Note: This is currently a closed beta. Please see the first section of this article for details.

When you enable UBL exports in your account, you can generate invoice exports that meet the e-invoicing requirements coming into effect in the European Union and several other European countries.

UBL is a specific type of XML file that includes the additional data your country and the EU Commission require. This file format is recommended by the EU Commission and supported by the Peppol network, and you’ll be able to attach your e-invoices to an email or upload them elsewhere as needed.

Information about the closed beta for UBL exports

This article is intended for participants in our UBL export beta testing. This is a closed beta, meaning we’ve limited the number of customers included in it and are not currently adding more.

Every country impacted by the new e-invoicing regulations is allowed to set its own requirements. This beta focuses on Norway, Germany, and the UK. We’re evaluating other countries’ requirements individually and will add support for additional countries on a case-by-case basis.

Teammate permissions and UBL exports

Administrators can do everything related to UBL exports:

• Enable and disable UBL for the account
• Manage company UBL values
• Manage client UBL values
• Export UBL invoices

Managers are never able to enable and disable UBL for the account or manage company UBL values. For the other aspects of UBL exports, they must have one or both of the following additional permissions:

• Send and fully manage invoices for projects they manage: This permission allows Managers to access and export invoices (only for projects they’re set to manage).
• Create and edit all clients and tasks: This permission allows Managers to enter and update client UBL values, both in Manage > Clients and (if they also have the permission to send invoices) in the course of exporting an invoice.

Note that while the UBL export feature is still in beta, our full article on permissions will not be updated to include this information.

Enable UBL exports

Any Administrator can enable UBL exports for your Harvest account.

1. In Invoices > Configure, go to the Company information tab.
2. Check the Export invoices in UBL format box.
3. Enter your company’s UBL values in the fields that appear.
4. Click Save company information.

Export a UBL invoice

Any Administrator can generate UBL exports of invoices. Managers must have the additional permission to send and fully manage invoices for projects they manage.

Before you export an invoice, ensure it has a number in the PO number field and has no more than one tax rate applied for each line item.

• Note: The name of the PO number field can be customized, so it may have a different name in your account. If you’re not sure which is the correct field, check Invoices > Configure > Translations to see its name in your account.

1. Go to Invoices and click the invoice you want to export.
2. Click Export and select UBL from the dropdown.
3. Review the Company information (for your own company) and click Save company information.
   1. Administrators can update these values as part of this step. Once you complete this export, any changes here will apply to all UBL exports going forward.
4. Review the Client information (for your client).
   1. Administrators as well as Managers with the additional permission to create and edit all clients and tasks can add and update these values as part of this step. Once you complete this export, any changes here will apply to all UBL exports for this client going forward.
   2. Managers without the additional permission to create and edit all clients and tasks won’t be able to generate a UBL invoice export for a client that doesn’t already have client UBL values entered. A teammate with the necessary permissions will need to add those values to the client in Manage > Clients first.
5. Click Export UBL invoice. The invoice will be saved on your computer as a .xml file.

Once you’ve exported a UBL invoice, you can attach it to an email or upload it elsewhere, such as to a Peppol access point or service provider. There’s currently not a way to attach the export to a Harvest invoice, though, since they don’t support this kind of electronic file attachment.

Manage company and client UBL values

Set and edit company UBL values

Your company’s UBL values are initially entered in the course of enabling UBL exports for the account.

Any Administrator can update the company UBL values from Invoices > Configure > Company information, or in the course of exporting a UBL invoice.

Set and edit client UBL values

Administrators as well as Managers with the additional permission to create and edit all clients and tasks can set and edit a client’s UBL values by going to Manage > Clients and clicking the Edit button for that client.

They can also update a client’s UBL values in the course of exporting a UBL invoice for that client.

Troubleshoot UBL exports

If you run into any problems while trying to export an invoice to the UBL format, please double-check the following:

• Ensure the invoice has a number in its PO number field. If you’ve changed the name of the field to something different and are not sure which field is the right one, check Invoices > Configure > Translations.
• Ensure there are no line items with two tax rates. Even if you’re applying two taxes to a line item, you’ll need to combine them into one tax rate on your Harvest invoice in order to export it to UBL.
• Ensure the VAT numbers in your company and client UBL values are correctly formatted, with the country’s ISO code (for example, DE for Germany or NO for Norway) at the beginning. Norwegian VAT numbers must also end with MVA.

If you're a German company invoicing the German federal government