Frederick Kolff, Tommy Hilfiger Europe’s Vice President of Credit Management explains, “For our larger customers, we were already offering a solution for sending invoices via EDI. We wanted to eliminate paper invoicing for all our non-EDI customers as well, in order to improve our order-to-cash process. E-invoicing will speed up the invoicing process while maximizing our control over the process. Anachron’s e-Invoicing solution will enable customers to benefit from electronic invoicing effortlessly and without forcing them to commit to fees and integration work. Equally important to us is the fact that electronic invoicing is another step in reducing our carbon footprint. ”

Tommy Hilfiger Europe has selected functionalities from the off-the-shelf modules offered by Anachron. These include the Single-Sign-On functionality to provide buyers with access to the e-Invoicing service with their existing user account and password and the support of various document formats, including PDF, Excel and XML. The e-Invoicing portal, which contains an advanced search functionality, is available in English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Italian. Frank Hoekstra, CEO Anachron adds, “We are delighted to deliver the e-Invoicing services for Tommy Hilfiger Europe. With our solution, Tommy Hilfiger is able to deliver invoices faster and more efficiently.”

“We have selected Anachron as our partner to deliver the e-Invoicing solution because of their international e-Invoicing references. We issue cross border invoices, which requires a partner with a comprehensive solution that complies with both local and European e-Invoicing regulations,” concludes Frederick Kolff.

Anachron

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Anachron optimizes invoice process with e-Invoicing solution for Tommy Hilfiger.

The Liaison e-invoicing solution enables businesses to comply with global VAT and tax regulations and improve automation throughout the order-to-cash process. Customers can depend on a fully automated, streamlined and regulatory-compliant solution that minimizes manual intervention, errors and delays.

“Partnering with Liaison has been rewarding not only for us but, more importantly, for our customers,” said Frank Hoekstra, CEO of Anachron. “The ability to deliver an integrated, full-service solution that combines secure electronic invoicing and archiving has been well-received by our global customers, who have been using the service for some time now.”

Liaison’s e-invoicing solution enables greater operational efficiency and the reduction of costs by automating manual invoicing processes. Further, it can integrate with any ERP or middleware system, providing compatibility with a wide range of complex enterprise environments.

“Using Liaison’s electronic invoicing and archiving service makes it much easier for our suppliers to submit e-invoices, and gives us complete control and visibility over cash flow,” said Chris Wynia, eBusiness Manager at PaperlinX. “It also gives us greater process efficiency and assurance that we’ll be compliant in every country we do business in despite rapidly changing standards.”

Wynia added that, “Our organization was up and running with the service within weeks and saw an immediate improvement in the effectiveness of our supply chain operations, including quicker payment times, fewer errors and faster processing by eliminating manual and duplicative tasks.”

“There’s a clear demand for electronic invoicing and archiving services that do not force companies to commit to long-term fees and multiple costly integration processes – something evidenced by customer adoption of our solution over the past several months,” said Lauri Holtta, Vice President of Global Service Development at Liaison Technologies. “Liaison continues its commitment to providing innovative solutions that help global enterprises operate more efficiently across borders.”

About Liaison Technologies

Liaison Technologies is a global integration, data management and data security company. It provides unique and high-value services to move, transform and manage business information in the cloud, and to protect data to help organizations master complex security challenges and meet compliance mandates. With a comprehensive array of business-to-business and application-to-application integration and data transformation services, as well as on-premise and cloud-based data security solutions, Liaison’s practitioners implement data management infrastructures adapted to each client’s specific business requirements. Headquartered in Atlanta, Liaison has offices in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

For more information, visit www.liaison.com.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Liaison Technologies deploys VAT-compliant e-invoicing solution.

NOTE: even though advanced electronic signatures or EDI-agreements are no longer a fiscal obligation, they still come in handy. These measures attached to your invoices, eases the burden of proof in fiscal audit measures (in fact the burden of proof then lies at the fiscal authorities) and civil/trade law proceedings (where an invoice plays a vital role).

More information (use Google translate form your own language)
- FAQ on German e-invoicing simplification: http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/DE/Wirtschaft__und__Verwaltung/Steuern/Veroeffentlichungen__zu__Steuerarten/Umsatzsteuer/003.html
- Legal German Proposal: http://www.signature-check.de/fileadmin/pdf/BMF_Aenderung_UStG_26Okt2010_Formulierungsentwurf.pdf

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Germany eases e-invoicing legislation after 1 July 2011.

The new arrangement has been worked out in a bid to tackle a VAT bill racket that is assaulting the very heart of the country´s tax system.

Under this arrangement, large taxpayers will need to adopt a web-based computer billing system. Medium and smaller taxpayers too will need to arrange for fiscal printers and cash register machines respectively and compulsorily input all their transactions into them.

“The new policy changes will be effected through the upcoming budget,” a highly placed government source told Republica.

The change is being effected as per the recommendations of the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), whose recent crackdown on 32 firms involved in forging VAT receipts revealed that the racket is much wider in scale and is present in almost the entire business sector.

IRD found that under the racket known the world over as the ´case of the missing vendor´, firms including big corporate houses were either buying genuine VAT receipts from smaller firms or buying printed receipts of some other registered traders to create fake transactions in order to evade tax. Some of them even claimed VAT refund on the basis of the fake VAT receipts and customs documents, thereby siphoning off funds from the national exchequer without having contributed even a penny into it.

The government has admitted that the racket, which has so far been found to involve around Rs 10 billion (well over $138 million) and has inflicted revenue losses of over Rs 4 billion, flourished because it did not mechanize the VAT system. In the absence of this, the tax administration failed to keep track of the vendors, while enabling entrepreneurs to create fake transactions.

“To our reckoning, we must not delay enforcement of an electronic billing system,” the source said.

Under the new practice, web-based billing will directly link transactions of large taxpayers with the the system at the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). This means whenever they issue a bill to any party, the transaction will be automatically recorded in the main server at IRD.

The fiscal printers, like the ones used by hotels and service entities, will have a device that records all transactions carried out over the span of a year. Cash register machines will also have a similar backup device, registering all transactions carried out by small taxpayers.

“Because the taxpayers will not be able to manipulate transactions recorded in the system, we will be able to track down the vendors and cross-match their transactions,” the source said.

This is not the first time the government is talking about web-based computer billing, fiscal printers and cash register machines. The existing tax law encourages taxpayers to install such a system voluntarily and even allows them to deduct the cost incurred from their profits, thereby freeing them from any additional financial burden. However, only a handful of business firms bothered to implement the system.

Given their importance in plugging leakage, particularly of VAT, which has been reeling due to under-invoicing and lack of receipts, the government four years ago had announced it was making electronic billing compulsory. However, this never came into implementation.

Source: Republica Business & Economy

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Govt mulls mandatory electronic billing.

Argentina is one of the Latin countries that put electronic invoicing into practice. Based on Government rules and regulations, there are many differences between eFactura and for instance Brazil’s Nf-e (Nota Fiscal Eletronica).

The law in Argentina obliges every company that deals with VAT related invoices to generate these documents in the electronically:

• Invoices or equivalent documents class A
• Credit notes and debit notes class A

Companies have the option to create the electronic version of the documents below:

• Invoices or equivalent documents class B
• Credit notes and debit notes class B

This fiscal program has started in 2006, and it it took the Government a great deal of time and effort to make it mandatory. The number of commercial channels and communication methods were other aspects that made the implementation take so long. Moreover, the implementation proves to be a slow growing trend as the level of validation over the XML file sent to AFIP is not high.

In order to issue an electronic invoice (eFactura), the companies must request a digital certification called Fiscal Key. Using this fiscal key, the company is an electronic issuer. Then, the company will request authorization to issue each separate invoice. This authorization is requested to AFIP (Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos), the Government Tax Entity. An electronic certification number called CAE proves that the authorization is official. Without the CAE number applied to the invoice, it is not possible to release invoices to customers.

This CAE number can be gathered in two ways:

-          Normal: the communication method does not matter, every invoice should have one

-          Anticipated:  the company can ask for a certain number of CAE numbers according to its wish, for 15 days. After this period, the company has to file a report on how many of those numbers were really used. Optionally,they can make a request for more.

