eInvoice data requirements

Mandatory and optional fields

An eInvoice has mandatory data fields. As a government buyer, you should not need to specify these. But to be able to process and pay eInvoices you may need more than the mandatory information.

You should ensure your suppliers understand your requirements and can include what you need in the eInvoice or in a supporting document attached to the eInvoice.

Suppliers may not be able to provide everything you need due to limitations in their accounting software. Always work with your suppliers to understand their capabilities and find a balance between what you need and what they can send.

The following image shows the mandatory data fields and some commonly needed extra information.

For the full list of the Peppol eInvoice data fields, including whether they are categorised as mandatory, 'best practice' or optional, see the Invoice Content Practice StatementExternal Link.

Reference numbers

Reference numbers are used for data matching or to route eInvoices to the correct person or team to confirm receipt of goods or services and approve the invoice. They include:

• purchase order (PO) number
• contract number
• project number
• tender number
• buyer-assigned reference – for example, location code assigned to an individual, team, branch or location. Buyer contact details may also be used instead of a number.

You will need to tell your supplier which reference number(s) should be quoted on the eInvoice, so it can be processed efficiently. PO and contract numbers are commonly used by buyers to help them match eInvoices with approved spending.

If a PO or contract number is not used, you will need an alternative buyer-assigned reference. When opting for a buyer-assigned reference, you should select a value that can be:

• easily validated by your system
• used to automatically direct the eInvoice to the correct person or business team.

Your supplier may enter a reference number against a different label in their system to what you expect. Your systems should provide flexibility to search all fields in an eInvoice for a reference number. This process should ideally be automated.

Sellers may also need to read their software help files to check where to enter and how to format the number, so it comes through correctly.

Note: It is mandatory to include either a PO number or a buyer reference with a Peppol eInvoice.

Buyer contact details

For some buyers, it’s crucial their suppliers provide the buyer’s contact details on the eInvoice. For instance, you may not require a PO or other reference number when buying some goods or services valued less than $10,000. So, you will need the buyer’s contact details to identify who to send the eInvoice to, for approval and then payment.

Most small businesses when trading with each other do not use a PO or other reference number. An email, phone number or contact name are often used. In most cases, the buyer’s email address is the preferred option.

Buyer contact details may be used as a buyer-assigned reference and could be entered in a 'buyer reference' field.

Payee financial account

Your suppliers should ideally provide payee bank account details on your eInvoices, as these are critical for fraud risk management, and vendor validation and verification processes.

Put the information into the free-text notes field if a specific payment details field isn't available, rather than in an attachment. This should speed up eInvoice processing by removing the need to manually open an attachment.

eInvoice attachments

Attachments are not mandatory but are supported by most systems. In certain scenarios you may require attachments to complement and to help process the eInvoices. An example are labour hire timesheets.

Peppol supports formats including PDF, CSV, JPEG, PNG and ODS. You may be sent any of these, so ideally your system needs to be able to receive and display them.

It is not mandatory for sellers to attach a PDF version of the invoice to the eInvoice they send. Not all sending solutions are capable of this and eInvoices should not be rejected on this basis if you have received all the required invoice data the eInvoice XML. A Peppol eInvoice is not just an envelope to deliver a PDF invoice, the eInvoice is the invoice.

More than eInvoices

As an international e-procurement framework, Peppol supports many document typesExternal Link, including invoice responses and purchase orders. Not all eInvoicing software supports all the document types available in Australia. So, if you do require more, talk to your service provider to see what options you have.