By next year, everyone will be required to receive and process eInvoices

The end of 2018 will be crucial for electronic or eInvoices in the EU and Croatia, as full implementation of the relevant EU directive begins in November of that year, making eInvoices mandatory in public procurement procedures, which means that everyone will be required to receive and process these invoices without requesting a paper invoice.

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This was stated among other things on Wednesday during the presentation of the project for the exchange of eInvoices between entrepreneurs and public administration “Croatian eInvoicing B2A Exchange Project/Project for the exchange of eInvoices between economic entities and public administration”.

The project was co-financed by the European Commission with 75 percent or 251.3 thousand euros (the total budget of the project is 335.1 thousand euros), as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) financial instrument aimed at promoting and supporting projects for the development and operation of digital service infrastructures intended for common benefit.

The project is led by the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, while partners from various segments of business and communication with clients include Fina, the City of Pula, HEP, IN2, and mStart, whose representatives emphasized the success of the project in connecting with state bodies and other clients regarding the receipt, sending, and processing of eInvoices, which has also helped them in technologically strengthening the eInvoice exchange platform.

-The goal of the Ministry in the project was to establish all systems that work with the state, from small and medium-sized enterprises, through suppliers, manufacturers of ICT solutions, and information intermediaries to tax and legal advisors and all those involved in the process of issuing, sending, receiving, and processing eInvoices in a structured form. This has also established an efficient model for the exchange of these invoices, said the Assistant Minister of Economy Ivana Soić.

She reminded that everything about eInvoices is based on the directive of the European Parliament and Council on electronic invoicing in public procurement, which came into force in April 2014, and according to which, from November 2018, eInvoices become mandatory in communication with the state in public procurement procedures.

It is estimated that the complete introduction of eInvoices in the EU will save 423 billion euros, primarily due to reduced costs of preparation, printing, and enveloping invoices, elimination of postage costs, faster delivery of invoices, and their storage in a secure and controlled electronic archive, which should also bring better and faster processing of invoices, as well as faster payments.

As highlighted at today’s gathering, Croatia is technologically and legally ready for this, but efforts will need to be made to inform and educate entrepreneurs, as well as state and public and local government bodies. Namely, as stated, although interest in this is growing, there is still quite a bit of fear and desire for (only) paper invoices.

Andreja Kajtaz from Fina explained that the legal regulation for eInvoices in Croatia was fully resolved in 2013.

-Actually, there are no longer any legal or technological barriers for eInvoices, which, along with Fina, are also being dealt with by an increasing number of information intermediaries for this invoice, such as Moj eRačun or mStart, which proves that we are a market with potential for this. We already have several tens of thousands of entrepreneurs trained to send and receive eInvoices, and it is often said that about 10 percent exchange eInvoices, said Kajtaz, noting that a contract with Fina for eInvoices is required for this, as Fina is the operational body for eInvoices in Croatia.

Among state and public bodies, the situation is similar, as currently, as she stated, only all ministries are partially obligated to receive and process invoices that arrive digitally as if they were on paper, and this has been the case since March 1, 2016, since which they have received about a thousand such invoices to date.

-Work is being done on system integrations by ministries with the desire to expand this to all state and public bodies- We believe that everything will accelerate this year, as eInvoices have been set as an obligation in the action plan for a digital Croatia by 2020, and from next week, education will also begin, said Kajtaz, adding that those who embark on this will save about 70 percent on processing, sending, and receiving invoices costs.

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The founder of HUB 385 Ivica Mudrinić and the founder and director of Infodom Slavko Vidović see no obstacles for eInvoices in Croatia, especially now that all ministries are involved. Entrepreneurs are already exchanging them among themselves, but as with everything, the state is important – when it starts, others will follow, as they will see that it is neither unsafe nor bad for their business, but rather, it can help progress, Vidović and Mudrinić agreed.