What is the difference between UBL and Peppol?
The two words often land in one sentence, but they mean different things. UBL is the file: the invoice as structured XML instead of a PDF. Peppol is the post: a network over which that file goes straight from your software into your client’s books. You can use UBL without Peppol; using Peppol without UBL is not possible.
UBL: the file
A PDF is a picture of an invoice. A UBL file is the same invoice as data: every field (number, date, lines, VAT per rate, totals) sits in a fixed place, so your client’s software imports it without anyone retyping. The European standard for it is EN 16931, and there are two Dutch applications of it:
- NLCIUS (also SI-UBL 2.0): the Dutch flavour, what most Dutch bookkeeping suites and government bodies expect when you e-mail or upload a file.
- Peppol BIS Billing 3.0: the international flavour, which the Peppol network requires and which you also use for clients outside the Netherlands.
You can simply attach a UBL file to an e-mail, next to the PDF. Many clients want nothing more. Read more in what is a UBL invoice.
Peppol: the network
Peppol is a network of access points. Your software hands the invoice to an access point, which looks up in a central register where your client can be reached (by KVK number or VAT number) and delivers the file to the client’s access point. No e-mail, no attachment, no spam filter: the invoice is in your client’s books as soon as it is sent, and you get a confirmation.
Two things to know:
- Your client must be connected to Peppol. A client with a perfectly good KVK number is unreachable until their own software provider has listed them in the register. Good software checks that before sending.
- Sending and receiving are separate. You can be connected as a sender without being a receiver. That is deliberate: whoever is registered as a receiver gets the incoming invoices for their KVK number there, and you do not want to take that over casually from a bookkeeping suite you already use.
When do you need what?
| Situation | What you need |
|---|---|
| A client asks for “a UBL” or “an e-invoice” | A UBL file (usually NLCIUS), e-mailed as an attachment |
| You invoice the Dutch central government or a municipality | Peppol, or their own portal with a UBL upload |
| A large client wants invoices straight into their system | Peppol |
| A client abroad asks for e-invoices | UBL in the Peppol BIS flavour, over Peppol |
| Nobody asks for anything | A PDF is enough |
How it works in factuurmaken
Every invoice downloads as UBL, in NLCIUS or Peppol BIS as you choose, and when switched on goes along automatically as a second attachment to the invoice e-mail. Sending over the Peppol network is available from Pro: factuurmaken registers you as a sender, checks whether the client is reachable and delivers the invoice to the access point. The confirmation then sits in the invoice’s timeline.