How to send and receive invoices through the Peppol network

What is it for?

Peppol is a European network for exchanging electronic invoices: the company hands the invoice to an access point, which delivers it to the customer's access point, as a structured file (BIS 3 format) instead of a PDF. On this screen, fiscaldoo simulates sending certified invoices and receiving supplier invoices as drafts, which a person confirms. For invoices to public bodies there is also the Send to FE-AP button, covered in the notes.

Today this is only a simulator

fiscaldoo has no real connection to the Peppol network or to Saphety. Nothing this article shows leaves the machine: the company is registered in “TEST MODE”, the sending reaches no customer and the “receipt” is an example supplier invoice. Do not use this screen to meet an obligation towards a customer: send them the invoice by email or print it.

When to use it?

• To learn the Peppol sending and receiving flow, with example data.
• It is not for sending the PDF invoice by email (that is the other box on the same screen) or for communicating it to the AT: communication to the AT is done separately, and sending by Peppol does not replace or change it.

Where to find it?

• Activate: Settings, Billing tab, Electronic invoicing block.
• Send: Accounting › Record › Sales and collections › Customer invoices; on the issued invoice, Actions › Send. With the Billing profile: Billing › Invoice › Customer invoices, and the Send button is at the top of the invoice.
• Receive: Accounting › Record › Purchases › Supplier invoices.

Before you start

• Who configures: the Administrator profile. The other profiles do not have the Settings menu.
• Who sends: the Accountant, the Certified accountant and the Billing profile (and the Administrator). Management does not have Send in Actions.
• Who confirms the received draft (step 6): the Accountant, in Supplier invoices. The Billing profile does not have the Accounting app, so it does not reach this step.
• The invoice is Posted. A draft invoice cannot be sent this way.

How to use it

1. In Settings, Billing tab, in the Electronic invoicing block, turn on Peppol (Portugal) and click Save. This must be done before step 2: see “Common problems”.
2. In the same block, click Activate Peppol. Activate Electronic Invoicing (via Peppol) opens, with the company's tax number (NIF), the Email and the Phone. Click Activate Peppol (Demo). The block now shows “Your Peppol identifier 9946:PT509999999. (TEST MODE)”, the Peppol contact email, the Peppol participation role (Send and receive or Send only) and Disconnect from Peppol.
3. Open a Posted invoice (in the example, FT D26/38, for €104.55, to Escola de Condução Rota, Lda) and choose Actions › Send. The Send window has two boxes, by Email and by Peppol (demo). Tick by Peppol (demo) and untick by Email: the attachments now include the file FT D26_38_ubl_bis3.xml besides the PDF.
4. Click Send. The invoice shows the label Sent by Peppol: delivery not confirmed yet and the chatter says “The invoice has been sent to the Peppol access point.” After the Peppol scheduled action runs, the label changes to Delivered: the access point confirmed it.
5. Open Actions › Send again on the same invoice: the box is disabled, “by Peppol (previously sent) (demo)”.
6. Receiving. The simulator delivers an example supplier invoice after the first sending. Open Supplier invoices and remove the To pay filter from the search: with it, the draft does not appear. Open “Draft vendor bill (INV/2025/00017)”, from supplier Tintin, for €12.00, with the label Received from the supplier by Peppol. Click Confirm only after checking it.

Expected result

• The invoice sent is not sent a second time by Peppol. Neither label proves the customer received it: Delivered: the access point confirmed it comes from the simulator, and nothing left the machine.
• Sending does not communicate the invoice to the AT and does not mark it as communicated: the Communicate to the AT button stays on the invoice for the Administrator and the Certified accountant (the Accountant and the Billing profile do not have it).
• Sending by Peppol makes no journal entry: the invoice's journal entries are those of its issue.
• The received draft has no journal entry or number until it is confirmed. The example warns: “399 days since the end of the month this entry refers to (limit of CIRC art. 123.º n.º 3). Post it or review its date; nothing is blocked.” and “The document date (10/09/2025) is in a locked period (until 31/12/2025); the entry will get the accounting date 03/11/2026.…”
• Once confirmed, it became FTF/2026/00046, with accounting date 03/11/2026: 6228 debit €10.00 and €2.00, 2432 debit €1.44, 2433 credit €1.44 and 2211 credit €12.00. The accounts and the rate (12%, with VAT on both debit and credit, under reverse charge) come from the simulator's example: for one of your suppliers, check them before confirming. Pending validation by a certified accountant: accounts and VAT of a foreign supplier invoice received outside the period, and the recording deadline.
• The example invoice is not from one of the company's suppliers.

Important notes

• What you cannot see here. Without a real connection, there is no customer response, no access point rejection and no real delivery confirmation: the simulator always accepts, even if the customer has no Peppol identifier. Pending validation on screen: real sending and receiving, because the product does not have that connection yet.
• Send to FE-AP (invoice to the Public Administration). The button appears to the Administrator and the Certified accountant on issued invoices (not to the Accountant, Management or the Billing profile). When you click it, the screen says “FE-AP electronic invoice. Accepted: 1, rejected: 0, no answer: 0.” for a few seconds; then the button disappears and the invoice shows the label Accepted. That “Accepted” also comes from a simulator: nothing was really sent. Pending validation by a certified accountant: when the electronic invoice to the Public Administration is mandatory and what fiscaldoo sends (XML UBL 2.1 CIUS-PT).

Common problems

“Peppol is off for company …”

• Symptom: when you click Activate Peppol (Demo): “Peppol is off for company Empresa Demonstração, Lda. Turn on “Peppol (Portugal)” in the Accounting settings and register afterwards.”
• What to do: discard the window and do step 1 first. The “Accounting settings” are the Billing tab of Settings.

The Send window does not show “by Peppol”

• Symptom: only by Email appears.
• Cause: the Peppol (Portugal) option is off.
• What to do: do steps 1 and 2 with the Administrator.

“by Peppol (Customer not on Peppol)”

• Symptom: on an invoice to a final consumer (for example, FS POS26/1), the window says “Partner(s) should have an email address.” and shows “by Peppol (Customer not on Peppol) (demo)”.
• What to do: Peppol does not apply to this invoice. To give the customer a copy, use Print.

The “by Peppol (previously sent)” box is disabled

• Cause: the invoice has already been sent this way, which is not repeated.
• What to do: nothing. To correct the invoice, issue a credit note.

The received draft does not appear in Supplier invoices

• Cause: the list opens with the To pay filter, which hides drafts.
• What to do: remove the filter from the search and look for the supplier.

I don't see the Settings menu

• Cause: only the Administrator has it.
• What to do: ask them to do steps 1 and 2; after that, the profiles listed can send with no further setup.