2015 - towards 100pct e-invoicing

There is a fair chance that structured e-invoicing (not e-mailed pdfs) will get close to 100% at least in Finland this year. Then I mean share of enterprises that use e-invoicing more or less. The reason for this optimism is:

1. There are some 300 000 enterprises - and service providers have signed up close to 350 000 (banks have the lions share of the SME-market and some of these have signed up with several - even if not needed in the 4-corner model used)

2. An estimated 85% of enterprises use e-invoicing - more or less.

3. A growing number of invoice receivers try to wean out the last paper or e-mail invoices by setting deadlines (two options after xx.xx. 2015: 1. e-invoice or 2. No invoice.

4. Domestic direct debit has been discontinued (feature made a part of e-invoicing - invoice receiver handling all of it in his e-bank = huge savings for invoice senders).

All this forms a perfect base for the next steps - e-invoice service providers providing automated VAT-reporting, cash flow estimates and automated accounting etc etc by means of extracting the needed data from incoming data files.

This is also the obvious and much needed infrastructure for a true Single Market. Time for service providers to take the responsibility - and for EU and member states to start pushing hard.

And continue building the base - migration to structured e-invoicing, adherance to capable standards (ISO20022 is ready also for VAT-reporting) and 4-corner model based interoperability.