E-Invoicing in Australia and New Zealand: What You Need To Know
As a certified PEPPOL Access Provider, Tradeshift is ready to help businesses across Australia and New Zealand make the switch to fully digital e-invoicing.
By Marcus Gray, Product Manager, Tax Compliance & Interoperability, Tradeshift
The Peppol Framework for E-Invoicing in Australia
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is on a mission to consign paper invoices to the history books. In 2019, the Australian and New Zealand governments announced their intention to adopt the PEPPOL framework for e-invoicing, a move designed to improve productivity and reduce the cost of doing business while simplifying cross-border trade. It now has ambitious plans to make digital the default for more than 1.2 billion invoices exchanged every year in Australia.
Since July 2022, the use of e-invoicing has been mandatory for government agencies. The Australian Tax Authority is now turning its attention to making e-invoicing the standard for all B2B transactions. Though still awaiting formal government approval, ATO’s ‘Business eInvoicing Right (BER)’ initiative would mean businesses are legally obliged to adopt and send e‑invoices if one is requested by an e‑invoicing‑enabled trading partner.
If, as is widely expected, the proposals are approved, large businesses (with a turnover above AUD 50 million) would have until July 1, 2023, to be ready to issue an e-invoice if they receive a request to do so from a customer. Medium-sized enterprises would have until July 1, 2024, to have the relevant capabilities in place, while small businesses would have until July 1, 2025, to get ready.
ABOUT PEPPOL:
Originally intended as a means of standardizing cross-border, electronically supported public procurement procedures within the European Union, PEPPOL is becoming popular in other countries looking to digitize the exchange of business documents. Currently, 34 countries use the PEPPOL framework. Whilst the majority are in Europe, leading APEC economies, including Singapore and Japan, have also chosen to adopt the standard as part of their efforts to digitize their economies.
e-Invoicing Adoption - No Time To Waste
Even if the timelines for the roll-out of BER get pushed, the Australian Tax Office has a clear commitment to driving forward the adoption of e-invoicing. As part of the Digital Economy Strategy, the former Morrison government allocated more than A$15 million in the 2021-2022 federal budget to enhance the value of e-invoicing for businesses and accelerate its adoption.
Regardless of any mandate for change, there is any number of reasons why businesses in Australia and New Zealand should be taking the opportunity now to make the switch to e-invoicing, including:
- Slashing invoice processing costs by up to 90%
- Accelerating the invoice processing cycle to get early payment discounts or use innovative methods of financing to support sellers
- Reducing seller inquiries by as much as 100%
- Enhancing fraud mitigation and risk management
- Increasing supply chain visibility and transparency
- Simplifying tax and legal compliance obligations
- Seamless digital cross-border trade with other companies in 34 countries connected to the PEPPOL E-Delivery Network.
These are the immediate benefits companies usually see when they shift to e-invoicing. But this is often just the start. Digitally connecting the supply chain through e-invoicing is the catalyst for a wider transformational change and an opportunity to rethink any number of other outdated processes, from sourcing to payment.
Not all providers have e-invoicing solutions that enable much more than the digitization of invoices. It’s, therefore, worth your time to find out what else a provider does to create value and digitally transform other parts of the end-to-end supply chain process.
What To Do Now
With more businesses committing to e‑invoicing, it’s important that your company remains on the front foot. To get started, buyers will need to select a certified PEPPOL access point provider. PEPPOL access providers act as intermediaries between businesses and the PEPPOL network. These access providers ensure the secure exchange of electronic documents between businesses and the PEPPOL network.
Tradeshift is an accredited Peppol Access Point in Australia and New Zealand, allowing buyers to receive and issue e-invoices directly through the Tradeshift platform. Tradeshift is also an Access Point in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
For more information on how Tradeshift supports your shift to e-invoicing and support compliance globally, visit us here.