Another determining aspect when configuring a company’s scenario in eFactura is the regime. A regime determines the tax contribution model that applies to the company. Two major ones are:

• R.E.C.E. à Regime de Emissión de Comprobantes Electrónicos – http://www.afip.gob.ar/fe/#rece
  This is the most adequate model for large contributors. It is based on web services, with no limits.
• R.E.C.L. à Regime de Emissión de Comprobantes en Línea – http://www.afip.gob.ar/fe/#recl
  This modelv  is very adequate for companies with no more than 100 invoices per month.

By Alexandre Carvalho
APC Solutions

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: eFactura, the Argentinian Electronic Invoice method.

The regulation effectively removes restrictions that limited the use of e-invoices. Previously, issuing, sending and storing e-invoices was only possible through the use of electronic data interchange (EDI) or by using an qualified electronic signature. Just like in any other country, compliance with these rules proved to be expensive and, in practice, a restricting in the use of e-invoices.

Already in May 2010, Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court held that it was allowed to send an invoice as an attachment in an email. This e-invoice even after being printed by the receiver, could be treated as a paper invoice, allowing for VAT deduction.

This recent regulation affords businesses an opportunity to issue, send and store invoices in any electronic format. Just like current and upcoming EU legislation acceptance from the customer is still needed Even though this can be achieved either explicitly or implicitly and either in electronic format or in writing.

To send invoices electronically, two conditions must be satisfied:

* Authenticity of origin—certainty that the identity of the person supplying the goods or service, is the issuer of the invoice

* Integrity of content—invoice data has not been altered

The former requirements for a qualified electronic signature and to use EDI no longer apply; however, both methods are mentioned in the new guidance as examples of how to satisfy the required conditions for e-invoices. Sending an PDF invoice per e-mail is also permitted. As well as storing your invoices electronically.

Source: KPMG

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Poland no longer requires qualified signature or EDI with e-invoicing.

The European Commission today adopted a proposal to change the VAT Directive 2006/112/EC in respect to the invoicing rules, based on a Communication on the technological developments in the field of electronic invoicing. The aim of the proposal is to increase the use of electronic invoicing, reduce burdens on business, support small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and help Member States to tackle fraud. The proposal simplifies, modernises and harmonises the VAT invoicing rules. In particular, it eliminates the current barriers to e-invoicing in the VAT Directive by treating paper and electronic invoices equally. The proposal is a key element of the Commission’s Action Programme to reduce burdens on business by 25% by 2012, and is part of the Commission’s strategy to combat VAT fraud more efficiently.

László Kovács, Commissioner for Taxation and Customs, said: “Current national VAT invoicing rules are excessively complicated and disparate. This has led to unnecessary administrative burdens on businesses operating cross-border and has also facilitated VAT carousel fraud. Today’s important initiative will put forward much simpler, more modern and comprehensive rules for invoicing, whilst allowing tax administrations effective means of control. Paper and electronic invoices will be treated equally which will allow businesses to move to a 100% e-invoicing system and to save up to 18 billion euros across the EU”.

The Communication and the proposal reflect the real concerns of the business community and tax administrations, as indicated in their replies to the public consultation. A recent opinion of the High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders (HLG) also showed a demand for all the VAT aspects of invoicing to be looked at more widely. The proposal adopted today, therefore, not only addresses the VAT obstacles which hamper the up-take of electronic invoicing, but it also addresses difficulties that businesses face in respect to issuing and storing (especially electronically storing) of invoices, as well as discrepancies of the content of invoices.

The Commission believes that it is necessary to increase the up-take of electronic invoicing, by removing the pre-conditions of advanced electronic signatures or electric data interchange (EDI) for sending invoices electronically. Moreover, the electronic storage of invoices will be allowed, even if the original invoice is in paper format, and common storage periods are set.

Other measures to help reduce burdens on business include the removal of the many options available to Member States, thereby creating a harmonised set of invoicing rules. This will help those businesses that want to implement practices such as self-billing or summary invoices and will allow the larger businesses to centralise their invoicing.

To help SMEs, the proposal widens the use of simplified invoicing, notably for small value invoices (up to 200 euros) which will be of particular benefit for smaller businesses. It also allows simplified invoicing for business to consumer (B2C) supplies and certain VAT exempt supplies where the risk of fraud islimited. In addition, and of direct benefit to SMEs, is the option for Member States to introduce a cash accounting scheme under which the tax becomes due only when the invoice is paid.

Notwithstanding the measures to help reduce burdens on business and promote SMEs, safeguards are maintained or enhanced to help the authorities to tackle VAT fraud. As businesses operating cross-border will have to report their transactions in the month of the supply, fraudsters will not be able to abuse the possibility of including an invoice in a later reporting period. Moreover, the rules on the right to VAT deductions are strengthened in respect to the requirement to hold a valid invoice and as regards the contents of invoices.

Background

The VAT Directive requires that the Commission present a report and, if appropriate, a proposal amending the conditions for electronic invoicing. With the need also to address shortcomings with regard to other VAT rules on invoicing, the scope of the report and the accompanying proposal have been widened to include all aspects of the invoicing rules.

Questions and answers on technical issues of the proposal are available at this web page:

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/traders/invoicing_rules/index_en.htm

Further information on the Communication and the proposal can be found at:

Communication:

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/key_documents/communications/index_en.htm

Proposal for a Directive:

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/key_documents/legislation_proposed/index_en.htm

The Commission sought the views of the public and commissioned a study on invoicing in order to be better informed as to the problems faced by business in respect to invoicing.

Further information on the public consultation and invoicing study can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/common/consultations/tax/index_en.htm

Invoicing study:

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/common/publications/studies/index_en.htm

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: VAT: Commission proposes a review of the VAT rules on invoicing.

Ariba is open to accelerate the production of a country guide (new or updated) to assist any customer rollout their solution into any country where we believe we have a paperless solution.  Unlike some competitors, there are no pre-conditions or volume commitments required for Ariba to research a country and obtain this kind of information via the local KPMG expert.  This update serves as another example of Ariba’s and our partners’ commitment to spreading the adoption of paperless e-Invoicing globally!

In general, Poland is a very straight forward VAT country with the exception of the following differences:

* Poland requires that “Faktura VAT”  (Tax Invoice) in Polish language be included in the invoice.
* Poland requires that “FAKTURA KORYGUJACA” or “KOREKTA” be include in a credit memo.
* Poland requires that “Total invoice amount” be written in digits and in words.
* Poland has defined requirements for 4 types of credit memos

See Ariba’s Country Guide for more details on how the Ariba solution maps to the Polish requirements.

If you are interested in e-Invoicing in Poland, please contact your Ariba representative for the latest version of Ariba’s Country Guide.

http://exchange.ariba.com/community/solutions/finance/blog/tags/einvoice

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Ariba: paperless e-Invoicing in Poland.

It is estimated that the new instrument can reduce the industry’s charges by up to 18 billion euros annually. It will be of particular help to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as simplified invoices will be extended to include those for smaller amounts.
.
Furthermore, it will allow SMEs to account for VAT on a cash basis. Paper and electronic invoices will be treated equally. Rules on storing of information and recording periods will be harmonised. The directive should boost electronic commerce.

The proposal also includes measures to help tax authorities tackle VAT fraud. Rules on VAT deduction will be tightened to enable speedier exchange of information on supply of goods and services internally in the EU. As businesses operating cross-border will have to report their transactions in the month of the supply, carousel fraudsters will not be able to abuse the possibility of including an invoice in a later reporting period.

http://www.consilium.europa.eu

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Simpler rules on VAT invoicing.

This decision has  caused a strong response. For a great deal, these reactions were negative of nature because the legislation appears to be stricter than initially proposed: it’s the world of e-invoicing upside down.

Trustweaver has composed an analysis of the changes around e-invoicing based on the decision. Also, the final version of the new regulation has been published. Both the decision of the Council of the European Union and the Trustweaver analysis are published below.

.
.
If you can’t see the SlideShare upload, click here

If you can’t see the SlideShare upload, click here

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: New e-invoicing regulations European Union available.

The Commission has proposed that any electronic document could act as a VAT invoice as long as it fulfils basic formal requirements, such as the inclusion of the business’s name and address.

“This technologically-neutral solution implies that a fax, PDF, or EDI message could serve as an electronic invoice and evidence of a sales transaction as long as the sending and receiving companies can demonstrate on audit that the invoice is real and unchanged,” said an ICC statement.

