The ViDA package — VAT in the Digital Age — entered EU law on 11 March 2025, with publication in the Official Journal of the EU on 25 March 2025 (DG TAXUD, European Commission). Seven months on, the practical question for any CIO or CFO managing subsidiaries across Europe is no longer “when will ViDA be adopted?” but “how fast is each country transposing it, and what does that mean for my ERP roadmap in Q4 2026?”
This progress report covers the state of national transpositions as of 19 October 2026, the specifics of six countries most relevant for multi-subsidiary businesses operating in Europe, and three concrete actions to complete before year-end.
Recap: ViDA’s 3 Pillars and What the Directive Requires of Member States
The 3 pillars of the package
ViDA rests on three distinct pillars, each with its own implementation timeline:
- E-invoicing and Digital Reporting Requirements (DRR) — The most structurally significant pillar for ERPs. It mandates structured B2B e-invoicing for all intra-EU transactions from 1 July 2030, followed by near-real-time digital reporting to tax authorities.
- Platform economy (deemed supplier) — Passenger transport and short-term accommodation platforms become liable for VAT in place of the underlying service providers. Entry into force: 1 July 2028.
- Extended One Stop Shop (OSS/IOSS) — Expansion of the One Stop Shop to simplify cross-border VAT declarations. First measures: 1 January 2027.
What was planned, what has happened since March 2025
The ViDA text — a directive, a regulation, and an implementing regulation — sets out several obligations with distinct national transposition deadlines. For Article 2 of Directive 2025/516, which covers the DRR, member states had until 31 December 2026 to transpose it into national law. That deadline is now driving the legislative work of autumn 2026.
The European Commission published in May 2026 its 2026–2035 work programme for DRR and e-invoicing (EU e-invoicing, May 2026). Key 2026 milestones: publication of the European e-invoicing standard (Q2 2026), adoption of the regulations on the common electronic message and the central VIES (Q3 2026), approval of the central VIES architecture (Q4 2026). The central infrastructure build runs from 2027 to 2029, ahead of the mandatory July 2030 launch.
National Transposition Status in October 2026
Countries with formal legislative action
As of 19 October 2026, several member states have taken formal legislative steps:
| Country | Milestone reached | Status |
|---|---|---|
| France | Ordonnance No. 2025-1247 (Dec. 2025) — recodification into new tax code (CIBS) | DRR pillar transposition well advanced |
| Italy | Law 36/2026 (17 March 2026) + Council of Ministers decree (4 August 2026) | Article 2 transposition in progress |
| Germany | Article 2 transposition deadline: 31 December 2026 | Draft amendment to UStG expected |
| Belgium | Beyond ViDA — Peppol B2B mandate since Jan. 2026 | Pioneer; draft e-reporting law July 2026 |
| Netherlands | Political decision 11 September 2026: Peppol B2B mandate Jul. 2030 | National transposition aligned with ViDA |
Countries still waiting or consulting
The majority of the 27 member states have not yet published a draft transposition law for the DRR. The directive gives until July 2030 for operational implementation — which explains, though does not justify, a wait-and-see posture from many administrations. The Commission does not currently publish a public country-by-country ViDA transposition tracker.
What this means in practice for ERP timelines
The absence of a formal national transposition does not mean the obligation disappears. ViDA’s regulations (directly applicable without transposition) will take effect on the dates set. The technical implementations — DRR message format, connectivity with the central VIES, complementary national rules — depend on implementing acts that the Commission still needs to publish in 2026–2027. ERP vendors need a clear signal from your side before committing to roadmap investment.
Spotlight: 6 Key Countries for Pan-European Businesses
France — ahead of the curve, but e-reporting needs watching
France transposed the core obligations via Ordonnance No. 2025-1247 of 17 December 2025, which recodifies VAT into the new Code des impositions sur les biens et services (CIBS) and provides the legal foundation for the e-invoicing/e-reporting framework (vertexinc.com).
