statetreasury.fi E-Invoicing Finland : State Treasury

Organization : State Treasury Finland
Type of Facility : E-Invoicing
Country: Finland

Website : https://www.valtiokonttori.fi/en/

E-Invoicing :

Finnish government agencies and institutions no longer receive invoices on paper. If you do not have accounting software with an e-invoice function, you can use the online e-invoicing service currently provided by the government free of charge when invoicing a Finnish government agency. You can log into this service via link below.

Related : Finnish Tax Administration MyTax eService Finland : www.statusin.org/27942.html

Online E-Invoicing Service : https://bsp.basware.com/SupplierPortal/login.aspx

Instructions for portal use and contact information for the helpdesk can be found on the website.

Instructions for portal use and contact information for the helpdesk can be found on the website.

eInvoice:
eInvoicing is a solution for invoicing electronically, which suits both large and small companies.

An eInvoice is a modern, reliable, secure, cost-efficient and practically paperless method of handling and processing invoices for goods, services and other expenses. Both companies and private consumers can receive invoices in electronic format.

Electronic invoicing is a significant step towards the wider use and knowledge of electronic business. Finland is one of the definite leaders in the World in electronic banking. The infrastructure on which the co-operation between e-invoicing service providers is based utilises the accumulated expertise in this field.

In B2B (business-to-business) e-invoicing, the invoice information is conveyed from the invoice issuer’s invoicing system directly to the recipient’s financial administration IT system.

Private consumers can receive eInvoices through their personal e-banking accounts. An eInvoice is graphically presented on the computer screen so that its appearance is similar to that of an invoice printed on paper. This facilitates invoice archiving, distribution and approval procedures.

The banks and e-invoicing service providers have agreed upon basic procedures that enable eInvoices to be sent and received reliably in a common trunk network. This means that the invoicing traffic between the invoice issuer and invoice recipient is conveyed in a uniform manner even if the parties use the services of different e-invoicing service providers.

The e-invoicing service providers and the banks take care of the set-up, maintenance, monitoring and backups for the network connections. They also handle any format conversions needed for eInvoices, allowing customers to select the method of sending and receiving eInvoices that suits them best.

Each service provider sets up the customer connections needed for sending and receiving eInvoices according to their normal procedures, either independently or in co-operation with financial administration software providers or ASP operators.

Legislation in Scandinavia imposes no hindrances on electronic invoicing. As a transmitter of electronic invoices, the eInvoicing service provider corresponds to the Post Office so eInvoicing data enjoys the same privacy and protection as conventional mail. The Accounting Act in Nordic countries permits the use of electronic archives for both vouchers and accounts ledgers. Many Nordic companies already use electronic archives. The EU-legislation also supports electronic invoicing.

Why does the Finnish government wish to receive e-invoices?:
Finnish government agencies employ an electronic financial administration and purchase invoice processing system.

Electronic financial administration yields its greatest benefits when e-invoices are used, reduces the number of mistakes, introduces process savings and enhances the efficiency of invoice processing. E-invoices enable such things as process automation in purchase invoice processing and payment. The processing costs for one e-invoice are one-third of the cost for a paper invoice.

The 2011 Government Programme of the Finnish Government requires organisations to switch to e-invoices. In 2009, the previous Finnish Government took a stand on the promotion of the development of the information society and of e-services by obliging government agencies to request their invoices as e-invoices.

In addition to the State of Finland, Finnish municipalities and companies have also started requesting e-invoices. Elsewhere in the Nordic region, Denmark has passed a law under which central government organisations only allow e-invoices.