What are the advantages of e-invoice?

The use of e-invoicing has a number of advantages - it goes without saying. It turns out, however, that a large number of entrepreneurs have not yet become convinced of this form of documenting transactions. According to publicly available reports (e.g. conducted by PKPP Lewiatan in 2012), electronic invoices account for only 10% of all issued invoices. For those undecided, we present five important advantages of e-invoices that can convince you to abandon the traditional version in favor of a modern version of sales documents.

E-invoice and liberal regulations

The reason for stubbornly sticking to traditional, paper invoices is very often insufficient knowledge about the regulations regarding their electronic counterparts. Due to the fact that since January 2013, the regulations concerning them were amended to equate them with paper invoices, and a year later the definition of an electronic invoice was included in the VAT Act, the transition to e-documents should not cause major problems.

According to the current regulations, e-invoices must contain the same data as on the traditional version. What's more - the electronic equivalent of a paper invoice does not differ from the traditional one, also in terms of issuing dates or the right to deduct VAT.

The reason for resigning from electronic invoices should not be the threatening-sounding wording contained in the regulations concerning them. The integrity of the content and the authenticity of origin can already be met by, for example, the use of the commonly used PDF format. Moreover, the same requirements are imposed on documents in the paper version. As for the buyer's consent to receive electronic invoices instead of paper ones, it is currently possible to assume that if the contractor does not object to this form and, for example, makes a payment, the entrepreneur may still send him sales documents, e.g. in the form of an attachment to the e-mail mail. Therefore, with e-invoices, the so-called implied consent.

E-invoice: save time and money

Switching to electronic invoices can save your business a lot. In this way, the expenses related to issuing and sending documents in the traditional way (purchase of paper, envelopes, postage stamps, printer toners) are reduced. Moreover, the costs related to document storage are also reduced. As the report mentioned at the beginning shows, an entrepreneur can save up to PLN 2,000 by issuing 1000 e-invoices a month. zloty!

Savings also apply to time - both for the business owner and his employees. E-invoicing means no more printing documents, addressing envelopes, sticking stamps and standing in long lines at the post office. Contrary to appearances, it also lowers the costs of their archiving.

E-invoice and financial liquidity

What does e-invoice have to do with financial liquidity? Much - due to the fact that the delivery of an electronic invoice takes only a few seconds (in the case of a standard invoice it is even several to several days), the risk of the document being overdue and possible payment gridlocks is reduced. Earlier receipt of an invoice in most cases is associated with faster payment of the resulting receivables. What's more - contractors will no longer be able to explain their delays in payment by the fact that they did not receive an invoice.

E-invoice will improve business processes in the company

Since e-invoicing saves time, the business owner can spend it on other, more important activities related to the conducted business. What's more, if it is necessary to find a document, you will not have to shift piles of papers - a computer database of all invoices will speed up and streamline the search. All this results in the improvement of many business processes and, consequently, the efficiency of the entire company increases.

E-invoice is ECO!

The use of e-invoices is an environmentally friendly solution. Nowadays, there is a great fashion for being "eco", which is why giving up paper invoices can have a positive impact on the company's image. An argument that will surely appeal to hard facts is the number of trees that need to be cut to produce 1.5 billion invoices. According to the available data, this action is associated with cutting 255 thousand. plants. Added to this should be the cost of energy, water and other resources necessary for traditional invoicing.