The Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) has officially approved in June 2026 legislation [↗︎] introducing mandatory B2B e-invoicing and digital bookkeeping. Following the March 2026 letter, mandates will be implemented in two phases.
The impact of such an e-invoicing mandate is expected to remain limited overall, as voluntary e-invoicing adoption in Norway is already high. It is mainly based on the EHF (Elektronisk Handelsformat) format, the most widely used B2B e-invoice standard in the country, representing 89% of total e-invoice volume in Norway (Norges Bank, 2020).
A Peppol-based mandate
The upcoming Norwegian e-invoicing mandate is expected to rely heavily on the Peppol network as its core infrastructure.
Although the primary legislation remains technologically neutral and does not explicitly name a technical format, stipulating only that the invoice must be issued in a “structured, standardized, and machine-readable electronic format”, Skattedirektoratet (Norway’s tax administration) has already indicated that it would use the EHF format, already widely adopted by Norwegian businesses.
Norway’s EHF format is not a separate standard in practice, but rather an implementation of the Peppol BIS 3.0 specifications, meaning it is fully aligned with the broader European Norm (EN) 16931 Peppol framework used for cross-border and domestic e-invoicing.
In parallel, the national Electronic Recipient Register (ELMA), which has historically served as Norway’s national registry for the exchange of electronic invoices and participant identification, has been integrated into the Peppol directory [↗︎]. This integration reinforces Peppol as the single discovery and routing layer for invoice exchange in Norway.
A two-phase implementation
Following the conclusion of the public consultation process, the government decided to move with two distinct implementation phases:
- January 1, 2027 – Mandatory Issuance: All businesses subject to bookkeeping obligations in Norway must issue e-invoices to other businesses registered in ELMA (Peppol).
- January 1, 2030 – Mandatory Reception & Automated Accounting: Businesses must be fully capable of receiving e-invoices and maintaining their financial records within a qualifying digital accounting system that allows for automated invoice booking.
This implementation timeline creates a unique asymmetric obligation where all taxable persons concerned by these obligations must be capable of issuing e-invoices as of January 1st, 2027, if the buyer is registered in ELMA (Peppol).
However, buyers have no obligation to receive e-invoices before January 1st, 2030. Mandatory reception of e-invoices will only take place on January 1st, 2030.
Therefore, starting January 1st, 2027, as soon as a buyer registers themselves in the national Electronic Recipient Register, the vendor must start issuing e-invoices. The transition from paper/PDF invoices to electronic invoices will therefore be done progressively between 2027 and 2030 at the discretion of the buyer.
Entities in scope
The new mandates apply to all entities with accounting obligations in Norway, including foreign companies registered locally.
Under the official publication, the Ministry of Finance has explicitly given the legal authority to Skattedirektoratet to write specific exemptions directly into the future secondary regulations (forskrift). The following entities should be exempted from the obligation:
- Micro-businesses with an annual turnover below NOK 50,000 (~EUR 4,500)
- Entities from a specific sectors, such as bankruptcy estates, financial enterprises, banks, insurance companies, and pension funds.
What’s Next?
The immediate next step is for the bill to receive Royal Assent to be formally signed into statutory law. Responsibility then shifts entirely to the Norwegian Tax Administration, which has been tasked by the Ministry of Finance to draft and publish the detailed technical regulations, at the latest by December 15, 2026.
This technical publication will solidify the system requirements, officially mandate the EHF format, and define the final exemptions.
