E-Invoicing Instead of Paper Mountains: What Companies Need to Know Now

The Bitkom – Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media – has published a fact sheet ’10 Key Points for Electronic Invoices’. From November 27, the public administration will mandate electronic invoicing for all companies invoicing the federal government. Bitkom also hopes for an impetus for the rest of the economy. Currently, about one third of the economy still invoices in paper form. This certainly affects many logistics service providers.

(Berlin) The public administration is pushing for a departure from paper: From November 27, 2020, electronic invoicing and transmission will be mandatory for all entrepreneurs acting on behalf of the federal government. States and municipalities have been required to accept electronic invoices since April. For many companies, this transition is a challenge, as currently one third of invoices are still predominantly or even exclusively created in paper form (33 percent).

Electronic Invoice is Not an Email with PDF Attachment

The digital association Bitkom has now published a new version of the fact sheet ’10 Key Points for Electronic Invoices’, which helps small, medium, and large businesses transition to e-invoicing. This must be created in a specific structured format and allow for automatic processing – it is not an electronically sent invoice that is attached as a PDF to an email. “The e-invoice helps reduce paper mountains in German companies and in administration. And it makes companies competitive and future-proof. An invoice on paper or as a PDF is no longer up-to-date,” says Nils Britze, Head of Digital Business Processes at Bitkom. “The advantages of the e-invoice are obvious: invoicing and processing become simpler and faster, companies save postage costs and personnel resources, and above all, they protect the environment by consuming less paper and eliminating transport routes.” The introduction of the e-invoice is based on an EU directive aimed at strengthening cross-border trade in the European internal market.

Federal Regulation as an Impetus for the Rest of the Economy

It is expected that the regulation will have a significant impetus effect for the entire economy and that companies will increasingly rely on electronic invoicing among themselves in the future. Britze: “In Germany, a lot has already happened in the past two years: In 2018, only 19 percent of companies used e-invoicing, while this year it is already 30 percent. It is important that all other companies now engage with this topic.” Note on methodology: The basis of the information is a survey conducted by Bitkom Research on behalf of the digital association Bitkom. A total of 1,104 executives and responsible persons for the topic of digitization in companies with 20 or more employees in Germany were surveyed by phone. The survey is representative. Photo: Adobe Stock www.bitkom.org