“The early adoption of electronic invoicing by all countries with VAT…systems would simultaneously streamline tax administration, reduce the costs of tax compliance for businesses and have a positive impact on the environment,” said Robert Couzin, chair of the ICC’s Taxation Commission.

The ICC said that it welcomed the Commission’s proposal that paper and electronic VAT invoices be treated in the same way.

“The proposal is to replace the current limited number of implementation options with technology-neutral requirements, allowing businesses to choose how they prefer to make their electronic invoicing processes robust and trustworthy,” said the ICC statement.

The ICC said that existing rules about e-invoicing and VAT have hampered the growth of cross-border trade.

“Studies have shown that the restrictive and prescriptive nature of current European VAT requirements regarding electronic invoicing, in combination with a non-harmonized interpretation by EU member states, are among the principal causes of slower than expected adoption of e-invoicing by business,” it said. “These factors cause legal uncertainty in some cases and high cost of implementing unnecessary controls in others.”

In a discussion paper on the issue the ICC underlined the importance of technology neutrality.

“ICC has always been a strong advocate of technology-neutral law and law enforcement with respect to user choice – in other words, when information compliance requirements are objectively needed for public policy reasons, the law should not discriminate between available technologies and processes that are capable of producing equivalent results,” said its paper. “ICC supports technology neutral solutions for companies based on global standards.”

The ICC said in its paper that inter-governmental cooperation would be important in lowering barriers between trading nations, but that private companies also had a role to play in finding ways for companies to navigate international VAT regimes.

When a European Union Directive was introduced to modernise VAT systems it was criticised because different EU member states mandated the use of different forms, formats and technologies for invoicing and e-invoicing.

Speaking in January of this year EU Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Laszlo Kovacs said that simplifying measures would help business.

“Paper and electronic invoices will be treated equally which will allow businesses to move to a 100 percent e-invoicing system and to save up to €18 billion a year across the EU,” he said.

Source: Out-Law.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: ICC welcomes EC action on e-invoicing.

 
This Code of Practice on Electronic Invoicing in Europe is recommended for implementation when and if the amended Directive on VAT as proposed by the European Commission on 28 January 2009 comes into effect.

Trading parties, solution providers and tax authorities need legal certainty, a key element for a proper functioning of the Internal Market and for realizing the huge process, labour and cost-efficiency benefits, which electronic invoicing processes could provide.
Legal certainty requires clear, easy to apply and EU wide harmonised regulations which are uniformly implemented by Member States across the EU and uniformly applied by the relevant tax administrations in the Member States.

The objective of this Code of Practice is therefore:
• to provide legal certainty for business in Europe in processing invoices by electronic means, and
• to foster an e-invoicing friendly environment in Europe by increasing mutual trust between all involved parties in the processes applied.

This will assist business and authorities to meet present and future regulatory requirements for electronic invoicing and to assure them on the best practice applied consistently across Europe.

The practices are equally applicable to transactions taking place within and between Member States of the European Union and could also be used to drive a common approach in countries outside the EU.

Full harmonization of provisions governing electronic invoicing within the EU27 should be a key objective in the interests of the Single Market and ease of use for trading parties across Europe to create a level playing field and legal certainty. There should be no distinction between invoicing carried out on a domestic basis or between Member States. The same harmonized provisions should apply for both e-invoices related to domestic transactions and for those related to intra-community transactions.

Many of these principles are already practiced in the EU27, and in some member countries these principles are explicitly stated in National Guidance Documents.
 

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Document: 'Code of Practice on Electronic Invoicing in Europe'.

Lufthansa is reducing costs and paper consumption with OB10 e-Invoicing in its accounting department.

Lufthansa has announced that it is implementing electronic invoicing with OB10, the world’s leading e-Invoicing network. The objective is to use the OB10 service to generate tax-compliant invoices, thereby reducing invoice management costs both in Germany and internationally.

“OB10 is an international operation – like Lufthansa – and fulfils our requirements for electronic invoice processing in the countries that are most important to us.  Thanks to our ANY-TO-ANY DATA FORMATTING we can handle any type of invoice format – without requiring our customers or their suppliers to install additional hardware or software.”

“We are proud that with Deutsche Lufthansa AG, we are working with another client who wants to encourage their suppliers to become part of our global network.”
Although the majority of invoices at Lufthansa in Germany are already received via EDI (with the accompanying summary invoice) thousands of paper invoices for goods and services still arrive at Lufthansa every year. The manual processes for managing incoming invoices are not only time-consuming and costly, but also prone to error. All of this will now come to an end. As part of the new e-Invoicing project, which will initially be implemented in Germany and eight other countries including the US, the UK and Canada, the majority of invoices will be processed completely in electronic form using OB10.

Lufthansa equips itself for the future
In addition to the cost savings e-Invoicing delivers, Lufthansa expects the cooperation with OB10 to lead to considerable process simplification. Over the medium term, the entire Financial Supply Chain is to be moved to an electronic process. Additional advantages of the e-Invoicing system include faster transmission of invoices and significantly improved data quality as invoice information is fed directly into the ERP system and its associated archive. Lufthansa will also benefit from higher productivity in its invoice processing due to the automated validation of invoice data. Furthermore, pure electronic invoicing will greatly reduce the number of invoices from suppliers that cannot be allocated, and therefore significantly reduce the accompanying queries and complaints regarding payment. e-Invoicing also has advantages for suppliers as they not only profit from reduced process costs, but also the cost and time delays associated with posting invoices.

“OB10 is an international operation – like Lufthansa – and fulfils our requirements for electronic invoice processing in the countries that are most important to us,” says Martin Steuernagel, Department Manager for External Accounting at Deutsche Lufthansa AG. “That makes OB10 the ideal partner to simplify many of our more complex external invoicing procedures with e-Invoicing. What really tipped the scales for OB10, however, was the supplier enrolment programme, which will ensure that our international suppliers and partners will also be promptly connected to the OB10 network. Nobody else offers this type of programme – in seven different languages – and it will help us save valuable time and resources as we implement the overall project.”

“Thanks to our ANY-TO-ANY DATA FORMATTING we can handle any type of invoice format – without requiring our customers or their suppliers to install additional hardware or software,” adds Jamie Gunn, CEO, OB10. “We are proud that with Deutsche Lufthansa AG, we are working with another client who wants to encourage their suppliers to become part of our global network.”

About OB10
OB10 (www.OB10.com) is the leading global B2B e-Invoicing network. OB10 simplifies and streamlines the complex invoice-to-pay processes. Neither client organizations nor their suppliers are required to implement any hardware or software, and OB10 is independent of data file formats. OB10 can reduce the cost of paper invoice processing by typically 60 percent and can deliver an ROI in less than a year if the program follows OB10′s best practice guidelines. Operational across Europe, North America and Asia, OB10 is compliant with the requirements of VAT, tax and e-Invoicing legislation and receives invoices from suppliers in over 100 countries. To ensure unrivalled and rapid supplier enrollment, each new customer’s suppliers are supported by an implementation services team responsible for getting them up and running on the OB10 network.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Lufthansa AG Switches to Paperless Invoices with OB10.

Organisations across all industries are feeling the impact of the current economic downturn and looking for ways to cut costs and increase efficiencies without disruption to their productivity. Ideal solutions should be implemented swiftly; leveraging earlier IT investments and not requiring large capital investments.

According to the European Commission, businesses across Europe can save up to 18 billion € by using an e-Invoicing solution. The Aberdeen report from May 2007 quotes a reduction of processing costs of 74 – 89%. Whether you are looking to cut costs quickly or sustain your business for future growth, OB10 will help you achieve your goals:

Reduction in costs – OB10 customers reduce by typically 60%
ROI in less than one year
Improve efficiency – removing manual tasks
Sustain your business growth

Focus within your organisation – improve efficiency and reduce costs
We all know that paper invoicing is inefficient, expensive and error prone. It uses expensive resources to manually input data and deal with supplier queries due to lost invoices, incorrect or missing information resulting in inefficiencies and inaccuracies which can affect cash flow management and effective forecasting.

Imagine if the manual invoice handling process could be removed. If data was received directly into your accounting system – containing all the information you require. As a business you would immediately increase efficiency, reduce processing time and costs and rely on invoice data for cash flow and forecast management.

