Make it mandatory for companies and public administration to use e-invoices.
This is the request that three government agencies, the Swedish Tax Agency, the Swedish Companies Registration Office and DIGG (the Swedish Agency for Digital Government), are making to the government.
Together they have submitted a petition in which they propose that an investigation be set up on mandatory electronic invoicing.
The aforementioned authorities emphasize in their petition that the Electronic Invoices Act (2018:1277), as a result of public procurement, has significantly increased the use of e-invoices from companies to the public sector, but that continued central funds are needed to further stimulate development.
"It has been shown that no extensive use of e-invoices has been achieved as long as the use has been voluntary. We therefore believe that both businesses and public administration should be required to use e-invoices in more contexts than today, in order to achieve a more comprehensive use," the petition states verbatim.
The authorities also commented on their letter to the government in press releases published on Thursday (February 9).
- The European Commission has submitted a proposal, VAT in the digital age ViDA, to amend the VAT Directive. If it is adopted, e-invoices will be mandatory for cross-border trade within the EU. "Having a national solution that does not govern e-invoices is inefficient," says Bodil Persson, legal expert at the Swedish Tax Agency.
Anderz Petersson, e-commerce specialist at DIGG, states in another quote:
- Public administration must become much better at offering e-invoices to its business customers. It is not reasonable that only businesses should have this requirement. Everyone should contribute to a more uniform national e-invoicing solution.
The authorities behind the petition propose that a special investigator be appointed for this work. At the same time, they emphasize the urgency of starting the proposed investigation as soon as possible for three main reasons:
- The need to accelerate digital transformation is great.
- The rapid development of technology.
- The use of e-invoices is a key issue if Sweden is to achieve the government's goal of being the best in the world at using the opportunities of digitization.
Read the petition in full HERE