What are Peppol and PINT-SG?
Peppol (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) is an international e-invoicing standard that lets businesses exchange invoices as structured digital data across borders. PINT-SG is the Singapore-specific Peppol billing specification — the country profile of the Peppol International (PINT) standard, governed by IMDA as Singapore's official Peppol Authority. Together they're the technical foundation that InvoiceNow runs on.
Peppol — the international layer
Peppol is a four-corner network model:
- Corner 1: the sender's accounting/ERP software
- Corner 2: the sender's Access Point (a certified service provider)
- Corner 3: the receiver's Access Point
- Corner 4: the receiver's accounting/ERP software
Each business on the network has a Peppol ID (in Singapore, derived from its UEN — Unique Entity Number). Documents move in a common XML format based on UBL (Universal Business Language), with a shared business interoperability specification — historically Peppol BIS Billing 3.0, now superseded by PINT (Peppol International).
PINT and PINT-SG — what changed
PINT is the upgraded successor to BIS Billing 3.0. The big idea: a single international syntax with country-specific extensions, so a sender no longer needs to know exactly which national format the receiver wants — they send in PINT and the country profile handles the local rules.
PINT-SG is Singapore's PINT country profile. It carries the SG-specific data elements (UEN, GST registration number, GST tax codes, Singapore-specific identifiers) that IRAS and Singapore-based receivers expect. Invoices submitted to IRAS under the GST InvoiceNow Requirement must be in PINT syntax.
The current PINT-SG specification is published at docs.peppol.eu/poac/sg/ and is maintained by the Peppol Authority Community (PoAC) for Singapore.
IMDA — Singapore's Peppol Authority
The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is the official Peppol Authority for Singapore. As Peppol Authority, IMDA:
- Governs the registration of Peppol IDs for Singapore businesses
- Operates the centralised Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) where Singapore Peppol IDs are published, so any Access Point worldwide can look up where to route a Singapore-bound invoice
- Accredits Peppol Service Providers through the Peppol Service Provider Accreditation Scheme
- Maintains the InvoiceNow Technical Playbook that solution providers implement against
What this means for an SG SME
You don't deal with PINT XML by hand. Practically, you choose an InvoiceNow-Ready accounting or invoicing tool — one that's been accredited by IMDA — and the tool handles PINT-SG formatting, Access Point transmission, and (for GST-registered businesses) the data submission to IRAS.
If you're picking a solution, the IMDA InvoiceNow-Ready solution provider directory is the authoritative list.
Related terms
- InvoiceNow — InvoiceNow is Singapore's nationwide Peppol e-invoicing network.
- GST InvoiceNow Requirement — The GST InvoiceNow Requirement is IRAS's mandate that GST-registered businesses transmit invoice data to IRAS via the InvoiceNow Peppol network.
- GST F5 — GST F5 is the quarterly GST return every GST-registered business in Singapore files with IRAS.
- Uen (coming soon)
Sources
Last reviewed 29 May 2026. Verify any thresholds or dates against the official source above before relying on them.