Since 1 September 2026, large companies and mid-market groups have been required to issue invoices in structured format (Factur-X, UBL 2.1 BIS 3.0 or CII) through an accredited Partner Dematerialisation Platform (PDP). All three formats are natively compliant with EN 16931, positioning France on the ViDA trajectory with no major disruption expected by 2030.
The watchpoint is VAT e-reporting, a distinct obligation from e-invoicing: all taxable persons must transmit out-of-scope transaction data (B2C, foreign customers) to the French tax authority (DGFiP). Reporting frequencies are specific — three times per month under the standard monthly regime — and differ from the usual VAT return cycle. For a detailed look at the first operational month, see our in-depth review: France B2B E-Invoicing: First Month Review October 2026.
Germany — two parallel mandates, Article 2 deadline 31 December 2026
Germany is managing two workstreams simultaneously. First, the domestic mandate: XRechnung/ZUGFeRD reception has been mandatory since January 2025; the emission obligation applies from January 2027 for businesses with turnover above €800,000, and for all companies from January 2028 (cleartax.com/de). Both formats (XRechnung and ZUGFeRD) are already EN 16931 compliant, which eases the ViDA 2030 transition.
Second, the formal transposition of Article 2 of Directive 2025/516 into the Umsatzsteuergesetz (UStG) must be completed before 31 December 2026. A draft amendment is expected before the end of Q4 2026. The ViDA DRR obligations for intra-EU transactions remain aligned with the July 2030 target.
A key point for IT teams operating in Germany: the ViDA DRR framework of 2030 does not replace the domestic mandate — the two systems will coexist, with harmonisation planned for 1 January 2035.
Spain — VeriFACTU delayed to October 2028, ViDA alignment in progress
In early October 2026, the Spanish government proposed postponing the entry into force of VeriFACTU/SIF (Sistemas Informáticos de Facturación) to October 2028 instead of January–July 2027 (vatupdate.com, 8 October 2026). The stated rationale: allow coordinated implementation of the B2B e-invoicing obligation and the future ViDA DRRs, rather than two separate technical projects a few months apart.
If confirmed by legislation, this delay gives companies operating in Spain breathing room — but does not eliminate the obligation. It concentrates it into a tighter window. IT and finance teams should factor this into ERP planning: a single 2028 implementation (VeriFACTU + B2B e-invoicing + ViDA alignment) may prove more resource-intensive than a phased project.
Italy — the most advanced in Europe, but EN 16931 alignment still needed
Italy is the global reference for mandatory B2B e-invoicing, with its Sistema di Interscambio (SdI) in force since 2019. A European derogation allows Italy to maintain this centralised system through 31 December 2027 (Implementing Decision (EU) 2024/3150).
On the ViDA legislative front, Italy has taken two steps in 2026: Law 36/2026, published in the Official Journal on 17 March 2026, delegates to the government the powers to transpose ViDA (fiskaly.com); on 4 August 2026, the Council of Ministers approved at first reading the legislative decree transposing Article 2 of Directive 2025/516, applicable from 1 January 2027. SdI technical specifications have also been updated to version 1.9.1 since 15 May 2026.
The outstanding challenge by 2035: the national FatturaPA XML format is not natively compliant with the European EN 16931 standard, requiring a progressive alignment with the Peppol format for intra-EU transactions from 2030 onwards.
Belgium — operational pioneer, targeting e-reporting by 2028
Belgium is the only EU member state to have mandated Peppol B2B with no revenue threshold and no phased entry by company size: all VAT-registered businesses were required to switch by 1 January 2026. The grace period (without penalties) ended on 31 March 2026; from 1 April 2026, progressive penalties apply: €1,500 for the first offence, €3,000 for a second offence within three months, €5,000 for a third (eu-einvoicing.com).
By June 2026, Belgium had approximately 2.1 million Peppol registrations — representing 36% of all Peppol network participants worldwide. On 18 July 2026, the Council of Ministers approved a draft law introducing a near-real-time e-reporting layer via the Peppol 5-corner model, targeting entry into force on 1 January 2028. This draft still requires parliamentary approval.
