Do you know how to convert a PDF to an electronic invoice?

With the growing number of regulations worldwide, companies are increasingly required to adopt electronic invoicing for both receiving and sending invoices. However, many businesses still face confusion regarding the difference between electronic invoices and PDF invoices, as well as how to convert a PDF invoice to an e-invoice or XML format like UBL or PEPPOL. In this article, we’ll clarify these differences and show how you can efficiently convert your PDF invoices into structured e-invoice formats.

Differences between PDF invoice and XML e-invoice

Understanding the distinction between PDF invoices and XML-based e-invoices is critical for businesses transitioning to digital invoicing systems.

What is an invoice in PDF format?

A PDF invoice is essentially a digital copy of a traditional paper invoice. While convenient to view and print, PDF invoices lack structured data, making them difficult for systems to process automatically. They are static images, meaning that every invoice could have a different layout, complicating attempts to convert PDF to XML UBL or PEPPOL XML formats.

What is an electronic invoice?

An electronic invoice, often referred to as an e-invoice, is a digital document formatted in a structured, standardized way (usually XML). E-invoices are designed for automated processing, allowing seamless integration into accounting systems, ERP platforms, and government portals. XML formats such as UBL and PEPPOL are widely used for this purpose. If you want more information, we tell you all about it in the following article:

What is an electronic invoice

Why convert a PDF invoice to XML (Peppol for example)?

With the increasing demand for efficiency and regulatory compliance, converting a PDF invoice to XML is becoming essential for businesses. In many cases around the world, PDF invoices are no longer accepted by local regulations.

Advantages of XML format over PDF format

XML-based e-invoices provide several advantages:

  • Automation: XML allows for automatic processing, eliminating the need for manual data entry.
  • Standardization: Unlike PDF, XML is a structured format that ensures data consistency across different systems.
  • Scalability: XML-based formats like UBL and PEPPOL can easily be integrated into larger financial ecosystems, streamlining business workflows.

Converting PDF invoices to UBL or PEPPOL standards ensures that businesses can automate and standardize their invoicing processes.

Regulatory compliance and tax standards that require XML

In many countries, electronic invoicing is becoming mandatory, and PDF invoices no longer meet tax and regulatory requirements. Governments often require businesses to submit invoices in structured XML formats like UBL or PEPPOL to ensure transparency and accuracy. For instance, the European PEPPOL network is a standard for cross-border e-invoicing compliance, making it crucial to convert PDF to XML PEPPOL for international transactions.

Learn more about Peppol Learn more about UBL format

Common problems when converting PDF to UBL

Converting PDF invoices to UBL can be challenging and companies should be aware of certain problems that can occur:

Losing important data during conversion

One major issue when attempting to convert PDF to UBL or other XML formats is the loss of crucial invoice data. PDFs are often inconsistent in design, and relying on OCR tools can lead to data extraction errors.

Formatting problems and how to solve them

Formatting issues are another problem when converting from PDF to XML. Because PDFs vary greatly in layout, converting them to XML can result in misplaced fields, incorrect data formatting, or incomplete conversions. Specialized software solutions like B2Brouter help solve this problem by ensuring the correct creation of the UBL XML file.

Validating an XML e-invoice after conversion

Once a PDF invoice has been converted to XML, it’s essential to validate the generated XML file to ensure compliance with the required standard, for example UBL. Validation tools can check for missing or incorrect data, ensuring that the invoice meets regulatory requirements.

How to ensure fiscal and legal validity of an XML e-invoice created from PDF

Ensuring that the converted XML invoice is both fiscally and legally valid is crucial for compliance with tax regulations.

Mandatory elements in an XML invoice according to tax regulations

An XML invoice must include certain mandatory elements to meet tax regulations. These include:

  • Tax Identification Numbers: Both the sender and recipient’s tax IDs must be included.
  • Invoice Amounts and Tax Rates: Accurate totals and tax breakdowns must be provided.
  • Payment Terms and Invoice Dates: Critical for legal and regulatory compliance.
  • Other codes and specific data: There are other types of data, codes or business rules that may be different by region, country, regulation or company.

Failure to include these elements in the PDF to XML conversion can result in the electronic invoice being rejected by tax authorities.

Use cases where conversion from PDF to XML (Peppol and others) is necessary

Several industries and sectors require the conversion of PDF to electronic invoices to meet operational and regulatory demands.

E-invoicing with governments

Many governments now require invoices to be submitted in an XML format, especially when dealing with public contracts. For example, the PEPPOL standard is mandatory for many European government agencies, making PDF to XML PEPPOL  (UBL) conversion a necessity for businesses working with these agencies.

Country-specific formats

There are countries that have implemented electronic invoicing in local formats. Although they are generally also based on XML, they are not the same UBL format used in the Peppol environment. Some examples are France (Factur-X), Spain (Facturae), among many others.

How to convert PDF to UBL and other formats?

When converting PDF invoices to e-invoices, businesses should be aware of the available tools and their limitations.

OCR (Misunderstanding of Data)

OCR software is often used to extract data from PDF invoices. However, OCR tools can misinterpret characters or formatting, leading to errors in the extracted data. This makes relying on OCR for converting PDFs to UBL or PEPPOL XML risky, and businesses should opt for more reliable e-invoicing solutions.

Electronic invoicing system

The most effective way to convert PDF invoices to e-invoice formats like UBL or PEPPOL is by using a dedicated e-invoicing system. Platforms like B2Brouter allow businesses to input invoice data into a user-friendly interface, which then converts the data into the appropriate XML format, ensuring compliance with international standards and regulations. And you can do it for free!

Generate the invoice in a structured format in a simple way

With B2Brouter this problem disappears. Generate your electronic invoices easily by entering the information in a form. With a single click B2Brouter converts them into the correct XML.

You can also integrate your billing system with B2Brouter to automate this whole process.

B2Brouter, electronic invoicing software