eInvoicing in Croatia

Legislation

Act on eInvoicing in public procurement (transposing Directive 55/2014/EU) entered into force on 1 November 2018 (OJ 94/2018).

The Act obliged all public procurement entities (purchasers/procurers) to receive and process EN-compliant electronic invoices (eInvoices) as of 1 December 2018.

The Act also introduced mandatory issuance of structured eInvoices for suppliers /issuers of eInvoices to public administrations as of 1 July 2019.

According to the Act, all eInvoices issued in public procurement must comply with the European standard on eInvoicing (EN 16931).

Furthermore, the Act broadened the scope of the Directive and Croatia has made eInvoicing mandatory for procurement procedures below the following thresholds: purchase of goods and services below 26.540,00 EUR and works below 66.360,00 EUR. The Act also made eInvoicing mandatory for all procurement using direct purchasing with purchase orders and other similar procedures.

eInvoicing platform and management solutions

There is a central national platform for the exchange of eInvoices, Servis eRačun za državu. All information intermediaries for B2G eInvoice exchanges must connect to this platform, which interconnects public purchasers, contracting authorities, sectoral contractors and information intermediaries with their clients. The platform is also connected to Peppol (FINA Peppol Access Point connected to it) so that all Peppol members could send eInvoices via the central platform.

This model allows:

• The connection of all participants with a single connection point (connection with the Access Point), which significantly saves the resources needed for integration;
• The standardisation of the exchange protocol, as all participants make a single connection to a single Access Point;
• A unique record of all participants with an easy switch of sectoral contractors from one information intermediary to another;
• A record and a single statistical analysis of all received messages/invoices, regardless of the economic sector involved in the transaction (which is a powerful tool for overseeing irregularities).

It is not necessary to establish bilateral contractual relations or agreements between all parties in the system. A simple registration to Servis eRačun za državu is sufficient to exchange eInvoices with other registered users. In Croatia, there is a large number of eInvoicing service providers – those connected with FINA Central platform for B2G segment are listed on the Ministry of Economy, but on B2B market there is even more, especially internationally in the EDI segment. 

Approach for receiving and processing

Public purchasers/Contracting authorities receive eInvoices via the central eInvoicing platform Servis eRačun za državu.

The processing of eInvoices depends on the public purchasers/contracting authorities technology (fully automated or semi-automated, where the processing of eInvoices requires some human intervention).

For B2G, all suppliers must issue eInvoices when dealing with public contracting authorities, while for B2B no specific requirements are mandatory for the issuing. Similarly, for B2G all receiving of eInvoices is required for all contracting authorities, while for B2B the buyers consent for receiving eInvoices is required.

EInvoices sent through Peppol are not required to be electronically signed, and their archiving is mandatory for 11 years[1].

eInvoicing implementation in sub-central level contracting authorities 

The national eInvoicing model is required at both the central and sub-central levels. All contracting authorities and associated companies are required to implement eInvoicing for their public procurement processes. With the full implementation of the eInvoicing Act from 1 July 2019, all eInvoicing exchanges must comply with EN 16931 and be transmitted via the national platform.

All central contracting authorities are required to connect directly to the central platform, while the sub-central entities may choose to either connect directly to the platform or to use an information intermediary. All information intermediaries (service providers) are required to comply with EN 16931 and the technical specifications needed to connect to the platforms. Intermediaries are monitored and a list of compliant companies is published on the Ministry of Economy web page.

Monitoring mechanism

All B2G eInvoice exchanges are monitored through the central eInvoicing platform Servis eRačun za državu. The Ministry of Economy conducts supervision, as the implementing body, may audit public procurement eInvoices, as well as the checking the conformity and operations of information intermediaries.

More than 22 million eInvoices have been exchanged through the Croatian eInvoicing platform between 2019 and 2023.

Status on the implementation of the European Standard on eInvoicing (EN)

Following the establishment of the CEN/TC 434 working group on eInvoicing, the Ministry of Economy had established a Croatian technical committee on eInvoicing (HZN/TO 573) in 2014, which is under the supervision of the Croatian Standard Institute.

The European Standard on eInvoicing (EN) is fully implemented in Croatia. The Croatian government recommends the use of the OASIS UBL 2.1 syntax for B2G public procurement. However, the Cross-Industry Invoice (CII) is accepted as an alternative.

Croatia has a CIUS at the national level that complies with Croatian VAT legislation. The national CIUS provides descriptions of elements and data that should be used in invoices for public procurement. 

More information is available here. The national CIUS for Croatia can be found here.

Digital reporting requirements

According to Article 165 of the Ordinance on Value Added Tax, Croatia has introduced the obligation to submit electronically the register of purchase invoices (called U-RA form) in conjunction with the VAT return, as of January 2019. All taxable persons which are VAT-registered in the country, including non-resident businesses, are subject to this reporting requirement on a monthly or quarterly basis, depending on the frequency of the VAT return. Only domestic purchases concerning B2B and B2G transactions must be reported. Data must be submitted using the XML format through the tax authority’s online portal [2]. 

Additional information

The Ministry of Economy has undertaken various activities to promote the use of eInvoicing in Croatia, one of which is coordination and participation in projects funded through the CEF Telecom programme.

Since 2015, as CEF Telekom coordinator and coordinator of Croatian project consortia, the Ministry has been implementing eInvoicing projects of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The goals of the projects were to encourage the use of structured electronic invoice by public administration and entrepreneurs, nationally and cross-border, while having strong support of the European Commission for ensuring the technical and operational prerequisites of public administration bodies for integration with the national Central platform for eInvoices. 

In cooperation with the Financial Agency (central eInvoicing intermediary actor) and the Croatian Association of Employers, more than 40 educational workshops through Croatian cities (Zagreb, Split, Osijek, Rijeka, Varaždin and Vukovar) have been organised. These initiatives aimed to promote and educate business entities and public administration bodies in receiving/issuing eInvoices.

From 2018 to 2020 the Financial Agency organised and conducted at least 150 technical workshops for eInvoice issuers/suppliers, system integrators (issuing), and contracting authorities (receiving and issuing). 

Moreover, in 2023, the Croatian tax Authority has proposed Fiscalisation 2.0 as a part of the National recovery and Resilience plan. This plan aims at establishing a digital platform where eInvoicing eArchiving and advanced online bookkeeping are well integrated, this all while establishing a mandate for eInvoicing between businesses.

[1] (Smith, 2021), [2] (VAT in the Digital Age Report, 2022)

Last updated:  Jun 12, 2024 20:06