front doors. Peppol invoices arrive on the E-Documents page, and PDFs still arrive by email. Someone has to watch both.

• Different checks. An e-invoice arrives with its fields already structured, while a PDF has to be read and keyed. Both still need matching to the order and approval under the same rules.

• Duplicates across channels. A supplier switching to Peppol may send the same invoice by email as well during the changeover.

• Line mapping. Vendor lines that Business Central cannot recognise need text mappings or item references before they post, as Microsoft describes.

For the manual routes into Business Central, see our guide to importing purchase invoices into Business Central.

Where Stratas fits

Stratas receives Peppol, UBL and XML invoices alongside the PDFs and scans your suppliers send today, and every format is validated, approved and posted to your ERP the same way. Your team works one queue, whichever way each supplier sends. Supplier details, VAT, totals, order references and duplicates are checked on arrival, and anything that fails is held with the reason attached.

Invoice number, supplier, order reference, VAT and totals map to the fields Business Central expects, then post with the original file and a complete audit trail. See how that works on our Business Central AP automation page, and for the mandate timeline, our UK e-invoicing mandate guide and e-invoicing overview.