Preparing for New Zealand’s upcoming eInvoicing mandate for large government suppliers

eInvoicing adoption across Australia and New Zealand has been steadily growing over the past few years. But in New Zealand, things are about to accelerate. An upcoming government mandate will require large suppliers to send eInvoices when doing business with government agencies.

For businesses working with the public sector, this is an important milestone, and a signal that digital invoicing is becoming standard practice. Here’s what the upcoming mandate means and how suppliers can prepare.

What the new mandate involves

From 1 January 2027, New Zealand government agencies must require large suppliers to send invoices electronically using the Peppol eInvoicing network.

The rule applies to suppliers that:

• have annual revenue over NZ$33 million, and
• provide goods or services to government agencies.The goal is to modernise procurement and payments across the public sector while encouraging wider adoption of eInvoicing throughout the New Zealand economy.

Why the government is introducing the mandate

The move to eInvoicing helps address several long-standing challenges in invoice processing. Government agencies expect the change to:

• reduce manual invoice handling
• minimise data entry errors
• speed up processing and approvals
• improve payment reliability
• support better financial transparency.

By using the Peppol network, invoices are exchanged securely and directly between finance systems, removing the need for emailed PDFs and manual entry.

How suppliers can prepare

The good news is that getting started with eInvoicing is usually straightforward. Most modern accounting and ERP platforms already support Peppol eInvoicing.

To prepare, suppliers should:

1. Check whether their accounting software supports Peppol eInvoicing.
2. Register on the Peppol network through their software provider or a certified access point.
3. Test sending eInvoices with customers before the mandate comes into effect.
4. Train finance teams on the new process and workflows.
   Taking these steps early helps avoid last-minute pressure as the deadline approaches.

For many organisations, the move to eInvoicing also opens the door to broader finance automation.