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On July 1 of this year, the requirement that accounting information must be kept in paper form will almost certainly be abolished.
With the administrative relief provided by the upgrade of the Accounting Act, the abolished requirement is expected to result in significant cost savings. According to a calculation made during the development of the proposal, the annual savings for the country's companies are estimated to be as much as SEK 3.9 billion.
E-fakura simplifies storage
Practically speaking, this is also a great relief.
Thanks to the removal of the requirement for original supporting documents, it will no longer be necessary to keep receipts, invoices and similar documents in paper form. Something that under current rules is a must for at least three years even if the information has been saved digitally.
But at the turn of the year, the country's companies will be relieved of that burden. If the information is transferred in digital form, the paper material can be thrown away.
If you want to make the handling as smooth as possible, it is of course easiest to stick exclusively to e-invoices. Then it is structured electronic data from the start and can be stored digitally as soon as the invoice is filed.
- But if the supplier sends paper, scanning and interpretation are always available. If you want to receive everything electronically, it's easy to arrange. We offer that service to customers ourselves," Simon Strandell emphasizes.
Support of the law
Perhaps it also means that the public administration is getting tougher in its behavior. For almost five years, Sweden has had a law stating that only electronic invoices - which meet the European standard - may be sent to the state, municipalities and regions. Yet, according to figures from Digg (the Swedish Agency for Digital Government), the proportion of incoming e-invoices is just over 80 percent.
In terms of legislation, it should in principle be 100 percent.
- But maybe this means that the public sector dares to refuse paper invoices? After all, they have the law on their side, says Simon Strandell.
Subsequent change
The simplification that is expected to come into force this summer is long overdue. As Simon Strandell points out, the requirement for physical documents should have disappeared long ago. The process leading up to the legislative proposal - which was announced in mid-January - has been very lengthy. As early as August 2017, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise submitted a petition to the Ministry of Justice to point out that our domestic accounting rules were outdated. However, it was not until 2020 that the then red-green government appointed an inquiry into a more modern regulatory framework. An investigation that was in turn completed and reported the following year.
But even the current government has been slow. It was not until January this year that the anticipated draft legislation was presented. On the other hand, better late than never. From July 1, the changes that the Swedish business sector has been calling for for so long will finally be implemented. That is, provided that the Riksdag approves the bill on the matter, which according to the established timetable should be ready for decision shortly (March 4). Approval can be described as a matter of form. There is a cross-party consensus on the issue.
Government press release:
Abandonment of the requirement to retain paper material containing accounting information
