InvoiceNow is Singapore's national e-invoicing network, built on the Peppol standard, where invoice data travels from the sender's system to the buyer's system through accredited access points. IRAS is bringing GST-registered businesses into it in phases. To join, you contract a Peppol access-point provider and check your accounting software.
InvoiceNow is Singapore's implementation of the Peppol network, an international framework for exchanging structured business documents. Instead of a PDF sent by email, the sender's software produces an electronic invoice in a defined data format. A Peppol access point delivers it securely to the access point of the buyer, which passes it into the buyer's system.
The model has four corners: the sender, the sender's access point, the receiver's access point and the receiver. Each business needs only one connection, to its own access point, to reach any other business on the network. IMDA oversees the Singapore infrastructure, and IRAS sets the tax-related requirements.
Businesses are identified on the network by their UEN, or by their GST registration number in some cases. The identifier is registered with the access point so that other senders can find the right destination.
Buyers also appear in the directory. Before the first transmission, confirm the receiver's identifier with the customer in writing, because a sender who uses a wrong identifier has an invoice that goes nowhere and a customer who never received it.
IRAS and IMDA have announced InvoiceNow requirements for GST-registered businesses in phases, starting with newly registered ones and extending over time. The scope and dates are set out on the IRAS website and are updated, so read the current page rather than relying on an article from a previous year.
The requirement concerns the transmission of invoice data through the network, and it works alongside the normal GST duties: issuing a valid tax invoice, charging the correct rate and filing the return. Joining InvoiceNow does not replace the F5 return, and IRAS has said the network is meant to reduce manual re-entry of data rather than to change the tax calculation.
Government agencies already accept e-invoices through Peppol for their suppliers. If you sell to the public sector, check the buyer's procurement instructions, because some agencies expect invoices to arrive through the network.
Plan a review date. Rules for newly registered businesses were the first step, and existing GST-registered businesses are brought in later, so set a calendar reminder to read the IRAS page every quarter.
Access points are companies registered to provide Peppol services in Singapore. Some are software vendors that offer the service as a feature, and others are specialists that connect to any accounting system. Ask which accounting systems they support, whether the connection is an integration or a manual file upload, and what the monthly and per-invoice charges are.
Ask also about support: what happens when an invoice is rejected by the receiver, how failed deliveries are reported, and how long delivery logs are kept. A provider that shows a status for each document saves a lot of detective work later.
Confirm that your accounting system can produce the required data format. Some packages generate it natively and others rely on a connector. If your current software cannot, the access-point provider may offer a portal for key-in, which is slower but workable for a small volume.
Ask each shortlisted provider for a sample delivery report and a sample rejection message. How clearly they explain an error tells you how much of your time the service will take once real invoices start to flow.
E-invoices are structured data, so errors that a human reader would forgive, such as a missing customer UEN or a mistyped tax code, can cause a rejection. Clean the customer master first: legal name, address, UEN or GST number, and the correct currency and payment terms.
Standardise your tax codes. Each line needs a tax category, such as standard-rated, zero-rated or exempt, and the rate must match the category. Check that credit notes reference the original invoice number, because the receiver's system uses that link to adjust the balance.
Run a pilot with one or two friendly customers before switching all invoices. Compare the invoice the buyer's system received with the PDF you would have sent, and fix any difference in totals, rounding or descriptions.
Rounding deserves a test. A line-level rounding difference of one cent can make the receiver's total disagree with yours, and a strict system may reject the whole document on that basis.
Delivery is not the same as acceptance. A document can reach the receiver's access point and still be rejected by the receiver's system for a data error. Agree with large customers who will handle a rejection and how quickly.
Check delivery reports regularly. A weekly review of failed or pending documents catches a broken identifier before it affects a month of invoices. Keep the delivery log with the invoice record, because it is evidence of when the buyer received the document.
Keep sending PDFs to customers who are not yet on the network, and note which customers are connected. The mix will change over time, so a customer list with a Peppol status column is more useful than a one-time project plan.
4invoices.net creates PDF invoices and keeps an invoice archive. 4notify.net sends SMS and e-mail written by you from your account, which you can use to tell a customer you have sent an invoice or to ask for a PO number.
Neither product connects to the Peppol network, sends UBL documents or tracks delivery. They are not InvoiceNow certified and not access points. Use a registered access-point provider for the network connection.
The existing accounting system cannot connect to the Peppol network, so every B2G invoice requires a time-consuming manual portal upload and re-keying into IRAS — defeating the purpose of InvoiceNow.
Engage a certified Peppol access-point provider to send invoices to the recipient's access point. 4invoices does not connect to the Peppol network, does not send UBL documents and does not track AS4 delivery.
There is no single view of which invoices have reached their Peppol destination and which are stuck in transit, creating a growing audit risk as transaction volumes increase.
Get delivery status from your access-point provider. The 4b2b products have no InvoiceNow delivery dashboard; you can send your own SMS or e-mail notices from 4notify if you need to alert someone.
InvoiceNow is Singapore's national e-invoicing network based on the Peppol standard. A business sends invoice data from its accounting system to a Peppol access point, which delivers it to the buyer's access point and system. It replaces manual re-keying of PDFs. IMDA oversees the network infrastructure and IRAS sets the related tax requirements.
Not for every business at once. IRAS and IMDA are introducing requirements for GST-registered businesses in phases, starting with newly registered ones. The scope and dates are published on the IRAS website and change over time. Check the current page for your category rather than assuming an older rule applies.
It is a registered service provider that sends and receives Peppol documents on your behalf. You connect your accounting system to its service, and it handles secure delivery to other access points. Providers differ in price, supported software and support quality, so compare several before signing a contract, and ask how rejected documents are reported.
No. InvoiceNow concerns how invoice data is exchanged between businesses. You still issue valid tax invoices, charge the correct GST and file Form F5 through IRAS myTax Portal. Joining the network may reduce manual data entry, but it does not change who is liable for the tax or when the return is due.
A PDF is not a structured e-invoice, so a PDF tool alone cannot send an InvoiceNow document. You need an access point and a way to produce the required data format. A PDF tool such as 4invoices remains useful for customers who are not yet on the network and for your own invoice archive.
InvoiceNow is delivered by Peppol access points. 4invoices creates PDF invoices and an archive only.
