Are you prepared for e-invoicing?

Europe is rapidly adopting mandatory electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) for business-to-business (B2B) transactions. This movement is driven primarily by tax authorities, at both the Member State and EU level, with the intention of reducing the tax gap. It is estimated that EU Member States lost €93 billion in VAT revenues in 2020, with a large portion attributed to tax fraud.

On a European level, the EU is looking to implement the VAT in the Digital Age Proposal (ViDA). While Poland, Spain, Germany, Belgium, and France have advanced plans to implement mandatory B2B e-invoicing between 2024 and 2026, Peppol and UBL are widely used standard formats.

Unfortunately, there are still significant variations in how each country chooses to implement the end-to-end process for e-invoicing. This can be particularly complex for pan-European businesses. You will encounter various terms, such as Real-Time Invoice Reporting (RTIR), clearance, electronic signatures, and numerous other local statutory requirements and variations. If invoice processing is not your core business, consider engaging an e-invoicing service provider, such as Pagero, Edicom, Basware, or Comarch. They can provide compliant e-invoicing connectivity not only in Europe but also worldwide.

While engaging an e-invoicing service provider is beneficial, you may still face internal challenges.

Organisational challenges:

• E-invoicing horizontally spans across the organization, from sales invoicing to accounts payable and tax compliance. This can create ownership and implementation challenges in some organizations.

• Determining who should take the lead and ensure compliant e-invoicing across the organization.

Procurement challenges:

• To run an efficient procurement process, you need a good understanding of internal processes, volumes, and the specific e-invoicing mandates in your target markets. Additionally, the ever-changing implementation dates by governments can make establishing a solid baseline for your procurement project challenging.

• You will also find that pricing varies between service providers, and it can be difficult to distinguish between their offerings, especially if you lack experience in this area.

Technical challenges:

• Accounts payable invoices are typically handled in the ERP system. However, sales invoices are often managed in various systems across the organization. You need to establish an integration framework that allows for flexibility in case you need to switch e-invoicing service providers in the future.

• You will also find that pricing varies between service providers, and it can be difficult to distinguish between their offerings, especially if you lack experience in this area.

We at Sub One have over 30 years of collective experience with EDI and e-invoicing within our network. We have helped pan-European organizations implement e-invoicing, from procurement to integration and go-live. We work within your organization to get it done, ensuring compliance and leaving your internal team equipped to manage e-invoicing independently after our involvement has concluded.

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