The update that matters
Greece’s Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) has moved the first mandatory B2B e-Invoicing go-live by one month: the start date is now 2 March 2026, followed by a two-month soft-launch window running into early May 2026 for the first wave of in-scope businesses.
This adjustment is not surprising in context: Greek e-Invoicing has repeatedly reached “go-live” moments via stepwise deferrals and re-sequenced ramp-ups, rather than a single clean cutover—most recently from the earlier plan starting 2 February 2026 for large businesses.
What changed in practice
New go-live date and the soft-launch window
- Go-live for Wave 1: 2 March 2026.
- Soft-launch completion: early May 2026 (the end of the two-month onboarding window).
Why the “through early May” milestone exists
The “early May” date is not a new legal mandate for a second phase—it’s the end of the controlled migration window that AADE is using to transition the first wave to live structured issuance at scale. In other words: March is the start of mandatory adoption, and early May is the point by which Wave-1 onboarding is expected to be complete (after the two-month soft-launch period).
Who is in scope for the March 2026 wave
The first mandatory wave targets resident large businesses (threshold of €1m+). The obligation applies primarily to:
- Domestic B2B supplies of goods/services in Greece
- B2B transactions with customers outside the EU (exports outside the EU)
For EU B2B customers, e-Invoicing remains optional and the recipient can refuse a structured e-Invoice, which means the issuer must be operationally ready to issue an alternative compliant invoice format for that scenario.
Phase 2 remains October 2026
All remaining resident taxpayers follow in Phase 2 from October 2026, with a transition period through year-end.
Greece is not starting from zero: myDATA has been “real-time” since 2021
Greece already operates myDATA, a near real-time e-reporting and e-books regime in place since 2021, where transaction data is uploaded and validated, producing a unique identifier (MARK) used for audit traceability and downstream controls (including QR-based validation patterns across invoice lifecycle tooling).
So the 2026 e-Invoicing mandate should be read as a structural upgrade: from “reporting transaction data into myDATA” to “issuing invoices through controlled channels that natively feed the reporting layer.”
The operating model: centralised control, controlled issuance channels
For mandatory flows, Greece is moving to a controlled e-Invoicing model where issuance must occur via approved rails:
- Certified private e-Invoicing providers (EDIP / certified providers)
- AADE’s free tools (e.g., Timologio and myDATAapp)
Operationally, this shifts compliance from “format management” to “channel governance”: your ability to issue becomes tied to the approved issuance mechanisms and their validation logic.
Penalties: the enforcement lever is explicit
The updated penalty framework attached to the shifted March launch includes:
- For VATable transactions: administrative fines calculated as a percentage of the VAT amount linked to the non-compliant transaction.
- For non-VAT transactions: fixed monetary penalties (commonly communicated as €500 / €1,000, depending on the accounting system classification).
The real compliance takeaway: penalties are designed to make “parallel invoicing forever” economically irrational once the soft-launch window ends.
Required steps: declarations before issuance
Ahead of issuing e-Invoices, businesses must submit the required declaration to AADE (commonly framed as a commencement declaration for electronic issuance or confirmation of use of the government tool).
Incentives for early adopters
To pull adoption forward, Greece has attached tax incentives for businesses that integrate ahead of their deadline—typically via enhanced depreciation / uplifted deductibility for e-Invoicing-related hardware, software, transmission, and archiving costs for a defined period.
The EU trajectory: why this design choice won’t stay purely “national”
At EU level, ViDA’s Digital Reporting Requirements drive cross-border structured reporting from 1 July 2030, and member states with existing domestic DRR models must align them with the EU framework by 2035.
That matters because Greece’s 2026 model is effectively building toward a future where structured data + interoperability becomes the default compliance architecture—not a Greece-only exception.
