Electronic Invoicing legislation: Europe on the move
Electronic Invoicing Global Quarterly Update
By Nick van den Berg E-invoicing expert Financial Management Services
Every month, we check local sources around the world to find out the latest developments in electronic invoicing legislation. We do that using our E-NDM engine, a unique combination of smart technical sourcing, data interpretation and human validation. This enables us to keep our clients fully up to date.
Over the past 3 months, we’ve seen a significant increase in electronic invoicing mandates in Europe. In this quarterly newsletter, we share the latest news and help you understand what’s going on in the world of e-invoicing compliance (laws and regulations) worldwide.
In this edition, we can report that Europe is now ‘on the move’, as various national legislatures across the continent begin to devote serious attention to e-invoicing. Spain, Germany, Slovakia and Romania have all recently announced or implemented new business-to-business (B2B) e-invoicing laws:
- Spain approved a draft law mandating B2B e-invoicing. It remains to be seen when the new requirements will take effect, as implementation dates are still pending.
- The new coalition in Germany added a paragraph on mandatory B2B e-invoicing to their coalition agreement. Based on this, we expect that B2B e-invoicing could be implemented during the current coalition’s term in power.
- Romania announced a mandate for B2B e-invoicing for suppliers of high fiscal-risk products, which goes into effect 1 July 2022. Under the new legislation, the following products fall within the high fiscal-risk category:
- Vegetables, fruits, roots and edible tubers, other edible plants
- Alcoholic beverages
- New constructions
- Mineral products (natural mineral water, sand and gravel)
- Clothing and footwear
The following countries have announced and will implement legislation for business-to-government e-invoicing shortly:
- Luxembourg announced implementation dates for mandatory e-invoicing for suppliers to governmental authorities starting in May 2022.
- The government of Belgium approved a law for mandatory e-invoicing for suppliers to governmental authorities as well. The implementation date is still to be announced, but we expect it to take place by the end of this year. There have, however, been some delays in publishing the draft law. Subscribers to https://electronicinvoicing.global/ will receive the latest update when the implementation date is officially announced.
Where Belgium and Luxembourg focus only on mandating electronic invoicing for suppliers to governmental authorities, Spain, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, Germany, Poland and France have either announced or implemented legislation to implement a clearance model. This could be a pivotal moment for invoicing in Europe.
Electronic Invoicing is fast becoming the new norm across the continent. At a faster pace than ever before, many different European countries have announced electronic invoicing mandates over the past few months. We expect that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that more countries will follow the coming months and years.
The framework of upcoming B2G legislation in Belgium and Luxembourg also contains elements that prepare the electronic infrastructure for an upcoming B2B mandate. This means that businesses in those countries will soon also become familiar with e-invoicing.
The framework of upcoming B2G legislation in Belgium and Luxembourg also contains elements that prepare the electronic infrastructure for an upcoming B2B mandate. This means that businesses in those countries will soon also become familiar with e-invoicing.
After the successful implementation of Sistema di Interscambio (SDI) in Italy, it looks like European countries have woken up and are seeing the great benefits of electronic invoicing in terms of tax returns and efficiency through digitisation.
Stay tuned for more updates. In our next quarterly newsletter, we’ll share more news about the countries discussed above, as well as new countries taking steps towards e-invoicing.
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