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The electronic invoice is a powerful tool promoted internationally that brings a multitude of benefits to companies. Although as a rule there are a number of similarities in e-invoicing projects between different countries, the multitude of types of formats, platforms, legal regulations or the level of technological development make the electronic invoicing differ from one country to another.
Electronic invoicing implementation is expanding and more and more used for transactions. It is estimated that in five years’ time this market reaches $20.529 million and becomes the invoicing method for 100% of transactions in many countries.
Electronic invoice or e-Invoicing is a way of proving transactions in a more reliable, convenient, and safe way. It fulfils the same role as traditional invoice and is legally equivalent although it has many more benefits, becoming an essential resource for companies.
This is why implementation of electronic invoicing systems continue growing on several economic sectors. It is a widespread fact both in Europe and Latin America. Taking Spain as an example, during 2018, 181,884,086 electronic invoices were issued, 14.92% more than in 2017. Thanks to this, Spanish companies saved more than €900,000,000 on invoice reception handling that year. Across the Atlantic, e-Invoicing has reached the US, Canada and all over South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, getting over Europe as per implementation degree.
Estonia, like many other European countries, has decided to implement mandatory eInvoicing for the country’s public procurement. This decision is included in the modification of the Accounting Act that was published on 27 December 2016, which established that all contracting authorities (central, regional and local) must accept and process machine-processable invoices as of 1 March 2017.
E-invoicing in Sweden has been a reality since 2008, when the Swedish National Finance Management Authority (ESV) made e-invoicing mandatory for central government agencies.
When we talk about the format for electronic invoicing, this refers to the structure of the file which supports the invoice itself and its legal content. In the case of Spain, the Tax Agency has established XML, which is used in the Facturae structure, previously known as AEAT-CCI, as the official format.
As in many other countries in Europe, Austria has been promoting B2G eInvoicing for several years. Electronic invoicing was regulated as far back as 2012, when the Austrian Bundesministerium Finanzen published its Austrian ICT Consolidation Act (ICTKonG). Section 5 of that Act established the requirement to use electronic invoicing in the country’s public procurement: a fact which included the national and international suppliers working with the country's federal authorities.
With the aim of achieving uniformity in the services provided to the public and improving their efficiency and effectiveness, the Spanish government decided to promote the use of eInvoicing in the country using a model which pushed all of the public administrations towards the digital transformation.
1 252 million electronic invoices were processed and delivered in 2015 by members of the European E-Invoicing Service Providers Association (EESPA), based on a set of survey results completed in July 2016. This represented a significant growth of 27 per cent over 2014 volumes of 985 million.