For businesses with Belgian entities, the status is unambiguous: there are no more deadlines — this is live production.
Netherlands — political decision of 11 September 2026
On 11 September 2026, the Dutch government officially confirmed its political decision to mandate domestic B2B e-invoicing via Peppol from 1 July 2030, with domestic digital reporting starting on 1 July 2031 (rtcsuite.com). This decision extends the ViDA intra-EU obligations to domestic transactions — a national overreach that very few countries have yet formalised.
The roadmap covers four phases: policy design through 2028, legislative framework development in 2028, technical adaptation from 2029 to 2030, and full go-live in July 2030. The chosen standard is Peppol 4-corner + EN 16931, directly interoperable with the Belgian network and the future European DRRs.
For IT teams covering the Netherlands, this strong signal must enter the ERP roadmap now: 2030 is 45 months away, and Peppol integration projects typically require 12 to 18 months of vendor development plus 6 to 12 months of deployment and testing.
What Your ERP Needs to Do Now
3 concrete actions to trigger in Q4 2026
1. Map your intra-EU geographic exposure. Identify in your invoicing flows the volumes of B2B transactions by country: Belgium, Italy, France (with B2C/export e-reporting), Germany (domestic mandate underway), Spain, and the Netherlands. This mapping determines your priorities and the budget to allocate.
2. Ask your ERP vendor the right questions about their ViDA roadmap. Four precise questions: Does the ERP natively support EN 16931? Is Peppol connectivity native or via third-party middleware? What is the production delivery date for July 2030 DRR compliance? Is the vendor tracking the implementing acts currently being published by the Commission (VIES architecture, DRR message format)?
3. Do not wait for final national transposition. The temptation to delay the project “until the decrees are published” leads to a 12–18 month gap between the publication of technical specs and production deployment in your ERP. Vendors need that lead time to build the connectors. If you signal your requirements in 2027 for a 2030 compliance date, you will be among the first served. If you wait until 2029, you risk being deprioritised.
How to prioritise by geographic exposure
- Immediate action (already mandatory): Belgium — verify that your local entities are issuing in Peppol BIS 3.0 and have no open penalties. Italy — verify your flows are compatible with SdI v1.9.1.
- Q1 2027 (emission deadline approaching): Germany for businesses with turnover above €800,000. France for SMEs (emission obligation from 1 September 2027).
- 2028 (plan now): Spain (VeriFACTU + B2B e-invoicing under the revised calendar). Belgium (Peppol 5-corner e-reporting if the law is adopted).
- 2030 (European DRR horizon): Netherlands (domestic mandate), Germany (intra-EU transactions), and all other member states for cross-border B2B transactions.
Peppol / EN 16931 interoperability: the central technical question
ViDA does not mandate Peppol as the sole transmission network. It mandates EN 16931 as the data standard and transmission via interoperable networks. Peppol is the most widely deployed network in Europe, but it will coexist with national systems (Italian SdI, French PPF/PDP platforms) through 2035. The key question for your ERP is therefore less “which network?” and more “is my data format EN 16931 compliant?” — which determines interoperability with all networks.
Conclusion: ViDA is Moving Forward, but not Uniformly
Seven months after the adoption of the ViDA package, the picture is uneven: a few countries (Belgium, France, Italy) already have one or more layers of the framework in production; others (Germany, Netherlands) have formalised their trajectory with credible dates; the majority are still in observation mode. This heterogeneity is normal for a directive of this scope — but it creates a specific risk for multi-subsidiary businesses that must manage different national timelines while maintaining a coherent ERP stack.
To go deeper on the overarching ViDA framework and its impact on your ERP architecture, read our ViDA ERP Roadmap 2025–2035 and our analysis of indirect tax automation tools: ERP and VAT Automation: Avalara, Sovos and Native Solutions in 2026.