Electronic invoicing from OB10 enables your suppliers to send data in their preferred format directly to your accounting system. We will work with you and your suppliers to ensure you receive reliable, tax compliant electronic invoice data. This not only enables you to remove manual input from the process and to focus staff on tasks that add value to your organisation, but also provides accurate real-time data to improve working capital and management reporting.

> Find out more on how e-Invoicing from OB10 works

Get the most from your suppliers
There has never been a more important time for buying organisations to support their supply chains. Suppliers are an integral, essential component of your business. Many suppliers are struggling due to the drop in business volumes, late payments and pressure being placed on them to squeeze profit-margins. It is important to you and the success of your business that your suppliers can continue to offer their services or products through the economic downturn – for your own benefit.

Reduce your costs and support suppliers with Supplier Payments
The Supplier Payments service is a powerful combination of e-Invoicing and innovative supply chain financing from Abbey UK Corporate Banking, bringing benefits to buying organisations and suppliers alike.

Developed with our partner Abbey UK Corporate Banking, this proven working capital solution reduces the cost of finance for the whole supply chain. In contrast to most other forms of supply chain financing, the payment is provided in the form of early cash to the supplier. Because payment is made early, your suppliers benefit from a reduced cost of finance and are able to provide services or products to their full potential. At the same time, you are able to support your suppliers during this difficult economic situation whilst maintaining your working capital position. Alternatively you may choose to negotiate a reduction in the cost of goods purchased.

www.ob10.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: OB10: potential savings e-invoicing up to €18 billion.

These include the European Commission Recommendation 1994/820/EC, the European Directive 1999/93/EC and the European Directive 2001/115/EC. These standards have served the dual purposes of facilitating VAT administration on the one hand and fostering e-commerce on the other.

What Is The Importance Of E-Invoicing VAT Transactions In E-Commerce?
The invoice of a commercial transaction is one of the most important documents in any business. The invoice must conform to accounting, tax, business and even linguistic rules. Guidelines governing indirect taxes such as VAT that are levied on the basis of a commercial transaction specifically provide rules for authenticity of origin of an invoice as well as the integrity of its content. The invoice is also necessary in order for the recipient to claim a VAT refund. With the transformation of conventional business into e-business, all member states have individually tried to regulate the complex legal issue of invoicing. These disparate efforts resulted in a disruption of the smooth functioning of the Internal Market.

The Commission launched a multi-annual project “Simpler Legislation for the Internal Market” (SLIM) in 1996 to streamline key Internal Market Legislation. The Commission’s report on the SLIM initiative was approved by the Internal Market Council on November 27, 1997. This report includes a commitment to study “the details considered necessary for drawing up an invoice for VAT purposes and the legal and technical requirements for electronic invoicing”.CEN, the European Committee for Standardization or Comité Européen de Normalisation, was founded in 1961 with twenty nine national members to develop voluntary European standards and to foster the European economy in global trading.

In 2003, at the request of the European Commission, CEN set up an open “E-Invoicing Focus Group” and issued a report analyzing the requirements on standardization issues relating to electronic invoicing resulting from the new VAT legal framework. The Council Directive 2001/1115/EC recognizes the legal validity of electronic invoices for VAT purposes and specifies the related, required, technical conditions.

What Is The European Commission Recommendation 1994/820/EC.?
The Commission Recommendation was developed at the request of the European Trade and Industry Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) user groups to provide the required legality, acceptability and security in the use of EDI in European member states. The Recommendation includes the Model European Interchange Agreement that was developed in line with the work carried out by the International Chamber of Commerce and several major industry sectors, including the automotive, electronics, retail and distribution sectors.

Trading partners were advised to agree and sign interchange agreements based on the European model prior to commencing the exchange of EDI messages. The Recommendation specifically deals with the definition of EDI, EDI messages, essential characteristics of EDI messages, security of EDI messages, admissibility of evidence regarding EDI messages, storage of EDI messages, EDI standards, applicable laws and security measures when using EDI.

Article 2 of the Commission Recommendation also provides for alternative provisions for accepting electronic invoices when they are sent by EDI, and the agreement then provides for the use of procedures guaranteeing authenticity of origin and integrity of contents. The Recommendation deals with the legal status of EDI by mandating that EDI is admissible in a member state to the extent permitted by national law.

How Did Directive 1999/93/EC Contribute To The Development Of E-Invoicing?
The European Parliament and Council issued Directive 1999/93/EC on Community Framework for Electronic Signatures. The Directive introduced a legal framework to guarantee EU-wide recognition of electronic signatures. This Directive recognizes the importance of the electronic signature as a prerequisite for e-invoicing and security of data transmitted electronically.

The purpose of the Electronic Signature Directive is to facilitate the use of electronic signatures in e-invoicing and to contribute to their legal recognition. It establishes a general framework for electronic signatures and certain certification services to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market. Electronic signatures are also considered important as they facilitate the wide use of e-invoicing. Apart from its commercial value, the invoice is an accounting document, it has legal implications to both transacting parties and it is the basis for VAT declaration and reclamation, statistics declaration for intra-community trade and export and import declaration for extra-community trade.

How Has Directive 2001/115/EC Enabled E-Invoicing For VAT?
European Directive 2001/115/EC specifically deals with e-invoicing. It clarifies the implementation of e-invoicing and aims to introduce harmonized procedures for paper as well as e-invoicing across all member states. The Directive outlines the liability of taxable persons and their service providers for the integrity of content and authenticity of origin of electronic invoices for VAT purposes. This relates mainly to the invoices exchanged electronically and to the storage of invoices.

Under the Directive, no member state can refuse the invoice of goods or services sent by electronic means provided that the authenticity of the origin and integrity of the contents are guaranteed by means of an advanced electronic signature (AES), or by means of EDI as defined in Commission recommendations. Member states may, however, require the advanced electronic signature to be based on a qualified certificate. Invoices may also be sent by other electronic means subject to acceptance by the member state(s) concerned.

Although the EDI invoice message has been adopted by several industry and trade sectors in Europe, it has not been implemented to its full potential. Paper invoices have been maintained to overcome difficulties surrounding VAT regulation. Several member states introduced special procedures to allow EDI paperless invoicing but still require companies to apply for permission from the tax administration and in some cases to exchange summary VAT control messages, electronically or on paper. For cross-border electronic invoicing, companies are exchanging electronic invoices for company administration application, but are forced to parallel the exchanges with paper invoices to meet member state VAT requirements.

Source: ibls.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Internet Law – EU regulations for e-Invoicing.

Click the link to obtain access to the report

You will be redirected to the ICT & Management Observatories by Politecnico di Milano website.
 
 

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Report: "E-Invoicing as a "keystone" between companies, banks and PA".

Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said: “It is important to have sound, efficient and secure payment systems in order to ensure a proper functioning of the internal market. With the development of our policies in the area of payments, in particular in the context of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), we have a growing need for regular and high-level stakeholder input at the earliest stage of our policy-making. New and complex areas of activity, such as the prevention of payment fraud or the development of innovative payments, will also mean new needs for specialist expertise.”

The call for applications will be open until 6 February 2009. It is addressed to experts in payments, including fraud prevention, coming in particular from the payment industry and the payment users. A maximum of 50 experts will be selected.

The PSMEG’s tasks will be: to assist the Commission in the preparation of legislative acts or policy initiatives regarding payment systems, including fraud prevention issues related to payment industry and users; to provide insight concerning the practical implementation of that policy; and to exchange views on up-to-date best practices and ensure monitoring of potential issues of concern for the market. The group will meet in Brussels and will be chaired by the Internal Market and Services DG of the European Commission.

Below you can read the publication about the Payment Systems Marrket Expert Group:

Source: European Commission

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: European Commission creates Payment Systems Market Expert Group.

Anachron, the leading e-Billing supplier in Europe, was selected by Multi Service Europe to develop an e-Billing solution for Multi Service Europe. The e-Billing application is integrated within the online customer portal of Multi Service Europe.

Rutger Gassner, Managing Director Multi Service Europe explains the reasons for e-Invoicing: “Multi Service Europe delivers customized solutions for billing and payment systems in the transportation industry throughout Europe. Our customers can view and download detailed information regarding their transaction online within our customer portal. In order to enhance our customer service even more we decided to implement a solution to present invoices online within our customer portal. Sending invoices the traditional way throughout Europe led to a delay of an average 5 days. We definitely knew that we could optimize this process, so that our customers would have all the relevant information simultaneously at one online location”.

