Slovakia: Mandatory E-Invoicing from 1 January 2027

From 1 January 2027, Slovakia will require mandatory e-invoicing and digital reporting for domestic B2B and B2G transactions. A PDF sent by email will no longer be a valid VAT invoice for these transactions. For Asian groups, this mainly affects their Slovak subsidiaries and branches, and changes to the group ERP are often the critical path.

At a glance. From 1 January 2027, Slovak-established VAT payers must issue domestic B2B and B2G invoices as structured e-invoices through a certified digital postman, with invoice data reported to the Financial Administration on issue. Every Slovak-established legal entity and business must also be able to receive e-invoices, even if it is not a VAT payer. Foreign companies registered only under Section 5 stay outside the mandate until 1 July 2030. With go-live less than three months away, provider selection and end-to-end testing should start now.

1. What Is Changing

The rules are set out in Act No. 385/2025 Coll., which amends the Slovak VAT Act (Act No. 222/2004 Coll.) and introduces the e-invoicing and digital reporting rules linked to the EU's VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package.

Slovakia applies the rules in two phases. A transitional regime from 1 January 2027 to 30 June 2030 covers domestic supplies between businesses established in Slovakia. From 1 July 2030, the rules extend to intra-EU transactions and the domestic regime moves to the permanent EU model.

2. Who Is Affected

The mandate covers domestic B2B and B2G supplies, including advance payments, made by VAT payers established in Slovakia (registered under Section 4 or as a VAT group) to customers established in Slovakia. Sales to consumers, VAT-exempt supplies such as financial and insurance services, and simplified invoices up to EUR 100 including VAT are excluded. Every Slovak-established legal entity and business must also be able to receive e-invoices, even if it is not a VAT payer.

Assessing whether your business is affected. Businesses should assess their obligations based on their Slovak VAT registration status, place of establishment, and the nature and location of their transactions. Particular attention should be paid to domestic supplies, advance payments, exempt transactions, and arrangements involving foreign entities or potential fixed establishments in Slovakia. A VAT registration in Slovakia does not, by itself, resolve every question concerning the scope of the mandate. The position for typical group structures is:

3. How the System Works

The supplier's ERP or accounting system passes each e-invoice to a digital postman, a provider certified by the Financial Administration. The postman delivers it through the Peppol network to the customer's provider and, at the same time, reports the required invoice data to the Financial Administration. The model does not require prior clearance by a central government portal. However, the delivery service must support automated checks of formal invoice requirements and reliable identification of the sender and recipient. The 15-day invoicing deadline is unchanged, corrections to an e-invoice must also be e-invoices, and no customer consent is needed when the e-invoice is sent through a digital postman.

For suppliers, reporting happens automatically when the invoice is handed to the digital postman. The enacted law also requires customers to report data from received e-invoices within five days, but a pending amendment would remove this duty (see section 4). The VAT return and control statement continue until 30 June 2030.

Penalties. Reporting failures can lead to fines of up to EUR 10,000, or EUR 100,000 for repeated breaches. Automatic transmission by the digital postman does not relieve the business of checking the outcome: keep records, track transmission status, data errors and exceptions, retain evidence of any provider technical failure, and promptly complete any outstanding reporting.

Technical and data requirements

Behind the process, the key technical and data requirements are:

