Keywords: e-invoicing, einvoicing, electronic invoicing, Austria, e-procurement, public sector

Austria mandates e-invoicing to the public sector

Anna Bowsher | News | 29 June 2012

• Print
•        

By January 1, 2013, the new VAT Directive regarding the rules on invoicing, which enforces equal treatment between paper and electronic invoices, will come into force in all Member States. By this time, all Austrian federal services will be able to receive e-invoices and from January 1st, 2014, all Austrian suppliers (and foreign suppliers that have the technical means) of the Austrian Federal Government are obliged to use e-invoices according to the Austrian ICT consolidation law. The use of the PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) Transport Infrastructure for sending e-invoices, based on PEPPOL specifications is an accepted method of e-invoicing in Austria.

PEPPOL, an EU co-funded project, has developed specifications for e-procurement processes in Europe. The Austrian Federal government is currently using the PEPPOL e-invoicing specifications and the PEPPOL Transport Infrastructure in addition to the Austrian national e-invoicing format ‘ebInterface’.

e-Invoicing offers numerous advantages such as time and cost savings, transparency, traceability, error reduction as well as environmental aspects. A 2011 study of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, based on independent estimates from other countries and international organisations, suggests that the Austrian economy could save between six and nine million Euros annually if the switch from manual to electronic invoices is made. These estimates suggest that suppliers save on average six minutes working time when processing e-invoices instead of paper invoices, in addition to the elimination of dispatch and postage costs.