Anachron was delighted to be chosen to develop the e-Invoicing portal. Anachron is known for their cutting edge functionalities and fast implementation periods. The e-Billing application is integrated within the customer portal of Multi Service Europe. Multi Service Europe generates a PDF of the invoice within their business application. Anachron receives the PDF via a secured line. The PDF is then signed with the advanced digital signature so that requirements of the Sixth EU VAT Directive are met.Erik van Os, Project Manager Multi Service Europe continues on the solution: “The e-Invoicing solution results in a direct and indirect cost reduction. We will experience a direct cost reduction because of a decrease in paper usage, printing and handling. Indirectly we will experience faster customer payments as our customers have immediate and direct access to their invoices and related information. This also enables our customers to invoice their customers even faster. The extra benefits for our customers are the easy access to information as they can view invoices from any location and have an online archive for the complete legal period”.

The e-Invoicing application includes a management console that is especially developed for Multi Service Europe to monitor all web actions of the customers. Authorized employees can access the online archive and create and manage user accounts for the e-Invoicing application.

Rutger Gassner concludes: “The e-Invoicing solution is an important step for Multi Service Europe as we can present our invoices immediately throughout Europe. We chose to work with Anachron as our service provider because of the extended experience with e-Invoicing in Europe. Our e-Invoicing solution complies with the EU regulations and is available in multiple languages. By the end of December 2008 all customers can experience the added value of the e-Invoicing platform”.

Characteristics of the solution:

• Online presentation through IFrame
• Signing PDF file with the advanced digital signature
• Sorting functionality
• Notification e-mail
• Multi-lingual & multi-currency
• Online archive for customers and MSE employee
• Management Console

Source: www.anachron.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Anachron solution helps Multi Service Europe to start e-invoicing in Europe.

The invoice is an important document exchanged in e-business transactions between trading partners. Its primary function is a request for payment from the customer to the supplier. The invoice is also an important accounting document and also has potential trade law implications for both trading partners.
Additionally, in the member states of the European Union, the invoice is the key document for VAT declaration and reclamation, for statistics declaration, and to support export and import declaration in respect of trade with other countries.

Started as an initiative by CEN/ISSS Work shop eBES, the European Expert Group 1 (EEG1) – Supply Chain & e-Procurement developed the Cross Industry Invoice in 2004. The first version of the Cross Industry Invoice has been compiled with contributions and submissions from: EUROFER, GS1, CIDX, EDIFICE, AIAG/ODETTE/JAMA, GHX, UK e-Government, UK HM Customs & Excise, and EDS.

In the end of the year 2008 version 2.0 of this document was published. Compared to version 1.0 a series of changes regarding the requirements and the structure were introduced. Basis for the enhancement of requirements were contributions from TBG1 members such as GS1, UBL, EDIFrance, US Department of Defense, and others.

The objective of this document is to standardize the business processes regarding (e-) in the supply chain.

Read the entire document:

Source: www.uncefactforum.org

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: New version of Cross Industry Invoice (CII).

Across Europe eVAT rules apply to both the supplier and to the recipient of goods and services. The supplier is obliged to select a technology that guarantees the authenticity and integrity of the e-invoice created – authenticity assures the message content was actually created by the person or legal entity that signed it, and integrity shows that no changes could have been made to the content of the e-invoice during transit without detection. Conversely it is up to the recipient to ensure the e-invoice is stored in such a way as to be assured of the authenticity and integrity during the storage period (7 years in Belgium).

Recognising the advantages of VAT corporate governance through e-invoicing, including reduced paperwork, reduced costs, as well as improved customer relations and greater operational efficiencies, the Port Authority sought a solution that would comply with current legislation. Stakeholders in the project also recognised the need to reduce their carbon footprint across the supply chain and therefore welcomed the initiative.

As an authorised participant in Adobe’s Certified Document Services (CDS) programme, GlobalSign’s DocumentSign solution enables the Port Authority to digitally sign their PDF documents and to embed the trust status of the e-invoice and the creation time for recipients to easily view and store. The solution leveraged the expertise of GlobalSign, Adobe and SafeNet to offer a compelling proposition to the Antwerp Port Authority to meet their e-invoicing requirements.

“We needed a reliable partner to generate added value for our business and for our customers”, said Jan Goossens, Software Development Manager, Antwerp Port Authority. “GlobalSign, with its extensive security expertise and leading technology is the best choice to prove the authenticity of our invoices and bring peace of mind to us and all our customers.”

“We’ve seen a marked increase in the number of projects across the whole of Europe in recent months as the worldwide economic climate causes enterprises both large and small to re-evaluate their invoicing processes to drive down costs and remain competitive,” said Steve Roylance, Business Development Director, GlobalSign. “DocumentSign is not only a cost effective and easy solution for businesses to use, but is also compliant with European e-VAT legislation.” Background on the Antwerp Port Authority The Antwerp Port Authority offers an ideal gateway to Europe with future expansion plans in place to meet the 8% increase on freight year on year through its central European location on the Belgium coast.

Antwerp is currently the second largest port in Europe and the fourth largest in the world with 170 million tonnes of freight volume. More than 200 forwarding companies based in Antwerp help to secure shipping contracts across multiple market sectors including steel, fruit, coffee and tobacco. Numerous stevedoring companies handle more than 16,000 seagoing ships and 65,000 barges annually that call at the port.

Background on the three way partnership for success – GlobalSign, Adobe and SafeNet
In 2003 Adobe Systems Inc took the visionary steps and created a compliant solution known as Certified Document Services (CDS) to address the growing need for document Authenticity and Integrity across multiple markets. The key components of the service leverage core skills from Certification Authorities such as GlobalSign to deliver digital identities to organizations under a defined certificate practice statement including certificate status information and secure time information. SafeNet Luna SA hardware security module (HSM) is used to store digital signatures and protect cryptographic keys. SafeNet HSMs provide reliable protection against compromise for applications and information assets to ensure regulatory compliance, reduce the risk of legal liability, and improve profitability. Both elements are essential to the overall framework of the CDS solution aiding the Port authority to meet the requirements of the directive.

www.globalsign.com

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Antwerp Port Authority Partners with GlobalSign to meet eVAT Legislation.

Read the sixth SEPA progress report of the European Central Bank below:

There have been many new developments since the publication of the fifth progress report in July 2007. The successful launch of SEPA in January 2008 was a major achievement. With the introduction of the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) on 28 January 2008, the first benefits of SEPA have materialised for banks and, more importantly, for the end-users of payment services. National SEPA implementation and migration plans have been drafted and published. Most automated clearing houses that were processing credit transfers in euro are now able to process SCTs. In January 2008, SEPA was also started for card payments, but more effort is needed in this area if the goals of the SEPA project are to be achieved, for example the emergence of at least one additional European card scheme.

Preparations for the third type of payment instrument, SEPA Direct Debit (SDD), have continued over the past year, resulting in the adoption of the Rulebooks. The launch of the SDD is scheduled for 1 November 2009. Nevertheless, the launch of this important SEPA instrument needs to be accompanied by clarification between the banking sector and the relevant competition authorities with regard to the possible interbank pricing models. This issue needs to be resolved urgently. Finally, considerable progress has been made in the fields of e-payments and mobile payments.

The areas which require most attention now are: a) the timely launch of the SEPA Direct Debit on 1 November 2009; b) the emergence of an additional European card scheme; and c) measures to stimulate migration to SEPA Credit Transfer and SEPA Direct Debit, including the setting of a realistic, but ambitious end-date for national credit transfers and direct debits.

The key messages of this report, which should be followed up by the market to ensure the success of SEPA, are as follows:

1. Banks need to ensure more communication, clear product offerings and the delivery of a consistent customer experience in order to stimulate the uptake of SEPA Credit Transfer by all customers, with public administrations, in particular, becoming early adopters.

2. The remaining obstacles to a timely launch of SEPA Direct Debit should be overcome. To move forward, solutions must be found urgently, e.g. by providing clarity on the launch date, ensuring the continued validity of existing mandates, meeting customer requirements, increasing communication efforts and closing the debate on the multilateral interchange fee.

