Click Sales invoice in the sidebar and select New invoice. You enter the invoice form with two tabs: Document (the invoice details) and Attachments.

Fully self-service: eConnect does not upload or send invoices on behalf of the customer. Every activated organisation creates and sends invoices independently via the platform. This also applies to activated foreign suppliers -- after activation they follow the same flow (Sales invoice → New invoice, or upload an existing XML file) as Dutch organisations. The platform language is Dutch by default; you can switch to English via Edit profile (top right in the platform). Before logging in, a language selection is available on the registration page.

• Supplier: your own organisation. This field is not filled in automatically -- select your organisation from the drop-down menu. Do you not see your organisation in the list? See The Supplier field is empty.
• Debtor (recipient): search by Chamber of Commerce number, company name or OIN number via Search organisation. The platform automatically searches the Chamber of Commerce database (NL) and KBO (BE) to retrieve the correct details. There is no separate address book for frequently used customers: you look up the customer again for every new invoice, which is just as fast as browsing an address book. Do you invoice only one or two customers regularly? Save them in a draft invoice that you reuse as a template.
• Invoice number: automatically generated if you have set up automatic numbering. Otherwise you enter a number manually.
• Invoice date: defaults to today, but can be changed.
• Invoice type: select the invoice type from the dropdown. The default is a regular invoice. For a credit note, select "Credit note", see Send a credit note.
• Invoice lines: add one or more lines with description, quantity, unit price and VAT rate. The available VAT rates are assembled dynamically based on the supplier country and the customer country. For a customer in another EU country, the option "Exempt for Intra-Community supply" appears automatically; for a customer outside the EU, the option "Export" appears.

Select your organisation in the supplier field via the drop-down menu. If your organisation does not appear in the list, you cannot select your own organisation as sender. Without supplier details the invoice cannot be saved or sent.

There are two common reasons why your organisation does not appear in the list:

1. Organisation not selected: if you have multiple organisations in your environment, you need to specify which organisation you are sending from when creating an invoice. If you have not done this, the field remains empty.
2. Organisation not activated: an organisation that has been added but not yet activated cannot be used as a supplier. The activation must be completed first.

Click the pencil icon next to the supplier field and select your organisation. If you only have one organisation, it is filled in immediately.

If your organisation does not appear in the list, it is probably not yet activated. Go to My environment > Organisations and check the status. Follow the steps in Add and activate an organisation to complete the activation.

After selecting the organisation, your company details (name, address, Chamber of Commerce number, VAT number) are automatically filled in on the invoice.

The invoice form contains several optional fields that you can fill in depending on the recipient's requirements:

• Order number: the recipient's purchase order number. Many large companies and government bodies require the order number on the invoice. Without an order number the invoice may be automatically rejected. Note: at least one of Order number or Buyer reference must be filled in -- if both are missing, the invoice cannot be saved.
• Delivery date: the date the goods or services were delivered, if different from the invoice date.
• Project number: a reference to the project for which the invoice was created. Useful if you invoice per project.
• Contract number: a reference to the underlying contract.
• Invoice note: a free text field for additional information on the invoice, visible to the recipient.
• Start date / End date: the service period the invoice relates to. Use this for recurring services or subscriptions.
• Buyer reference: a reference the recipient recognises, such as a cost centre or department. When invoicing Dutch government bodies, this field is crucial: enter the routing code required by the government organisation.

Tip: invoicing a government body or large company? Always ask which reference fields they require. An invoice with a missing order number or routing code is often automatically rejected.

Not all UBL fields are available in the invoice form:

• BT-46 (Buyer Identifier): there is no separate input field for the Buyer Identifier apart from the VAT number. The VAT field does not accept dots, meaning identifiers such as '1004.E00513.0001' (for example for Greek government bodies) cannot be entered.
• BT-158 (Item Classification / CPV code): not available in the invoice form.

Organisations that need these fields cannot currently resolve this via the standard platform interface. In that case, contact support for an alternative submission method.

Via the link Add delivery details you can include specific delivery information, such as a delivery address that differs from the invoice address. This is mainly relevant for physical deliveries or when invoicing a different branch.

On the Attachments tab you add extra files to the invoice. A regular invoice is a Peppol BIS V3 message; only the following attachment formats are allowed:

Export a Word document to PDF first before adding it as an attachment.

Limits: maximum 9 MB of attachment per invoice, with a stricter limit of 6 MB for CSV files. Peppol technically allows up to 100 MB, but the recommendation is to keep attachments under 10 MB per invoice. When invoicing Dutch government bodies, a maximum of 10 separate attachments applies; eConnect can merge attachments on request, in which case the order of the merged attachments is random.

Attachments are included with Peppol delivery (embedded in the UBL message) and email fallback (as a separate file in the same email as the invoice PDF).

Before sending, you can review the invoice:

• Company logo: if you have set a logo in the organisation settings, it automatically appears on the PDF view.
• PDF preview: see how the invoice looks to the recipient by clicking Preview.
• Internal comments: add a note visible to all users with access to the document. Note: if you are the supplier and your customer also has access to the eConnect platform, your customer can also see this note. Be discreet about what you enter here.

At the top of the form you find three buttons:

• Save: save the invoice as a draft without sending
• Send: send the invoice immediately
• Share: share the invoice with a colleague or partner for review, without sending. Useful when someone else needs to check the invoice before it is sent.

Click Send to send the invoice. The platform automatically selects the best delivery channel:

1. Peppol (external network): the primary and recommended route. The platform automatically checks whether the recipient is registered on Peppol (#PeppolFirst) and delivers the invoice as an e-invoice.
2. Email fallback: when the recipient is not reachable via Peppol, the platform sends an email with the invoice. In the account settings you can choose which files are included: PDF only, PDF + XML, XML only, or no attachment.

After sending, the invoice appears in your Outbox with a status overview.

Create a credit note for the amount of the incorrect invoice. This reverses the erroneous invoice.

Create a new invoice with the correct amount and send it to the recipient.