E-invoicing reaches European B2B orders. What it means for a Shopify store.
Belgium since January, Poland since February and April, Germany from 2027: invoices between businesses must now be structured files, not PDFs. Which of your orders that covers, which it does not, and what to check.
For a century and a half an invoice was a document a person read. In more and more of Europe it now has to be a file a machine reads: a structured e-invoice in a set format, sent through a set network. The rules reach Shopify stores through one door — orders from other businesses — and it is worth knowing exactly how wide that door is.
What it covers, and what it does not
The mandates below are about invoices between businesses inside one country. A sale to a consumer is outside them, and so is most of what a Shopify store sells. What they reach is the order where the buyer is a company that wants a VAT invoice — wholesale, trade customers, a business buying for its office.
Belgium — since 1 January 2026
Since 1 January 2026 all Belgian enterprises liable to VAT have to use structured electronic invoices in their transactions with each other. The Belgian administration allowed a period of tolerance in the first three months of 2026. A PDF sent by email is not a structured e-invoice.
Poland — KSeF since February and April 2026
Poland’s national e-invoicing system, KSeF, became mandatory on 1 February 2026 for taxpayers whose 2024 sales, including tax, exceeded PLN 200 million, and on 1 April 2026 for everyone else. Until the end of 2026, a taxpayer whose invoiced sales stay at or below PLN 10,000 gross a month may still use paper or ordinary electronic invoices.
Two exclusions matter to Shopify stores. Invoices to private individuals who are not running a business are outside the mandatory KSeF. So are sellers with no seat or fixed establishment in Poland — a store shipping to Poland from elsewhere in the EU is not brought into KSeF by those sales alone.
Germany — receiving since 2025, issuing from 2027
Every German business has had to be able to receive e-invoices since 1 January 2025. From 1 January 2027, a business whose turnover in the previous year exceeded €800,000 must issue e-invoices for its domestic B2B sales — so 2026 is the year that decides it. From 1 January 2028 the obligation applies to all businesses. An e-invoice here means a structured format that follows the European standard EN 16931, such as XRechnung or ZUGFeRD.
What a Shopify store should check
- How many of your orders are to businesses in Belgium, Poland or Germany — and whether you are established in that country. A store established elsewhere is in a different position from a local one; check yours with your adviser.
- Where your invoices come from. An order-confirmation PDF, from Shopify or an invoicing app, is not a structured e-invoice. If you are in scope, the invoice has to come from software that issues the required format.
- Your 2026 turnover, if you are a German business near €800,000: it decides whether issuing starts in 2027 or 2028.
- Consumer orders: nothing changes for them under these mandates.
Profflow does not issue invoices. What it does is list your business sales — the orders where a buyer gave a valid VAT number and was charged no VAT under the reverse charge, checked against VIES and kept with the date of the check — so you can see how many orders these rules actually reach before deciding what to change.
