The Turkish Ministry of Finance’s has put into practice a project that has been long-awaited by the e-commerce sector. As from 1 January 2015 Turkish Dotcoms (companies that do e-commerce) are to issue e-invoices to their customers instead of paper invoices, according to the penned notification of Turkish Minister of Finance Mehmet ?im?ek.
The central hub in this plan is the e-archive application of the Revenue Administration. Once it is brought into effect, internet sales will be made faster, more secure, and with minimum cost. Moreover, online shopping can now be observed more closely, and therefore the tax loss in this area would be prevented more efficiently.
Within a few days the Spanish government will approve a draft bill on Electronic Invoicing and creation of the Accounting Record. Prior to publication of this draft bill, two of its principal guidelines have already been announced: (1) Mandatory use of electronic billing as of January 15, 2015 in invoices for sums over € 5.000 and (2) obligatory use of e-invoicing in “companies providing services of special financial importance”.
Interestingly, the new bill also revives 5 e-invoicing initiatives that originated from back in 2007. For instance: the general standards whereby bills in electronic format are to be accepted by the General State Administration and its dependent public bodies. But also the described the format in which these invoices should be issued (and under the name Facturae, laid down syntax and processing rules). And a central pickup point for invoices.
The European Commission has issued a DRAFT directive on e-invoicing in public procurement. Accompanied by a EU communication setting out its vision for the full digitisation of the public procurement process (so-called ‘end-to-end e-procurement’), the Commission estimates that the adoption of e-invoicing in public procurement across the EU could generate savings. Savings of up to a lousy €2.3 billion.
Yes, a lousy €2.3 billion. Because that is what The Netherlands can save with e-invoicing alone. That said, the press release states that this draft directive proposes the establishment of a European e-invoicing standardwhich is expected to improve interoperability between different, mainly national, e-invoicing systems. It will also help boost the uptake of e-invoicing in Europe which remains very low, accounting for only 4-15% of all invoices exchanged.
In its strategy document, the UK Central Government say it aims to use electronic invoicing for all transactions. The UK Government will not mandate suppliers at this stage, but will look at ways to spread best practice, and will track progress with a view to taking action if required at a later date.
For UK businesses, particularly small and medium sized enterprises, to realise the full benefits of e-invoicing, the systems should be easy to install and use, and pricing is flexible enough to suit the needs of diverse businesses. Some UK E-invoicing providers have committed to looking at ways to improve interoperability and accessibility of e-invoicing for SMEs, through the Business Application Software Developers Association interoperability charter.
We heard the rumors. That the nineth-largest economy of the world decided to go for mandatory B2G e-invoicing as from 2014 for specific entities like the Italian ministries, tax office, the national security and welfare departments. All other public sector bodies must comply by June 2015. Once these deadlines have passed, the government will no longer pay invoices that do not meet the requirements.
And that raises to quite some eyebrowes: only signed XML B2G e-invoices are allowed in Italy as from June 2014. And to date it is unclear to what extend the Italian government is going to facilitate suppliers in this change. So e-invoicing adoption? Yes. But also heavy handed, ignoring supplier value and contrary to the idea of equal treatment.
Currently NASA process 80,000 invoices per year (57% by email, 35% by mail, 6% by fax, 2% by FTP). NASA’s current invoice payment process requires manual intervention at almost every step in the process.
E-invoicing will simplify NASA’s invoice payment process by eliminating many of the manual steps in the current process and providing capabilities that the current systems and processes do not. An electronic invoicing solution would interface with SAP. Because invoices can be submitted by vendors as data elements via a vendor portal or vendor network, OCR can be eliminated over time.
EDICOM was the first international specialist company in electronic invoice management and transmission to successfully conclude the test for sending invoices in XML format with digital signature, to the Italian public administration.
The tests were conducted in a pilot project sponsored by the Italian PA, with the aim of testing the electronic invoicing interchange system, through which public administration suppliers will have to transmit electronic invoices in the near future.
Mexico is making two major changes this year to aim for total e-invoicing. The first one is termination of the CFD model and making CFDI adoption mandatory. This means that suppliers will no longer be able to create their own electronic invoices but will have to work with a service provider. The other one is reducing the minimum annual income level required for companies to comply with the Mexiacan e-Invoicing mandate is USD 150,000.
Read MoreMexico is making two major changes this year to aim for total e-invoicing. The first one is termination of the CFD model and making CFDI adoption mandatory. This means that suppliers will no longer be able to create their own electronic invoices but will have to work with a service provider. The other one is reducing the minimum annual income level required for companies to comply with the Mexiacan e-Invoicing mandate is USD 150,000.
Read MoreAs I was preparing to leave for the SAP Insider Financials conference on Monday of this week, I was welcomed by the transition into Spring. And in Atlanta, this means thunderstorms and flight delays. I couldn’t help of think of this metaphor for what is about to happen in Mexico when the transition of CFD (legacy eInvoicing legislation) is replaced with the new CFDI legislation.
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