Malta

Malta supports e-invoicing but does not mandate it. The country transposed the EU Directive on public procurement e-invoicing in 2018, which means public authorities must be able to receive EN 16931-compliant invoices. Suppliers are encouraged, not required, to send them. There is no central national e-invoicing platform. Malta relies on the Peppol network, using Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 without additional national extensions.

The Malta Tax and Customs Administration is responsible for tax administration. Malta has also signalled plans for e-invoicing and real-time digital reporting, in step with EU VAT in the Digital Age rules. These plans are not yet law. The EU-wide requirement for intra-EU B2B e-invoicing and digital reporting applies from 1 July 2030.

Maltese public authorities must be able to receive and process EN 16931 e-invoices for contracts above EU procurement thresholds. This is a buyer-side obligation. Suppliers to the public sector are encouraged to issue structured e-invoices, because they are guaranteed to be accepted, but they are not legally required to do so.

Private businesses have no obligation to issue or receive e-invoices in B2B or B2C transactions. They may agree to exchange them voluntarily. From 1 July 2030, VAT-registered businesses making intra-EU B2B supplies will be subject to the EU ViDA requirements.

Maltese law does not require suppliers to issue e-invoices. Businesses that choose to invoice public bodies electronically should use structured invoices that comply with EN 16931, typically Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 in UBL. A standard PDF invoice is not a structured e-invoice for this purpose. Electronic invoices should still contain all the information required for VAT purposes, as with paper invoices.

An e-signature is not required. For archiving, a six-year retention period is commonly cited for Maltese invoices. Businesses should check retention rules with their adviser. As Malta moves towards real-time reporting, ERP systems that can produce clean, structured invoice data will be better placed to adapt.

Malta has adopted the European standard EN 16931 directly, using Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 and the Core Invoice Usage Specification without national extensions. This keeps Maltese invoices interoperable with those from other countries. Invoices travel over the Peppol network through access points. There is no national platform through which all invoices must pass, and no central clearance.

Public bodies use Peppol to receive invoices, and suppliers can reach them through their own Peppol access point or a provider. The framework is essentially the same for B2G and any voluntary B2B exchange. The model is interoperability-based with post-audit by the tax authority.

For Maltese suppliers and businesses trading with Malta, HubBroker's Peppol connectivity offers a direct way to send structured invoices to public bodies and business partners who accept them. We generate Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 invoices from your ERP data and validate them before sending.

Inbound e-invoices can be delivered directly into your ERP, and Intelligent Document Processing converts PDF invoices into structured data. Malta has signalled further digital reporting plans, and the same integration approach can adapt as national or EU rules develop. Any additional reporting workflows would be scoped once requirements are confirmed.