In 2022, the Danish government enacted the Bookkeeping Act, requiring the digitization of all accounting processes. The Act mandates the use of either certified digital bookkeeping software approved by the Erhvervsstyrelsen (ERST, the Danish Business Authority) or a custom-developed solution compliant with the law.
The law encompasses all accounting processes, including invoicing. Consequently, B2B e-invoicing will also become mandatory, either via the public NemHandel platform or the Peppol network. Invoices must be formatted as either Peppol BIS 3.0 (EN16931-compliant) or the local OIOUBL format, with an upcoming 3.0 version that will also comply with EN16931 (although it was recently delayed by 6 months).
Today: Phase 1
According to the official timeline of the Bookkeeping Act, the first phase takes effect today, July 1, 2024, and will impact all companies already required to submit an annual report under the Annual Accounts Act (primarily medium and large companies) and already using a certified bookkeeping system.
From this date, these companies must comply with the Act and conduct all accounting processes digitally, including invoicing, starting from the first day of their next financial year.
Next steps
The subsequent phases are as follows:
- January 1, 2025: the Act will apply to all companies required to submit an annual report under the Annual Accounts Act and using self-developed software.
- January 1, 2026: the Act will come into effect for personally owned companies with an annual net turnover exceeding DKK 300,000 for two consecutive years (e.g., 2024 and 2025).
No further phases are planned, meaning very small companies are not included in the scope of the Bookkeeping Act.
Want to know more? Visit our Denmark country profile to learn more details about e-invoicing compliance in the country.
