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Suppliers
1Get familiar with the legislation and EU standard
Even though private sector suppliers are not obliged to comply with the eInvoicing Directive (2014/55/EU) or European standard (EN 16931) , many Member States may have their own additional national obligations or preferences for suppliers to send electronic invoices.
Each Member State is entitled to define its own interpretation of the eInvoicing Directive. Therefore, how your country's public sector is impacted by eInvoicing depends on how your government has transposed the Directive into national law. To learn more, check out your Member State's country factsheet .
2Mind the deadlines
Your clients in the public sector would have been implementing the standard from 18 April 2019. While this deadline may not have impacted your business directly, it’s good to be aware of the key dates and events if you provide goods or services to public administrations or other government entities.
3Choose a type of eInvoice
eInvoices are generally classified as visual invoices or structured data invoices. As a supplier, you are free to choose the type of invoice you want to use, but the eInvoicing Directive has mandated your client organisations in the public sector to have the capability to receive structured data invoices.
Learn more about the two different types of invoices and the benefits of each. Most importantly, suppliers using structured data invoices only need one invoice format to have their invoices processed and paid quickly and efficiently by all public authorities across Europe.
4Define requirements
Based on the type of eInvoice chosen, define your requirements and agree on the required level of security. See our documentation and support services to help you through this process.
5Decide how to develop your eInvoicing application
To electronically receive invoices, you need a technical solution. You can choose to develop your own application in-house or find a solution provider that can do this for you. Alternatively, you can also look into off-the-shelf software to find a suitable solution. We provide extensive documentation and support services to help you assess the needed resources and capabilities.
6Implement your solution
We offer an eInvoicing implementation checklist that identifies key areas of consideration when implementing eInvoicing. If you’ve chosen to engage a solution provider, they will generally lead this process for you.
7Test your compliance
Our conformance testing service provides test cases and a ready-to-use testing platform to assess your solution’s technical compliance with the European standard. Technical support is provided by our experienced staff throughout the entire testing process.
8Send your first eInvoice
Now you can send eInvoices to any public sector client and be confident that your invoice can be processed quickly and efficiently in any European Union Member State.