TIEKE/Jari Salo Electronic Invoice in Finland Revision of Recommendation Brussels

TIEKE/Jari Salo Structure Electronic Invoicing eInvoicing Forum Technical Workgroup User and Softwarehouse Workgroups

TIEKE/Jari Salo eInvoice Modern, reliable, secure and practically paperless method of handling and processing invoices for goods, services and other transactions. Both companies and private consumers can receive invoices in electronic format. Effective and cost-efficient, and has potential for great savings –E-invoicing can halve invoicing costs compared to invoicing with printed invoices

TIEKE/Jari Salo eInvoice in Finland Finland is one of the definite leaders in the world in electronic banking. Electronic invoicing is a significant step towards the wider use and knowledge of electronic business. Originally aim to develop one common standard Finvoice and eInvoice recommended by government International standardization slow

TIEKE/Jari Salo eInvoicing model eInvoice/service Operators Invoicing channels Invoicing company Data Communication Data format conversions and channeling 1) EDI 2) eInvoice 3) eInvoice b) Cooperation partners c) Bank batch transfer connections d) Net banks Printing services Direct connections Data repository Invoice recipients Small businesses and consumers Partners’ clients Large businesses a) Direct connections

TIEKE/Jari Salo eInvoice mapping table

TIEKE/Jari Salo eInvoicing Distribution of invoices mainly by eInvoice operators Contracts between operators B-2-B RosettaNet specification implemented especially in electronic industry

TIEKE/Jari Salo eInvoicing Forum Finnish, neutral co-operation network founded in 2002 Central collaboration and meeting point for the different parties in the field, such as eInvoice operators, IT developers, experts and users of electronic invoicing. –Promote the introduction of eInvoicing and support the implementation process –Promote the widespread adoption and use of electronic invoicing based on common standards and procedures. –Support inter- and intra-organisational collaboration between all parties in the field The of Forum is operated by TIEKE

TIEKE/Jari Salo How the eInvoicing Forum Works? The main focus is to develop co-operation between Forum member organizations in the area of eInvoicing –Promote and accelerate the development between different parties and to increse co-operation and information sharing –Find the acute areas and topics that need to be operated on –Twice a year a free-of-charge meeting for members Annual seminar on current topic (September)

TIEKE/Jari Salo How the eInvoicing Forum Works? Workgroups where the subjects are studied and developed further –Technical workgroup (started 2003) –User workgroup (started 2004) –Softwarehouse workgroup (started 2004) Neutral channel for updated information concerning eInvoicing Defining national needs for development –2002 – 2003: eInvoice register (companies ready to send/receive eInvoices) –2004: Minimum information required for eInvoice

TIEKE/Jari Salo Software Vendor Working Group - Anilinker - BasWare - c3i - CapGemini - Cobra Systems - DL Software - Edimaster - Elma - Emce - Jydacom - Maestro Yhtiöt - OnSolutions - Opus Capita - Oracle - Pretax - Proceedo - Procountor - Pupesoft - Rauhala Yhtiöt - SceLogistiikka - StreamServe - Systeam Consulting - Tietoenator - Tietonovo - Tietonovo - Tietosauma - Tietotisma - VismaSoftware - WM-data Oy

TIEKE/Jari Salo Technical Workgroup Idea for the workgroup originally from member organizations autumn 2003 Aiming to find solutions and best practicies for operator co-operation Concrete work done by technical workgroup: –eInvoicing register Operated in TIEKEs www site Updated by operators Use free-of-charge –Working to find the minumum data required for an eInvoice (VAT law etc.) Questions concerning error situations in operations, pictures as part of the invoice, etc.

TIEKE/Jari Salo Software and User Workgroups To integrate the information from an eInvoice to bookeeping – pilot Development areas from softwarehouses and user organizations point of view Manual for eInvoice user organizations –Best-practicies –Obstacles (and how to overcome them) –Autumn 2004

TIEKE/Jari Salo Under discussion in Finland Many formats vs. one ’Visualization’ of the invoice, where it is produced Invoice attachments / marketing Slow growth of volumes / users (especially among SME’s) Contract issues – (different models, simple and complicated)

TIEKE/Jari Salo Contact TIEKE Tietoyhteiskunnan kehittämiskeskus ry TIEKE Finnish Information Society Development Centre Ms. Ilona Vallenius tel:

TIEKE/Jari Salo

Electronic Seal/Signature case Finland

TIEKE/Jari Salo Case Finland No requirement for seals/signatures in invoices (paper or digital) by Finnish law Option in EU directive by Finland eInvoice operator/bank identifies business parties by their Business Identity Code Identification by Business Identity Code (Business ID) –BID is a code given to businesses and corporations by the authorities –A VAT liable business can form a VAT number of its Business ID by adding a two-character country code ‘FI’

TIEKE/Jari Salo The national VAT legislation –The national VAT legislation does not include the requirement of electronic signatures for electronic invoices. –It states that there is no need to set any specific requirements for electronic invoicing in Finland. There has not been any taxation problems in electronic invoicing. Although encouraging technical security in electronic invoicing is a good goal, legislation should not include mandatory requirements that are too strict. –Paper invoices are not signed in Finland, the requirements for eInvoices should be similar.

TIEKE/Jari Salo Case Finland Electronic Invoice is still a document – not a direct debit Requirement for electronic signature is an ”efficient tool for slowing down the penetration and implementation of eInvoice”