Electronic invoicing

E-invoicing includes a number of different technologies and entry options and is usually used as an umbrella term to describe any method by which a document is electronically presented from one party to another, either for payment[1] or to present and monitor transactional documents between trade partners to ensure the terms of their trading agreements are being met.

The main responsibility of the accounts receivable department is to ensure all invoices are created, delivered and subsequently paid by their vendors.

Since the mid-1960s, companies have begun establishing data links with trading partners to transfer documents such as invoices and purchase orders.

New web-based applications allow for online submission of individual invoices as well as EDI file uploads, including in CSV, PDF, and XML formats.

The United States Treasury estimated that implementing e-invoicing across the entire federal government would reduce costs by 50% and save $450 million annually.

The EU's Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement noted that "several global, national, regional and proprietary standards exist; ... none of them prevail and most of them are not interoperable with one another".

[14] To enable e-invoicing, there must be an existing method of viewing the transactions, typically an ERP (enterprise resource planning) or accounting system.

Per a research paper published by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Mexico's tax-to-GDP ratio rose from 12.6% to 16.2% between 2012 and 2017, driven largely by a 48% increase in revenue from tax on goods and services after e-invoicing was made mandatory.

The Malaysian Government declared in the 2023 Tax Budget that mandatory e-invoicing will be introduced for businesses with an annual turnover exceeding RM100 million starting in June 2024.