Short answer
XML is a structured text format in which every piece of invoice data has its own place — supplier, buyer, lines, amounts, VAT. In Latvia an e-invoice XML must follow the LVS EN 16931-1:2017 standard; in practice the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 specification is used. Any compliant system can validate and read such XML automatically.
What an XML e-invoice looks like
An XML file consists of named fields — for example the invoice number, issue date, the supplier’s registration number, each item with its quantity and price, the VAT rate and the total. It’s not convenient for a person to read, so it’s often accompanied by a visual PDF version.
Standards
- LVS EN 16931-1:2017 — the European standard for the content of an e-invoice (the semantic model).
- LVS CEN/TS 16931-2:2017 — the technical specification.
- Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 — a practical specification based on EN 16931 and used in the Peppol network.
The most common mistakes
- Incorrect or missing mandatory fields.
- Line amounts don’t add up to the total.
- Wrong VAT category codes.
- The document type code — for example, the Latvija.gov.lv e-address only allows sending a commercial invoice (code 380).
The XML can be checked with a validator before sending. If your system creates the e-invoices, validation is built in automatically. See how to create an e-invoice.