3. SEPA needs to enable end-to-end straight-through-processing (whereby payments are processed smoothly  nd without manual intervention) and to move beyond core and basic products by embracing innovative products and services, such as m-payments, e-payments, e-invoicing, etc.

4. The setting of a realistic, but ambitious end-date for the migration to SCT and SDD is a necessary step in order to reap the benefits of SEPA early.

5. A more ambitious approach needs to be taken towards the SEPA for Cards and supporting market initiatives to create a European card scheme.

6. The European payment industry should ensure that it has adequate influence over the SEPA cards standards, which should preferably be non-proprietary standards – The EPC is to advance the SEPA cards standardisation programme.

7. Security is the basis for trust in SEPA payments, and all stakeholders need to continue and even intensify their efforts.

8. Infrastructures are leading by example, but the remaining restrictions on interoperability should be removed.

9. Good governance of the SEPA project requires changes to the EPC’s mandate and organisation. One short-term step would be to strengthen the EPC’s Secretariat so that it can adequately support the EPC in its many tasks. In the medium to longer term, more substantial changes are needed to improve the EPC’s effectiveness, transparency and accountability.

10. Clarity and certainty with regard to the SEPA tasks: the SEPA implementation and migration milestones provide a list of concrete tasks that the Eurosystem expects to be fulfilled to ensure the success of the SEPA project.

The addressees of the report are not only the banks and future payment institutions, but all relevant stakeholders, such as corporates, public administrations, merchants and consumers.

The report is available in other official Community languages in due course.

Source: European Central Bank

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: SEPA and e-Invoicing: ECB progress report 2008.

-          Enhanced adoption of electronic invoicing in business processes in Europe;

-          Compliance of electronic invoice implementations with Council Directive 2001/115/EC and Directive on the Common
   System of Value Added Tax (2006/112/EC) as well as Member States’ national legislation as regards electronic
   invoicing

-          Cost-effective authentication and integrity of electronic invoices regardless of formats and technologies

-          Effective implementation of compliant electronic invoice systems in using emerging technologies and business
   processes and

-          Emerging network infrastructure of invoice operators throughout Europe.

TG2 and TG3: The Draft Good Practice Guidelines

TG 2 (compliance of electronic invoice implementations) and TG 3 (cost effective authentication and integrity) decided to cooperate and created the Draft Good Practice Guidelines. The Draft Good Practice Guidelines identify two major obstacles when it comes to the regulatory aspects of e-invoicing adoption.

First, “businesses that implement electronic invoicing are often faced with thousands of technical and process implementation options along the way. In the absence of implementation-relevant rules emanating from tax administrations or standards bodies, the uncertainty surrounding these many choices creates a significant barrier to investment in electronic invoicing. As a result, for those vendors and users that choose to invest nevertheless, it is hard to make any value judgment as to how “compliant” their services and solutions are. Corporate e-invoicing users, Service Providers and solution vendors that are taking steps to develop and maintain VAT-compliant services naturally have a desire to have to a concrete yardstick against which to measure and with which to demonstrate their compliance.”

Second, nowadays “most tax administrations do not provide accreditation services or self-assessment programmes to assist e-invoicing users or their Service Providers to ascertain that e-invoicing systems are VAT-compliant. Tax administrations’ audit methodologies and tools are often developed based on the experiences of law enforcement and not widely propagated to businesses as compliance checklists.”

How it works

As stated above, the Draft Good Practice Guidelines seek to reduce some of the principal areas of uncertainty and resulting inefficiencies on the e-invoicing market with one single set of good practice Guidelines for both businesses and tax administrations.

It consists of two documents: one word document and one Excel sheet.

The Word document provides context to the Excel document and tries to explain how one should use the Excel. The Excel sheet identifies the main issues in question at each processing step during the life cycle of an electronic invoice for different invoicing methods (direct invoicing from Supplier to Buyer as well as Self-Billing) and provides detailed process guidance for a variety of implementation options including web publication, the use of various integrity and authenticity-enhancing methods and the retention of electronic invoices.

The Excel sheet takes into account:

-          who directs the e-invoicing process

-          whether an intermediate party is involved

-          the possibility of a self billing variant

-          the method being used to guarantee authenticity and integrity: EDI, digital signatures, other instruments

-          the predefined (business) process steps necessary to perform e-invoicing

Based on your choices in these variables, the Excel sheet should be able to present you:

-          the inherent tax risks that your organisation poses when initiating e-invoicing based on the choices made.

-          the tax requirements necessary or even obligatory needed to address the risks

-          the controls or solutions that should be in place to ensure the risks are avoided

Concluding remarks
The Draft Good Practice Guidelines are very promising, as they are intended to rule out uncertainty on e-invoicing form a legal/VAT/compliance perspective.But there are some downsides to this version of the Draft Good Practice Guidelines.

Hence the only two percepted barriers to full scale adoption of e-invoicing: standardisation and awareness, would remain.

First of all the Excel sheet does not, or at least not very easily, provide the results needed for an organisation get a sense of safety. It might be a good idea to create a database version that is much more accessible.

Second, this Draft Good Practice Guideline is still a concept. Or as the Word document states: “These Guidelines and Commentary are a work in progress and out for review. While every effort has been made to ensure consistency with legal requirements that apply to e-invoicing in the European Union, no guarantees of legal compliance or fitness for purpose are made by the drafters or CEN; any use of these documents is at the user’s own risk”.

Download the Draft Good Practice Guidelines (Word)
Download the Draft Good Practice Guidelines (Excel)

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Draft Good Practice Guidelines: how to comply with e-invoicing regulations?.

Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) adoption promised to deliver on the grand visions of European harmonisation and a cashless society. But in reality it has been regulatory compliance that has driven adoption for most banks. Company directors and corporate finance departments have asked ‘what’s in it for us?’ and been met with a wall of silence. It is no surprise that financial institutions have been reluctant to engage with the directive. But the vision of eSEPA, an electronic approach to SEPA, is beginning to attract interest.

Using SEPA rules as a driver, banks can create an electronic financial supply chain that is faster and more cost effective for customers, primarily those within corporate finance. Beyond compliance this is an opportunity to revolutionise the financial supply chain and create a ‘win win’.

This progression is long overdue. In a recent report ‘Is European Regulation the Stepmother of Invention?’ TowerGroup research director Gareth Lodge notes that innovation in payments has been lethargic at best. “Many of the processes today are largely based on what was done yesterday – or rather yesteryear. SEPA gives the opportunity to change not just legacy solutions but legacy thinking. The regulation offers an opportunity for banks to reinvent their operations with an eye toward the future, not the past.” The key element for corporates is the chance to reinvent the financial supply chain. Building services around SEPA standards will capitalise on existing investments and attract new business.

Source: Accountingweb

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Corporate finance benefits from SEPA going electronic.

“Around 185,000 credit transfers are made every day with the SEPA scheme,” Massenberg continued, most of them by retail customers. This was still relatively few compared to the total of 87 million credit transfers handled every day, but the number was rising steadily. At the moment, customers use the SEPA credit transfer mainly for cross-border payments in Europe. It can easily be used for domestic payments as well, however. To further this process, Massenberg called above all on public authorities and businesses to make greater use of SEPA schemes: “It is, in particular, the state which needs to lead the way here.” Germany’s private banks offer businesses and public authorities support and extensive advice on switching to SEPA.

SEPA was launched in January 2008 with credit transfers and card payments. The SEPA direct debit is to follow in November 2009. Customers will then be able to make payments throughout Europe in the same way as they do today in their own country. They will be able to select their supplier from anywhere in Europe. “To ensure a smooth transition from national direct debit schemes to the SEPA direct debit, however, lawmakers still need to establish the necessary legal certainty,” said Massenberg. “The banking industry has submitted a proposal which will guarantee that the switch from the German to the European direct debit will be as straightforward and secure as possible.” This would also create more planning certainty for trade and industry.

The Association of German Banks’ revised and reprinted booklet “SEPA 2008: uniform payment instruments for Europe” in the “Figures, facts, arguments” series can be downloaded as a pdf file.

Source: German banks

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Consumers benefit from opportunities SEPA.

Tax authorities took a cautious view towards e-invoicing in the first round. In some countries even cumbersome extra demands were put on this new practise and crossborder invoicing was made difficult and costly as regulation started to increasingly differ.

