ViDA for accounting firms: the timeline and what it means
What does ViDA mean for your firm? The timeline from 2025 to 2035, what the Netherlands still has to decide, and what to do now.
What is ViDA?
ViDA (VAT in the Digital Age) is the European legislative package that adapts VAT rules to digital invoicing and reporting. It was definitively adopted by the Ecofin Council on 11 March 2025 and makes structured e-invoicing mandatory for cross-border B2B transactions within the EU from 1 July 2030. For accounting and bookkeeping firms, this is the file that will shape how clients invoice and how VAT data reaches the tax authorities of the member states over the coming years. There is time, but not unlimited time: the software choices your firm makes now determine how smooth the transition will be.
The three pillars
ViDA consists of three parts:
- E-invoicing and digital reporting requirements (DRR). Structured e-invoices become the norm for cross-border B2B transactions, combined with near-real-time reporting of invoice data to the tax authority.
- Platform economy. Platforms facilitating short-term rental or passenger transport, for example, take on a larger role in VAT collection under certain conditions.
- Single VAT registration. Businesses will need to register for VAT in multiple member states in fewer situations.
For day-to-day practice at a firm, the first pillar carries by far the most weight. It affects the invoice flows of every client with EU trade, and depending on a Dutch decision still to come, possibly the domestic flows as well.
The timeline at a glance
| Moment | What happens |
|---|---|
| 11 March 2025 | ViDA definitively adopted by the Ecofin Council |
| Since 2025 | Member states may introduce a domestic e-invoicing mandate without a separate EU derogation |
| 1 July 2030 | Mandatory structured e-invoicing plus near-real-time digital reporting for cross-border B2B transactions within the EU, in line with EN 16931 |
| January 2035 | Existing national real-time reporting systems must be harmonised with the EU system |
Two points deserve explanation. First: since the package entered into force in 2025, any member state can introduce a domestic e-invoicing mandate on its own initiative. Previously, a separate European derogation was required. That explains why national mandates can arrive sooner than the European deadline of 2030, and why neighbouring countries are moving at different speeds.
Second: the 1 July 2030 date concerns cross-border B2B transactions within the EU. An invoice from a Dutch wholesaler to a German customer falls under it. An invoice between two Dutch companies does not, unless the Netherlands introduces a domestic mandate of its own.
What the Netherlands still has to decide
The Dutch Ministry of Finance commissioned EY to examine whether the Netherlands should introduce a domestic e-invoicing mandate on top of the European obligations. A striking finding: virtually all consulted parties prefer Peppol as the infrastructure. How that network works is explained in Peppol explained for accountants.
The choice on the table is often summarised as ViDA-A versus ViDA-B. In the A scenario, the Netherlands implements only the European obligations. In the B scenario, a domestic mandate is added. The expectation is that the summer of 2026 will bring clarity on that choice, and that a public internet consultation on the draft bill will follow in the fourth quarter of 2026. Note: this is the expected schedule, not a settled fact. In short: in the A scenario the mandate mainly affects clients with EU trade, while in the B scenario it touches virtually every B2B invoice in the portfolio.
What this means for your firm
Firms occupy a double role in this file. You run the ledgers in which e-invoices will arrive and be created, and for many clients you are the first port of call as soon as coverage appears in the trade press or from software vendors. If you want to stay ahead of the questions, you need a simple story: what is fixed, what is still open, and what the firm is already doing about it.
What is fixed: structured e-invoicing is coming, in any case for cross-border B2B transactions from 1 July 2030. What is open: whether and when the Netherlands introduces a domestic mandate, and with what transition periods.
What to do this year and next
1. Map the portfolio
Identify which clients have cross-border B2B transactions within the EU. The EC Sales Lists your firm already files are a useful first source, see EC Sales List and VAT return. This group will face the 2030 mandate regardless of the Dutch decision.
2. Test the software
Ask your vendor specifically whether the package can send and receive e-invoices compliant with EN 16931, and through which infrastructure. That standard prescribes which data an e-invoice must contain in structured form; a PDF, even with a text layer, does not qualify. A vendor who is vague about this is a signal in itself.
3. Inform clients in measured doses
Clients with EU trade can be told now that something changes in 2030 and that the firm is tracking it. Clients without EU trade only need active outreach once the Netherlands has made its choice. One paragraph in a newsletter is enough at this stage.
4. Track the Dutch decision
Put the expected moments in the firm calendar: clarity on the scenario in the summer of 2026, and the internet consultation expected after that. A consultation is also an opportunity for the firm, or the professional body, to provide input on workability.
What you do not need to do yet
There is no reason for haste or for alarming client letters. The European obligation sits at 1 July 2030, and nothing has been decided about a Dutch domestic mandate. Rushing wholesale migrations to other packages, forcing clients onto e-invoicing now, or billing advisory hours on scenarios that are not yet settled: all of it can wait.
What cannot wait is factoring this into software choices. Firms that were already planning a package switch or expansion in the coming years would be wise to treat e-invoicing and EN 16931 support as a hard criterion. That way you avoid having to choose again in 2029.
Software as the quiet early decision
For firms, the shift to e-invoicing is above all a processing question: invoices will soon arrive in structured form and need to land in the ledger without manual work. Firms that want purchase invoices and clients\' e-invoices processed automatically: Giroo Purchasing.
Reviewed: August 2026. Dutch decision-making on a domestic mandate is still in progress; expectations about timing may change.