How e-invoicing actually works

Almost every mandate is a variation on three control models. Understand these once, and every country page makes sense.

Model 1

Authority validation / clearance

The tax authority validates each invoice before or at issuance. The buyer only ever receives a cleared invoice with an official reference.

Seller ERP→Tax authority→Buyer

Used by: Saudi standard tax invoices, Poland's centralized KSeF model, Mexico, relevant Latin American regimes

Model 2

Decentralized provider exchange + authority reporting

Accredited providers exchange the invoice and report data to the authority in parallel — no central pre-clearance bottleneck.

Seller→Provider→Provider→Buyer

Used by: UAE, Oman, Belgium for invoice exchange (though Belgium does not yet send invoice data to the tax administration in its 2026 phase)

Model 3

Post-audit

Invoices are exchanged freely and the authority audits later. The traditional model — being phased out as mandates arrive.

Seller→Buyer→Audit later

Used by: A shrinking set of markets, pre-mandate

Whichever model applies, the work that lands on your team is the same shape: clean master data, correctly mapped fields, and reconciliation between your ERP and the cleared record — that's the part InTaxOps supports.