E-invoices & Peppol

An e-invoice is not a PDF. It is structured data that travels from your accounting software straight into your client's, over a network called Peppol — no email, no attachment, no one retyping line items at the other end.

Peppol is the pan-European network for exchanging e-invoices. Since July 2025, Estonia's e-invoice operators are interconnected through it, so a single Peppol connection reaches Estonian businesses registered to receive e-invoices. Arvello registers your company on the network as part of invoice setup, and falls back to PDF email for clients who are not on it.

Getting verified

Before your company can send or receive e-invoices, it needs a one-off identity verification: an authorised representative completes a short identity check in the browser, which takes about two minutes.

While verification is outstanding, it appears on your dashboard checklist as Verify your company for e-invoicing. You are also prompted the first time you try to send an e-invoice: a dialog offers Open Verification, and once you have completed the check, Check Status confirms it.

Sending an invoice as an e-invoice

Whether a client can receive e-invoices is checked against the Peppol Directory using their registry code (registrikood — the company's number in the äriregister, Estonia's Business Register). Contacts that can are badged Accepts e-invoices, and a Check button on the contact re-queries the directory whenever you like.

For a Peppol-reachable client, the invoice page offers Send as E-Invoice as the primary action, with Send as PDF alongside — the choice is per invoice, and sending an e-invoice finalises a draft in exactly the same way as sending a PDF. Delivery is then tracked on the invoice's Activity tab:

Your plan includes a monthly e-invoice allowance covering sent and received documents combined; beyond it, sending falls back to PDF until the next month or a plan change. See Plans & billing.

Receiving e-invoices

When suppliers send you e-invoices over Peppol, they land in Expenses → Received E-Invoices. Arvello processes each arrival into ready-to-review records:

1. The sender is matched to an existing contact by registry code or VAT number — or a new supplier contact is created.
2. A draft purchase invoice is created from the line items.
3. A draft journal entry is prepared.
4. Arvello looks for a matching outgoing bank payment. A single confident match links automatically, several candidates are flagged for review, and no match simply means the invoice is not paid yet.

Nothing posts to your books until you choose Approve & Post, which finalises the purchase invoice and posts the entries; Reject discards the drafts instead. A bulk approve exists for clearing the month in one sitting. From there the document behaves like any other purchase invoice.

Common questions

My verification is still pending

The identity check must be completed by an authorised representative of the company. Re-open it from the dashboard checklist item or the Open Verification link, complete the check, then use Check Status to confirm. Until then, invoices can still go out as PDFs.

My client is not found on the network

The Peppol lookup needs the client's registry code, so first confirm the contact record has one. Then use Check on the contact to re-query the directory. If the client genuinely is not registered to receive e-invoices, they receive the PDF by email instead — the invoice content is identical either way, and the Send as E-Invoice option appears once they become reachable.