Norway (2023 eInvoicing Country Sheet)

Legislation

From 2011 onward, all central authorities are required to receive and process invoices electronically.

In 2012, it became mandatory for the suppliers of central government entities to send invoices electronically, being compliant with the European standard on eInvoicing.

According to FOR-2019-04-01-444, from 2 April 2019, it is mandatory for all public contracting authorities to receive and process eInvoices. Public entities’ suppliers are required to send eInvoices. Electronic Invoices must comply with Directive 2014/55/EU on public procurement using EHF/Peppol BIS Billing and the Peppol eDelivery network[1].

Additionally, the central government contracting authorities issuing invoices are mandated to offer to send EHF/Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 invoices to business recipients.

eInvoicing platform and eInvoicing management solutions

Norway is dependent on both the Peppol BIS 3.0 standard and the Peppol eDelivery Network – particularly for cross-border transactions. Both economic operators and contracting authorities in Norway rely on Peppol Access Point (AP) service providers to achieve compliance with national regulations. These service providers offer solutions for creating, submitting, transmitting, receiving, and processing eInvoices. A list of eInvoicing service providers is publicly available.

All transactions can be handled through a single provider. There is no need to establish new partner bilateral connections.

In the public sector, the main eInvoicing management solutions are Unit4 /Agresso, VISMA, Basware (Contempus) and SAP. There are around 60 different Peppol BIS compliant solutions used in the private sector.

Approach for receiving and processing eInvoices

Economic operators can submit eInvoices either by using their internal Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or accounting systems or by using approved eInvoicing solution providers. The Norwegian eProcurement infrastructure is built around the Peppol Business Interoperability Specifications (BIS) and the Peppol eDelivery Network.

In addition to Peppol BIS document format, EHF (Elektronisk Handelsformat) format is also recognised by Norwegian public bodies. Both are based on UBL (Universal Business Language).

The Norwegian Government Agency for Financial Management (DFØ) receives invoices on behalf of nearly 200 of the country's central government entities.

The DFØ (Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management) authorises Norwegian-registered Access Points (AP) and operates the ELMA registry (a Peppol Service Metadata Publisher), with nearly 200,000 receivers, containing the identities and receiving capabilities of all Norwegian public entities and economic operators that communicate using the Peppol eDelivery Network.

The eInvoicing process is mostly automated. Most public entities have an economic system that can handle Peppol invoices. The electronic follow-up systems (invoice flow systems) are used for the approval of the invoice before it is paid. While most of the payments are done electronically for all sub-central levels, the use of eOrder is still in its beginning (with over 4 million transactions in the past year). The use of Peppol has made the public administration more interested in the use of electronic solutions. The possibility to automate more processes by using eOrder, eCatalogue and eInvoice together is a goal for public administration.

In Norway, we have implemented EHF for other parts of the process. You can find our specifications here. The goal is to digitise the entire order to pay process.

No electronic signature is required for eInvoices and the archiving period amounts to 5 years, and 15 years for the petroleum recovery and pipelining industry[2].

eInvoicing implementation in sub-central level contracting authorities 

As of 2 April 2019, it is compulsory for all contracting authorities, central and non-central public bodies, to be able to receive and process eInvoices. Likewise, public entities’ suppliers of such public entities are required to send eInvoices[1].

The eInvoicing strategy is Peppol-based. The non-domestic eInvoices are received through Peppol formats and network[3]. The latest statistics on invoices that are sent in the Norwegian market (B2B and B2G) are available on the DFØ website.

The CIUS in place is the Peppol CIUS. There is no specific communication as the Peppol CIUS corresponds to the EN to be used. 

The target benefits of implementing eInvoicing at sub-central level is the cost and operational savings, the reduction of administrative burden and the contribution to process automation.

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

Norway has fully implemented the European standard on eInvoicing. 

EHF is used exclusively between Norwegian organisations. Meanwhile the more popular Peppol BIS format is used for both cross-border and national transactions.

Monitoring eInvoicing implementation 

From 2020, a monitoring system has been implemented with the aim of tracking the use of eInvoices with central and non-central bodies in Norway[3].

The monitoring strategy is in place at both central and sub-central levels. The available data are expressed in number of invoices that are submitted electronically.

Additional information 

Norstella community offers the Oxalis open-source sample implementations for Peppol Access Points, which are widely used by solution providers across Europe.

At the level of the government, payments are done electronically. The government is using ISO20022 with electronic payment (ePayment) via the Peppol network.

Archiving electronically is possible in Norway. There is an ongoing study for developing an archiving solution for eInvoices via the Peppol network.

Digital reporting requirements 

There are Value Added Tax (VAT) digital reporting requirements in Norway. Norwegian businesses are required to submit VAT reports electronically to the Norwegian Tax Administration. Starting from January 2022, Norway requires VAT return based on standard SAF-T codes for companies to produce electronic SAF-T files for the purpose of submitting their accounting information[4]. This file must be readily available for the Norwegian tax authority, known as "Skatteetaten", upon request. The reporting is based on the SAF-T codes and the SAF-T standard that became mandatory from January 2020. The SAF-T format enables electronic reporting by allowing businesses to export data from their accounting books in XML format. The objective of this reporting format is to facilitate tax compliance, streamline control processes, and simplify external audits. This digital reporting is done through the Altinn portal, which is a common platform for electronic communication between businesses and public authorities in Norway[5]. In addition, the tax authorities have issued a discussion paper proposing that all sales and purchases shall be electronically reported on a transactional level by 2024[6].

[1] (Smith, 2021), [2] (Compliance updates – Norway, 2023), [3] (Anskaffelser.no, 2021), [4] (New digital VAT return from January 2022, 2021), [5] (Characteristics of the electronic invoice in Norway, 2023), [6] (The tax authorities propose new sales and purchase reporting as of 2024, 2021) 

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Last updated:  Jun 13, 2023 12:22