Then there was a question. Why should not sending and receiving paper and e-invoicing be treated in the same way from the VAT angle? All invoices are after all produced in the same auditable process and should be stored in the same retrievable way. Are not e-invoices in fact more secure already because of the e-transport and tracability? Why should this practise have additional VAT-angle demands?

Nobody could find any good reasons for causing especially SMEs additional costs and pain by imposing more demands on sending invoices in structured e-form and mostly in managed networks as opposed to paper mail or unstructured e-mail messages. In fact it should be the other way around……………….

Then there was light.  Most countries in EU now seem to be ready for ET of e- and paper. This is the biggest favour that can be done to the SME-sector – increasingly being forced into e-invoicing by larger trading partners. It will make them much more competitive, cost-efficient and integrated parts of trading networks and provide learning by doing for the next digital document layers. Structured documents can also clearly cut their accounting cost.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: BLOGPOST: Equal treatement on its way.

The survey found that despite the multiple advantages electronic invoicing offers for business owners – cost-effectiveness and more efficient resource administration among them – 40 percent of European companies currently show no direct interest in performing the switch from paper-based to electronic invoices mainly because their initiatives are hampered by pre-existing regulatory compliance requirements to various country-specific e-invoicing systems. Moreover, over half of the European companies which have subsidiaries and operate their businesses in six or more countries worldwide admit concern regarding the implementation of an e-invoicing system, mainly due to problems arising from the need to comply with multiple national e-invoicing legislations across the globe. Also, a quarter of the survey participants admitted that VAT compliance and auditing requirements – which are an integral part of the invoicing process – are also a problem in the context of dealing with different financial legislations in various countries, each with its own requirements and compliance standards. Therefore, although the benefits of implementing an electronic invoicing system are evident to European business owners, the survey conducted by independent research company Vanson Bourne shows that in actuality, e-invoicing implementation is undermined by its dependency on country-specific compliance regulations and by national VAT and tax compliance requirements.

Source: Sterling Commerce

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: E-invoicing implementation hampered by regulatory compliance requirements in Europe – study.

(No longer actual)

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: 01-12-08: Knowledge and Innovation Policy Dialogue in Brussel.

Equens says it will work with ICBPI to “bridge local solutions” in order to enable banks, corporates and service providers to extend their services in Europe.

Commenting on the project Giuseppe Capponcelli, MD, ICBPI Group, says: “This cross-border joint initiative on e-invoicing will allow us to be a first mover in the European scenario and to enhance our corporate banking services. The first international e-invoicing pilot is a win-win initiative that allows the founding partners to extend their reachability to other important trade markets.”

Isabel – which provides electronic banking and invoicing services – is the first to sign up, although other service providers will be invited to join the initiative says Equens.

Says Luc Van Hecke, international sales manager of Isabel: “This pilot project is a great opportunity to enhance our experience in electronic invoicing and to promote interoperability at European level.”

Equens estimates that over 90% of all invoicing worldwide is still paper-based.

The European Commission said last year that the introduction of the European electronic invoicing (EII) network could reduce supply chain costs by EUR243 billion across Europe and help to streamline business processes and drive innovation.

The introduction of an e-invoicing system for public sector firms in Denmark has saved an estimated EUR100-134 million per year, according to a report by an EC task force on e-invoicing.

The EC said it would set up a steering committee to oversee the establishment of a common invoicing framework that would allow businesses across the region to send invoices and receive corresponding payments electronically.

However separate research released by Sterling Commerce at Sibos has found that European businesses are being held back from implementing e-invoicing systems due to the complexity of addressing regulatory compliance requirements and legislation.

The survey of 400 IT managers in the UK, France, Germany and Italy conducted by Vanson Bourne found that the most pressing “e-invoicing concern” for businesses across Europe is “compliance with national e-invoicing legislation”.

In addition, more than half of the companies surveyed admitted they were concerned about supporting disparate e-invoicing systems across multiple geographies.

Chris Hayes, senior product marketing manager, Sterling Commerce, says: “The benefits of moving from paper-based to e-invoicing are widely known and accepted, yet the reality for many European businesses is that even for e-invoicing projects which do receive budget approval, a dependence on multiple solutions to handle compliance with multiple VAT and tax regulations across different territories, is ultimately undermining project success.”

Source: Sibos Online

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Equens partners ICBPI and Isabel on European e-invoicing pilot.

Under the partnership, invoices sent by PDF will incorporate a PayPal button which the customer just clicks to arrange payment.

The payments can then be made by credit and debit cards, bank transfers or PayPal balance, meaning customers don’t have to wait for cheques to clear.

OB10 says the partnership – initially for the UK market only – will help businesses streamline invoicing and payment process, improving efficiency and transparency within the financial supply chain.

Cameron McLean, general manager, merchant services, PayPal, says: “The PayPal and the OB10 eBilling product will provide businesses with the opportunity to optimise their working capital cycle – an incredibly powerful proposition in today’s economic climate.”

Last year the European Commission (EC) set up a steering committee to oversee the establishment of a common invoicing framework that would allow businesses across the region to send invoices and receive corresponding payments electronically.

According to a report produced by an “informal task force” on e-invoicing, the introduction of the European electronic invoicing (EII) network could reduce supply chain costs by EUR243 billion across Europe and help to streamline business processes and drive innovation.

Attention has also turned to the environmental costs of paper-based invoicing. According to stats produced by the Euro Banking Association, a one per cent increase in the adoption of e-invoicing in Europe would save 800,000 trees annually.

Source: Finextra

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: PayPal and OB10 team on e-invoicing.

The consultation is based on an Invoicing Study to be produced for the Commission. The Commission hopes to receive contributions concerning a selection of the recommendations contained in the Invoicing Study and other recommendations businesses may have. More information is contained in the consultation paper.

Interested parties are invited to submit their comments by 19 September 2008 at the latest. Comments may be sent alternatively by:

• Regular post, to the European Commission, Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, VAT and other turnover taxes, Rue Montoyer 59, office 5/96, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium.
• Fax, to +32-2-299-36-48;
• Email, to taxud-d1-invoicing@ec.europa.eu.

The Commission will publish a report summarising the outcome of this consultation as soon as possible after the end of the feedback period. If, for any reason, those contributing wish their comments to remain confidential, they are invited to state it. Otherwise, the European Commission will assume that the contributors have no objection to the subsequent publication of their comments on the European Commission website.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: eInvoicing: VAT – Review of existing legislation on invoicing.

GE and TWIST won the award for the development of the BSB standard and their role in the successful implementation by Danske Bank and Barclays Bank. These awards are sponsored by Treasury Today magazine and aim to highlight “Best Practices and Innovation” in the field of treasury management.
 
Source: Twist

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Award TWIST and GE for Billing Standard.

Source: Bo Harald: Blogger
 
It is evident – paper invoices will disappear from the business to business and business to government sectors and then later in practise also in the business to consumer/government to citizen area.  The 5 mega-class reasons are exceptionally powerful and clear to see. Everyone will benefit – especially the consumers and tax payers.

It is only a question of time. And how this can be very short.

In the EU Expert Group work it is becoming clear that there are two domains:

1. Mindset

Once the mindset is that there is NO future for this wasteful practise things will start to happen. And it is already – public sectors in 6 countries and many progressive enterprises have declared e-invoicing mandatory (with near or already passed deadlines). 10 more EU-countries have similar plans. As these heavy duty players defacto force invoice senders to take the step and the market has come up with the needed open standards and economical tools it is inevitable that e-invoicing will be used in all directions. Paper invoices will quickly become an oddity.

Spreading the awareness that paper invoices have NO future is clearly the top priority.

2. Removing obstacles and increasing enablers for a wider unified market

Much of the progress happening now is by necessity countryspecific. Nothing wrong with that – on the contrary – efforts towards moving with the slowest should be firmly resisted. Interoperabity is not that difficult to achieve and move to the coming common mass market standard will anyway take time.

But for those who realize how much the continuos improvement in the wellbeing of European citizens is dependent on unifying European markets it is evident that firmer action should be taken also in the crossborder dimension of this omnipresent – and thus so potential document. Economic strength is both a question of scale and today even more of moving faster into the technology-enabled innovation space.

