The new coalition government has confirmed their intention to adopt a mandatory B2B electronic invoice for the entire country in the next few years.
One of the first things the newly established coalition government has done is decide to adopt a mandatory B2B electronic invoicing system in Germany. The main objective of this measure, which does not yet have an implementation date, is to fight against tax fraud.
Germany has a lot of work ahead of them in terms of defining this mandatory measure and how it will be implemented. However, the German government has already expressed their intention to adopt a model similar to the SdI model in Italy or the French model. These countries have opted for establishing a clearance system, where taxpayers send their invoices to the public administration, who in turn validates them in real time before sending them to the receiver.
Implementing a B2B electronic invoicing system in Germany will be a challenge since the 16 federal states have their own system. For this reason, in the next few months we will see very significant progress in this area.
State of the electronic invoice in Germany
Currently, the B2B electronic invoice in Germany is not mandatory but companies that want to can use it for their internal processes.
Likewise, and in accordance with European Directive 2014/55/EU, public administration suppliers have been required to use electronic invoicing for their transactions with government agencies (B2G) since 27 November 2020.
To comply with the European Directive, each federated state has had the freedom to establish their own model, as long as it follows the minimum guidelines set out in the German law on electronic invoices, E-Rechnungs-Gesetz. For more information on how the B2G electronic invoice works in Germany, please click here.
B2B electronic invoicing in Europe
Recently we are seeing how many countries in Europe are working to implement the B2B mandatory electronic invoice in their country. First, it was Italy and more recently France, Poland and Spain, among other countries. This has become an unstoppable trend that requires public administrations and private companies to modernize their invoicing systems.
The implementation of the electronic invoice is a unique opportunity to digitize the processes of a company, optimize their operation and save time and money.
baVel is the leading electronic invoicing platform in the travel sector worldwide and in the HORECA channel in Spain. If you want to know how we can help you implement the B2B electronic invoicing at your company, please send us an email at [email protected] and an expert from our team will contact you.
