The European Commission published, on Monday 19 February, a report assessing the impact of Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing. According to the report’s conclusions, the introduction of this system has “simplified cross-border invoicing procedures, promoted efficiency and reduced costs in the EU and beyond”.
All EU Member States now accept electronic invoices conforming to this new standard for public procurement. The published report also notes that the impact of the directive has extended beyond the public sector: electronic invoicing has become more widespread in business-to-business (B2B) transactions.
The percentage of EU companies sending electronic invoices (in general, not just to the public sector) has risen from around 10.3% in 2013 to 32.2% in 2020, according to a Eurostat survey cited in the report.
It admits, however, that the objectives of the directive have not been fully achieved: differences in implementation at national level, the absence of the option of invoicing VAT in this way, and the existence of several different electronic invoicing platforms imposed by the Member States are grievances still cited by the businesses concerned.
Finally, the report shows that the EU approach is being adopted in different parts of the world: Australia, Japan and New Zealand “have based their national e-invoicing specifications on the European standard”.
The Commission recently put forward a package of proposals on VAT in the digital age (see EUROPE 13080/19), designed to combat fraud and modernise the system to bring it into line with current developments.
To see the report: https://aeur.eu/f/awo (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)