Government encourages electronic invoicing

Electronic invoicing becomes easier in Belgium. The federal government has recently approved a Royal Decree stating that, as of 1 January 2010, companies are free to choose how they will exchange and archive their electronic invoices. From now on, electronic and paper invoices will be treated the same way by VAT administration. With this measure, the government aims to increase the use of electronic invoicing by businesses.

History

The electronic invoice has been legally accepted in Belgium for a number of years now. Yet the rigid and complicated technological and security rules appeared to be a stumbling block for many companies. The result: of the 1 billion invoices exchanged annually by companies, only 1% are sent electronically. As such the Belgian business community is missing out on 3.5 billion euros in cost-savings. This has been calculated by the Belgian e-Invoicing Task Force, an initiative by employers and business federations seeking to enhance the adoption of electronic invoicing in Belgium. The simplification of the VAT legislation is a significant step in the right direction.

Simplification

From now on companies will be given free rein to choose the invoice format and communication channel. In other words, VAT administration will no longer prescribe the methods required to safeguard the authenticity of the origin and the integrity of the content of electronic invoices. Until now, only the EDI or electronic signature methods, or other methods preliminarily approved by the VAT administration, were allowed. However, companies still have to be able to demonstrate and guarantee the authenticity, integrity and legibility of the invoices at the time of sending, as well as during the entire legal retention period. The simplification of VAT rules only applies to Belgium; the stricter EU regulations still apply to the majority of the other member states.

Total solution for electronic invoicing

When using Certipost e-Invoicing, you can be at ease. Our solution meets all rules and regulations applying in the different EU member states - both the more relaxed legislation in Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as the stricter regulations, such as in Germany for example.

Certipost continues to provide both the sender and recipient the highest degree of certainty regarding invoice authenticity and integrity. This can only benefit the mutual trust between both parties, in particular in regard to their respective VAT administrations. Moreover, with our additional electronic archiving services you will continue to enjoy this benefit during the entire legal retention period.

The Certipost solution doesn't require huge investments and will offer you peace of mind when outsourcing your invoice administration. Certipost – a full subsidiary of the Belgian Post Group since 2008 – provides a total invoicing solution for both paper and electronic invoices, in collaboration with its sister companies eXbo (printing and scanning) and Speos (high-volume printing). Moreover, integrating Certipost e-Invoicing with your own ERP or bookkeeping software will enable you to process your invoices on a fully automated basis. This will result in a quick return on investment and cost-savings of up to 75%.

For further information: www.certipost.be/e-Invoicing