E-invoice for consumers Information in brief for payers February 2007

What is an e-invoice? E-invoice is an invoice in electronic form sent to your online banking site for payment E-invoicing makes it easy for you to pay bills, because all details needed by the invoicer are readily available on your computer screen E-invoicing is a safe way developed jointly by Finnish banks for receiving and paying invoices –you choose the invoicers whose bills you want to get electronically to an address indicated by you –bank identifies both sender and recipient of invoice –your online banking connection is encrypted

How do I get e-invoices? When you are paying a paper invoice you can change the billing method to e-invoicing, if your invoicer provides e- invoicing service After this you may still get one invoice on paper, depending on the company’s billing cycle When you choose e-invoicing, you need passwords for online banking to get the invoices to your personal banking site When you use the service for the first time, you get the terms and conditions of the service for your acceptance On your online banking screen you will find a list of companies capable of sending e-invoices

How do I pay e-invoices? You have made an agreement on e-invoicing E-invoice arrives at your online banking facility, accompanied by a payment proposal You check and approve the proposal. Before approving, you may make changes to the proposed payment if needed Bank stores the invoices for you You can browse and print out your invoices or save them on your PC You are well advised to visit your online banking site on a regular basis. It is up to you to make sure that the invoices get paid in time.

This is how e-invoicing works Payer of invoice 1.When you are paying paper invoice, change billing method to e-invoicing 3. Choose the invoicers whose bills you want sent electronically to your online banking site 2. Enrol for incoming e-invoice service 4. Bank informs invoicer that you want invoices online 9. Invoice is stored by bank 6. Invoice arrives at your online banking site 5. Invoicer sends invoices to your online banking site and you get no more paper invoices Bank 7. You check/ change invoice data 8. You approve and pay the invoice Invoicer

How does e-invoicing differ from other online invoicing services offered to consumers? E-invoice is always available on your online banking site where it can be opened for viewing at any time E-invoicing makes it easy to pay bills because the bills are readily available at the place where you do your banking You can store E-invoices on your banking site or save them on your PC You may get advices of incoming e-invoices by or text message, depending on your bank’s practice. You may have your bills paid automatically. If you choose this service, you set an upper limit for each invoicer by fixing the maximum amount that may be debited to your account for a single invoice. The practice may vary from bank to bank.

How do other consumer-targeted online invoicing services differ from e-invoicing? Direct invoice: –Direct invoices are always presented via a link on the website of the invoicer –Direct invoices are filed by the invoicer Invoice hotel: –Invoices arrive at a separate “invoice hotel” –Invoices bear a bar code which has to be copied and transferred to payer’s online banking site –Invoices are filed at the invoice hotel, inserted in an electronic folder

Further information available at address your bank