How should an advance-payment document be handled in e-invoice?
Short answer
The correct treatment depends on the document’s actual tax purpose. Distinguish a payment request that is not yet a tax invoice, an invoice issued for a payment received before the supply, and the final settlement invoice. The label ‘advance invoice’ alone does not determine the required e-invoice treatment.
Call for payment
It does not have to be an invoice for VAT purposes.
Tax document
It can establish an invoicing obligation.
Deposit deduction
It uses structured fields like PrepaidAmount.
The right type
Internal names must be mapped to the correct Peppol type.
Detailed explanation
Historically, the terms ‘advance invoice’, ‘pro forma invoice’ and ‘tax document for a payment received’ have been used interchangeably in practice. With e-invoicing, it is necessary to specify exactly what the document is. A payment request may be a commercial document outside the scope of mandatory invoicing. A tax document for a payment received is a tax document. A settlement invoice must then correctly reflect the payment received, VAT and the link to previous documents.
As set out in the law and technical rules
The invoicing rules for payments received prior to delivery are set out in the VAT Act. The electronic regime must be assessed in accordance with Section 85o and delivery in accordance with Section 76a. The technical recording of the amount already paid is handled by Peppol BIS via BT-113 PrepaidAmount.
Practical examples
- The supplier sends the customer a request for an advance payment. This does not yet have to be an e-invoice.
- Upon receipt of the pre-delivery payment, a tax document is generated for the payment received.
- In the final settlement, the advance payment made is treated as a ‘PrepaidAmount’, not as a random negative line item.
Common misconceptions
- “Every pro forma invoice must be an e-invoice.” No. What matters is whether it is an invoice under the VAT Act.
- “I always deduct the advance payment as a negative line item.” No. Peppol has structured mechanisms.
- “An internal document name is sufficient.” No. The correct type and rules in XML are required.
Conclusion
Classify the document by its actual tax purpose: a payment request, an invoice for an advance payment received, or a final settlement invoice.
Legal and technical basis
- Act No. 222/2004 Coll. on VAT, Section 71 et seq.
- Act No. 222/2004 Coll. on VAT, Section 76a
- Act No. 222/2004 Coll. on VAT, Section 85o
- Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, BT-113 PrepaidAmount
Related questions
This does not constitute legal advice. Sources: Act No. 222/2004 Coll. on VAT, Act No. 385/2025 Coll., official guidance and information materials from the Slovak Financial Administration on e-invoice, EN 16931, Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 and OpenPeppol eDelivery documentation. Verified on 13 July 2026.
Official cases from the Slovak Financial Administration’s FAQs
The following questions and answers are taken from the current July FAQ from the Financial Administration and have been assigned to this topic. Grouping the cases prevents the creation of duplicate pages, whilst retaining the full answer and the exact wording of the question.
Example No. 34: Option to send advance invoices: Is it possible to incorporate advance invoices into the system, thereby allowing clients to send them via the access point, or will this not be possible at all?
The e-invoicing system is designed for sending documents that constitute invoices within the meaning of Section 72 of Act No. 222/2004 Coll. on Value Added Tax, including the special provisions under Section 85o of that Act, effective from 1 January 2027. An advance invoice must be assessed according to its legal nature: • If it is a so-called ‘pro forma invoice’ or a request for payment which does not contain the requisite details of an invoice under the VAT Act and the issue of which does not give rise to a tax liability, such a document is not an invoice within the meaning of the VAT Act and is not subject to transmission via the e-invoicing system. • However, if payment is received prior to the supply of goods or services, there is an obligation to issue an invoice for the payment received in accordance with Section 72(1) of the VAT Act. Such an invoice is a tax document and is subject to the electronic invoicing regime under Section 85o of the VAT Act; in such cases, it must be sent via the e-invoicing system. It follows from the above that only documents which meet the definition of an electronic invoice under the VAT Act may be entered into and sent via the system. An advance (pro forma) invoice, in and of itself, as a request for payment, is not a document intended for transmission via e-invoice.
Primary source: Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic, FAQ 9/VAT/2025/IM k e-invoice, July 2026 update. Processed and checked on 13 July 2026.