Some argue that the share of crossborder invoices out of the total number of 30 billion is so small that there is limited needs for EU efforts. Here one should remember that the very reason for both payments and invoicing being so local and fragmented has been national regulation and infrastructure. Now we are moving towards one-bank-account-being-enough for all of the €-area. What could be the reason for it not being possible to send invoices in the same way?  With the right mindset it should not be particularly difficult. But of course it takes the right attitude:

1. the e-invoicing service  must be irresistably easy to use for the 24m SMEs (just like payments are starting to be)

2. there must not – in the base case – be any  need to invest or install software – just a template in a secure environment – this makes both the knowledge and financial threshold disappear

3. all services where authenticity and integrity is on an acceptable level must be accepted – technology-neutrality (no mandatory PKI seriously adding cost and complexity)

4. electronic documents should not be treated essentially differently from paper documents – they are anyway automatically more safely transmitted and have traceability (the opportunity to fight fraud should naturally be used by creating rules for the network)

Excellent progress is being made – but there is naturally much more to do. But it all starts with the mindset – understanding the inevitability and the reasons for why it should really be speeded up and contribute to a stronger Europe sooner rather than too late.

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Blogpost: Paper invoices have NO future.

TietoEnator offers eInvoicing services to both enterprises and banks and can reach a large number of invoice issuers and receivers. Mats Wikström, Vice President of Value Networks at TietoEnator Digital Innovations says: “Together with our customers, we’ve received several international innovation awards in business integration and financial value chain services. This co-operation is an important milestone in improving services for our international customers.”

The cooperation makes TietoEnator’s on-demand services for eInvoice exchange and archiving available to Seeburger’s EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) outsourcing customers. The new joint service already has its first customer, a leading company in the packaging market.

Bernd Seeburger, founder and CEO of Seeburger says: “By using TietoEnator’s eInvoicing service with Seeburger’s EDI outsourcing services, our common customer can optimize its invoice handling processes, as well as take care of tax and legal compliance requirements. They chose this solution in order to ensure a secured exchange of invoices with all of its business partners.”

Source: Sibos Online

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: TietoEnator and Seeburger partner for e-invoicing.

In June, RBS entered into a multi-year electronic invoicing agreement with Accountis, a developer of secure financial document exchange and payment systems. The white label agreement will enable RBS to provide a VAT-compliant e-invoicing service to its corporate customers.

“For our customers we see e-invoicing as a fast-track to saving time and money. In addition to eliminating paper and automating manual processes, users of the service will quickly benefit from real-time document management, faster settlements and better working capital optimisation,” says Watkinson.

Transaction-based services such as e-invoicing are becoming more important as financial institutions seek to recoup revenues lost in other areas of banking such as investment banking and payments. E-invoicing is considered a first step in automating the financial supply chain – the flavour of the month in commercial banking. George Ravich, chief marketing officer at Accountis’ parent company Fundtech, says there are “many opportunities” for banks to extend their relationships with corporates to provide more fee-based services. Fundtech promotes the concept of “just in time cash”, where banks can service their corporate clients very well by knowing their cash needs at any moment in time. Electronic invoicing is fundamental in this, he says, as it provides the information that is needed throughout the supply chain.

Watkinson says e-invoicing is a strategic addition to RBS’ existing product portfolio. He agrees with Ravich on the significance of e-invoicing: “By offering additional transaction services such as e-invoice delivery, we will gain greater visibility of our customer’s end-to-end, financial supply chain transactions” he says. “This will help us to improve our understanding of their business and strengthen our long-term relationship. It also places us in a better position to offer additional services such as supplier finance provisions and other innovative finance arrangements.”

Along with working capital management, the financial supply chain is seen as an important area where banks can add value for corporate clients. Tom Buschman, founder, chairman and chief executive of corporate standards body Twist Process Innovations, told delegates at the International Payments Summit in London earlier this year that the supply chain was “all about collections”. Companies want predictability in collections processes, he added.

His views were endorsed by a number of other speakers. Ray Zabarte, global head of supply chain finance, transaction banking at Standard Chartered Bank said supply chain finance was about “getting information sooner” and the ideal would be to get information directly, in real time, from corporate customers.

Roger Ward, financial services EMEA consultant at CSC Computer Sciences, said that in optimising the use of cash, the company looked to its banks for solutions. However, the offerings are very fragmented, as were the needs of different corporates.

Chris Pickles, head of marketing, BT Global Financial Services, said one of the main problems regarding collections was that “inefficiency makes money”. He wants to know how banks can help speed up the collections process for a large corporate such as BT, which has a wide variety of customers using different payments methods. Top of BT’s wish list is clearing and finality of payments on a T+1 basis. However, there are significant stumbling blocks such as the cheque, which slow down collections considerably.

Electronic invoicing holds promise, he says, because the earlier an invoice is delivered, the earlier a payment could be made and this was applicable all the way through BT’s customer base, down to retail clients. Banks should also work on integrating bank account data to help with reconciliations. “Consolidation and reconciliation are key in the collections process, but we are amazed at the lack of standards in the banking industry. Banks told everyone they were using ISO standards but that is not the case.”

Despite the championing of e-invoicing at conferences and elsewhere, 20 years on from its inception, less than 5% of invoices are electronic, according to the Euro Banking Association. In a study by Cap Gemini, released to coincide with the launch of the single euro payments area, the European Commission identified potential savings of €238 billion through the use of e-invoicing. There are barriers, however, including the fragmented nature of the market (there are around 300 service providers and a wide variety of models) and legal and VAT issues, along with a lack of standards have also contrived to stymie significant growth.

Bo Harald, head of the executive advisors unit at TietoEnator, says one way of accelerating the adoption of e-invoicing would be to declare that “paper invoices have no future”. Harald is chairman of the European Commission’s Expert Group on E-invoicing, which is working to develop a single standard for e-invoicing.

Implementing a bank e-invoicing service within a corporate’s accounts receivable department will improve operational efficiencies, leading to faster payments and reduced days sales outstanding (DSO). This in turn will reduce a corporate’s working capital requirements. A bank can also provide invoice-based financing services such as factoring and reverse factoring. In accounts payable departments, e-invoicing provides an opportunity to implement early payment discounting schemes, reducing overall spend.

In developing its system, RBS wanted to make the service as easy as possible, says Watkinson. “We did not want to force change on our corporates in the way their accounting and ERP systems work. The service is designed to make it easier for corporates to exchange financial trade documents with their suppliers and customers.” While many of RBS’ large corporate clients are happy to make electronic payments, they continue to invoice in paper.

Watkinson says RBS will further develop the service and is investigating the possibility of more closely integrating payments and linking with supplier finance. “In approving invoices more efficiently, customers can get closer to the benefits of the supplier finance model.”

Dave Shilling, a corporate business analyst at software developer Misys, says a major issue in commercial banking is the shrinking of margins. Banks have to look beyond traditional services to improve revenues and they are turning to treasury and transaction banking.

Misys is focusing its attentions on cash pooling and will launch its Global Cash Pooling product at Sibos in Vienna in September. He says cash pooling has been a relatively underdeveloped space in cash management. “Corporates have cash and it is all over the place. They want it in the one place so they have greater visibility and control,” he says.

There are barriers to this, however. For example, regulations can prohibit the free movement of money across borders. There are also cultural barriers – local companies are not always happy for headquarters to centralise cash away from local managers. Banks also present barriers when it comes to cash pooling, says Shilling. “Corporates like the sound of cash pooling services but their banks are reluctant to offer them. Very few banks offer cash pooling as a service and if they do, it is generally expensive and sometimes a bank will insist the corporate moves all of its accounts to be with the providing bank.”

At present, corporates currently have very little overall visibility of the financial supply chain. E-invoicing services can provide detailed status information, such as proof of delivery, acceptance, query and approval status for all documents involved in a business transaction from purchase order to invoice.

Sarah Jones, chief executive of SCF Capital, a boutique merchant bank specialising in supply chain finance, says corporates do not realise they can gain financing much earlier if they invoice electronically. Underlying business models, including terms and conditions, need to be reviewed in order to improve supply chain financing, she said.

However, corporates have to be wary of pushing suppliers to pay too fast if they are financially weak – this would raise their cost of borrowing and reduce their ability to access working capital.

Source: Bankingtech

This article is from E-invoicing Platform. Read the original post at: Beyond business as usual.