Cyprus - 2019 eInvoicing Country Sheet

Legislation

The Digital Strategy for Cyprus, approved by the Council of Ministers of Cyprus on 8 February 2012, recommends the adoption of eInvoicing in the context of promoting the use of ICT to enable a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy and society.

The Department of Electronic Communications, with the guidance of the Advisory Committee for Information Society, developed the strategy for the period 2012 to 2020. This strategy is in line with the objectives and actions proposed by the Digital Agenda for Europe.

The Government of Cyprus has prepared the legislation to transpose the Directive 2014/55/EU and mandate the use of the European standard on eInvoicing. The Ministry of Finance, being the entity responsible for implementing eInvoicing in the country, has proceeded with the preparation and review of a draft law in co-operation with the Treasury of the Republic in order to transpose and harmonise the national legislation with the European Council Directive 2014/55/EU. The bill on 14 June 2019 was voted by the Parliament of Cyprus and on 26 June 2017 was published in the Official Journal of Cyprus.

eInvoicing platform and management solutions

The Government of Cyprus has developed a centralised eInvoicing platform to process electronic invoices. This platform will serve as an ERP system operated in a hybrid model with the management of the Treasury of the Republic and involvement of AC Goldman Solutions & Services Ltd as the service provider acting on behalf of public sector organisation. The project was co-funded by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme [1] (more information concerning the project in the ‘Additional information’ section below).

Approach for receiving and processing

Currently, economic operators (Cyprus businesses) submit eInvoices to the Treasury of the Republic on a voluntary basis via the eInvoicing Access Point of ARIADNI, the Cyprus Government gateway portal. The electronic invoices are processed manually (i.e. non-automated process). This process will be updated and performed in an automated manner once the centralised eInvoicing platform of the Cypriot government enters into operation.

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

The Cyprus government had decided to introduce eInvoicing for the B2G context and for this purpose had developed a centralised platform to be used. Moreover, the relevant legislation had been prepared and is pending approval from the House of Representatives in order to become part of the national legislation. The Cyprus Treasury of the Republic is responsible for the implementation of this new legislation.

Cyprus received funding from the EU to prepare an eInvoicing platform that is based on PEPPOL. The project was completed in December 2017 and the platform is ready to be used. The legislation for this will be based on the eInvoicing Directive. The next step for this, is the voting from parliament. Cyprus foresees that the legislation will be ready soon.

The implementation will not be mandatory. Currently, there are lobbying activities from SMEs to give additional time for an optional use of the system, following which it would become mandatory.

Cyprus will also likely pursue B2B eInvoicing. In addition, eInvoicing was adopted on an optional basis in Cyprus with regards to the VAT legislation.

Use of Core Invoicing Usage Specifications (CIUS) at national level

Cyprus will follow the PEPPOL CIUS. Whether the system will be used for tax purposes is still to be assessed.

Additional information

The Ministry of Finance had participated in a co-financed CEF action (action code: 2015-CY-IA-0052) and developed a technical infrastructure enabling the exchange of eInvoices in the B2G context.

The main objective of this project was to facilitate the adoption of eInvoicing by enabling economic operators to submit electronic invoices to central government authorities. This will be achieved by adopting European and international standards and through the connection to the PEPPOL Access Point [2]. The timeline for the implementation of the action was from 1 October 2016 to 31 December 2017.

Public and private actors constitute the consortium:

• Public sector: the Ministry of Finance as coordinator, the Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works (Department of Postal Services) and the Cyprus Organisation for Standardisation;
• Private sector: RTD TALOS Ltd, Deloitte Ltd and AC Goldman Solutions & Services Ltd.

Continuing the Digital Strategy for Cyprus the Ministry of Interiors and the Ministry of Finance are also involved in another CEF-funded project [3] to implement B2G eInvoicing at local authorities’ level.

This project has the following public, local authorities and private sector partners:

• Public sector: the Ministry of Interiors - District Administration Nicosia, the Ministry of Finance, Department of Taxation;
• Local Authorities: the Union of Cyprus Municipalities, the Union of Cyprus Communities, the Nicosia Municipality;
• Private sector: RTD TALOS Ltd, AC Goldman Solutions & Services Ltd and Boomertel Ltd.

[1] The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is a key EU funding instrument that supports trans-European networks and infrastructures in the sectors of transport, telecommunications and energy.

[2] The Council of Ministers approved a decision to adopt PEPPOL on 15 February 2017.

[3] Action code: 2016-CY-IA-0105.

Last updated:  Dec 20, 2019 17:17