Peppol PINT (Peppol International) is a specification framework that lets countries around the world join the Peppol network for e-invoicing, while adapting the format to their own local tax rules, VAT systems, and compliance requirements.
Where Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 is built specifically around the EU’s EN 16931 invoice standard, PINT was designed from the start to work for jurisdictions with different VAT systems, tax authorities, and reporting requirements — from Singapore and Malaysia to the United Arab Emirates and Japan.
For a general introduction to the network itself, see What is Peppol?
Why PINT was created
Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, the format most businesses in Europe use today, is a strict implementation of the EU’s EN 16931 semantic invoice model. It works well within the EU, but it was never designed to accommodate the very different tax rules, invoice numbering conventions, and reporting obligations found outside Europe.
As more countries began mandating or encouraging Peppol adoption — starting with Singapore and later Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates — OpenPeppol needed a framework flexible enough to support local requirements without splitting the network into incompatible regional formats. PINT is that framework: a single international base model that individual countries can extend, while still guaranteeing that Peppol messages remain interoperable across borders.
How PINT is structured
PINT organizes an invoice’s data into three layers:
- Common content – the core data elements shared by every country using PINT, based on EN 16931.
- Aligned content – elements that exist everywhere but are internationally coordinated so they can be adapted locally, such as tax categories or payment terms.
- Extension content – country-specific data elements and rules, for example the UAE’s TRN validation format or Singapore’s GST fields.
This approach means a business using the UAE’s PINT profile and a business using Singapore’s PINT profile are both building on the same foundation, even though the country-specific rules differ.
Where PINT is used today
Each country (or region) using PINT has its own named profile:
- PINT AE – United Arab Emirates
- PINT SG – Singapore
- PINT MY – Malaysia
- PINT JP – Japan
- PINT A-NZ – Australia and New Zealand
- PINT OM – Oman (in development)
In 2025, OpenPeppol also published EU PINT Billing. This doesn’t replace BIS Billing 3.0 as the EU’s current invoicing standard — BIS 3.0 remains the mandatory format for Peppol e-invoicing within the EU. Instead, EU PINT Billing is a forward-looking specification, built to align with the reporting requirements expected under the EU’s VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) initiative, and to give multinational companies a path toward using a single, consistent format for both EU and non-EU invoicing.
PINT and Peppol BIS 4.0
Today, PINT and BIS Billing 3.0 exist side by side as two parallel specifications — one built for Europe, one for the rest of the world. OpenPeppol’s planned BIS 4.0, based on the updated EN 16931-1:2026 data model, is intended to merge the two into a single global specification, while staying backward compatible with both. Until BIS 4.0 is finalized, companies operating across regions may need to support BIS 3.0 for their European trading partners and the relevant PINT profile for markets elsewhere.
Qvalia’s Peppol infrastructure supports BIS as well as the regional PINT profiles, so you can send and receive compliant e-invoices whether your trading partners are in Europe or beyond. For an up-to-date overview of which markets we cover, go to Peppol compliance and coverage.
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