eInvoicing

Electronic invoicing, also known as eInvoicing, is the digital exchange of an invoice between a supplier and a buyer of a good or service. An eInvoice is an invoice issued, sent, and received in a structured way that makes it easy to process automatically and electronically.

In the EU, some businesses and all public administrations use the European standard on eInvoicing (EN 16931). All public administrations in the EU can receive electronic invoices for public procurement contracts, and some EU countries have made it mandatory for suppliers to submit eInvoices for the same procedure.

It is optional for your business to adopt eInvoicing as a standard with other businesses, unless it is required by the laws of the EU country that you work in.

eInvoicing in practice

Governments and public administrations

All public administrations and governments in the EU must be able to receive eInvoices, and in most cases if you are a supplier, it is your choice to send one or not.

When it comes to public procurement, governments and public authorities are are required to accept and process eInvoices that conform with the European eInvoicing standard for public contracts that exceed the EU public procurement thresholds.

Businesses

Each EU country has defined their own rules on how eInvoicing works, and it might already be mandatory to send eInvoices between businesses in your EU country. Make sure that you know what rules apply in your specific case by reviewing the the eInvoicing factsheets by country.

eInvoicing and your business

eInvoicing can help your business by:

• automating some labour-intensive tasks related to VAT, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting, and customs procedures,
• saving costs and working faster with fewer errors and smoother workflows,
• making growth simpler as your business expands through handling more invoices with lower administrative costs.

If you want to start using eInvoicing in your business, you can use these guidelines to get started.

You can also get help from a service and solution provider, a company that provides electronic or physical tools to help your business set up an eInvoicing system, or by using the eInvoicing services package.