• Structured format. The e-invoice must be a structured XML file that can be processed automatically. A PDF, scan or image is not an e-invoice, although a PDF view may travel as an attachment to the XML.
• EN 16931 and Peppol BIS. The invoice data must follow EN 16931, the European semantic standard for e-invoices, expressed in an applicable syntax such as UBL 2.1 or UN/CEFACT CII. Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is the business implementation specification built on these standards, and the Slovak Peppol architecture uses Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 in UBL 2.1. Current program materials indicate no separate Slovak CIUS, so the core format is Peppol BIS / EN 16931. However, the Financial Administration publishes Slovak Peppol rules and technical specifications, and systems should be validated against the latest version.
• Peppol delivery and identifiers. Invoices are sent and received through certified digital postmen connected to the Slovak Peppol network. Slovak businesses are addressed using scheme 0245 followed by their 10-digit tax number (DIČ), not their IČ DPH VAT number.
• Tax data reporting (SK TDD). Invoice data reaches the Financial Administration in the Peppol SK Tax Data Document (SK TDD), a structured extract of the invoice and the reporting payload itself. In a standard supplier-issued invoice, the supplier's digital postman (C2) delivers the invoice to the customer's postman (C3) and sends the SK TDD to the Financial Administration (C5) in parallel. Under the enacted law and the current technical specification, the customer's postman (C3) also sends an SK TDD for each invoice received by a Slovak VAT payer (C4 → C3 → C5). Parliamentary Print 1454 would remove this customer-side duty, so it should not be assumed long term. Self-billing, where the customer issues the invoice in the name and on behalf of the supplier, follows a separate Peppol self-billing process.
• Correct invoice content. Supplier and customer identifiers, invoice number and date, supply or payment date, quantity and description of goods or services, taxable amount, VAT rate and amount, exemption or reverse-charge indicators and references to corrected invoices must be mapped accurately where relevant, because the SK TDD is generated from these fields.
• Agreed non-Peppol B2B flows. During the 2027–2030 transition, business partners may agree to exchange EN 16931 invoices (UBL 2.1 or CII) outside Peppol, for example through existing EDI solutions; the customer's consent is required. For these flows, there is no e-reporting obligation until 30 June 2030 and the control statement remains mandatory. This is a specific transitional arrangement, not a general exemption from the mandate: non-Peppol invoices must still meet the applicable format and other statutory requirements, and every in-scope business must still be able to receive e-invoices through a digital postman.
• Certified providers. A digital postman must be certified within OpenPeppol, including Testbed validation, and accredited by the Financial Administration. It needs a registered office or place of business in the EU but does not have to be established in Slovakia.

4. Timeline and Pending Changes

How to read the dates. The new rules apply to supplies made on or after 1 January 2027. An invoice issued in January 2027 for a December 2026 supply follows the old rules.

Pending amendment. A further VAT Act amendment (Parliamentary Print 1454) passed its first reading in the National Council on 6 October 2026 and is now in the second reading. It would remove the customer reporting duty and introduce a tolerance period from 1 January to 30 June 2027 for certain e-invoicing and reporting failures. The tolerance period would not cover the obligation to be able to receive e-invoices, and the obligation to issue and receive e-invoices from 1 January 2027 would not change. Until the amendment is adopted, businesses should plan against the enacted rules.

5. What Your Business Should Do Now

With less than three months to go, the main risk is leaving testing until late December. Connecting to a provider is only one step; the full invoice process, from master data to archiving, must work.

• Map entities and flows. Identify which Slovak entities are in scope and which sales and purchase flows are domestic, exempt or cross-border.
• Select a digital postman. Choose a provider accredited by the Financial Administration. Verify its current accreditation status, compatibility with your ERP or accounting system, support for the invoice scenarios you need, and ability to provide reliable transmission records and technical support.
• Prepare your systems and data. Check that the system can produce compliant XML and review VAT codes. Validate customer and supplier master data, including DIČ, VAT ID, address and Peppol recipient identifier, and test the full invoice lifecycle, including advance payment invoices, credit notes, self-billing and corrective invoices.
• Prepare accounts payable. Make sure incoming XML invoices can be received, approved, booked and matched without relying on PDF copies.
• Test and archive. Run end-to-end tests now and define how rejected invoices, transmission failures and reporting failures will be handled. Keep the original structured invoice, transmission status and relevant processing records, and confirm that the retention period meets applicable law.

For groups headquartered in China, Japan or Korea, the critical path is often the group ERP. Localization changes may need approval and IT resources at headquarters, so change requests should be raised now, and the responsibilities of the headquarters ERP team, the local finance team and the provider should be clearly allocated. Slovak customers will expect compliant e-invoices from day one, and non-compliant invoices risk rejection and payment delays.

Contact Us

Moore EU Asia helps Japanese, Chinese and Korean companies review which of their Slovak entities and transactions are in scope, check provider and system readiness, and coordinate with the headquarters team. Please contact us if you have any questions.

This article provides general information as at 20 October 2026 and does not constitute advice on a specific tax position. The applicable legislation, including the status of pending amendments, and the business's circumstances must be assessed.