13 Jul B2G E-invoicing in Germany: the lessons to be learned from Italy before the November 2020 implementation deadline
Munich, 13.07.2020. E-invoicing becomes mandatory for business-to-government (B2G) transactions in Germany this November. To support the German transition, a new paper from TESISQUARE® outlines lessons learned from 6 years of Italian experience – the longest standing mandatory e-invoicing regime in Europe.
The benefits of remote access to public services have never been so apparent. The ongoing pandemic and its economic consequences have brought to the fore the value of e-government, which allows citizens and businesses to access public services twenty-four hours a day. In Germany, as part of wider digital transformation, e-invoicing is to become mandatory for B2G transactions from November 2020.
All public sector bodies and their suppliers are affected, from government, to the emergency services, to public hospitals. In particular, the healthcare sector is likely to find implementation of e-invoicing and EDI (electronic data interchange) especially challenging. However, this is what makes healthcare a best-practice example for other mission-critical sectors; while other sectors have scope for teething problems, there is practically no room for error in healthcare, where mistakes can affect people’s lives dramatically. Any interruption to the availability of equipment, drugs and supplies can adversely affect patient outcomes. Therefore, for medical device, pharmaceutical and ancillary equipment suppliers, this is a critical commercial situation as public hospitals will not be allowed to accept non-compliant invoices after 27 November 2020. This deadline is now very close, and comes at a time when many businesses are coping with the effects of the pandemic.
Within the European space, Italy has been the pioneer for e-invoicing; B2G e-invoicing has been mandatory in Italy since 2014, and the country’s early experiences are now proving invaluable for their European counterparts. This new whitepaper from TESISQUARE®, an Italian technology partner with long-standing experience in B2G and B2B e-invoicing implementation, provides practical advice on key issues around e-invoicing, including a useful checklist for biomedical companies.
Philip Wendl, Senior Sales Manager at TESISQUARE® comments: “For suppliers to the German public health system, the commercial threat of non-compliance is very real. Learning from the Italian experience will make implementation more efficient – this is particularly important in the current climate where many businesses are also coping with operational challenges due to the pandemic. Once companies have overcome the hurdle of the November 2020 deadline, they will see immediate cost savings but they will also be well placed for wider digitalisation efforts which are likely to be on the way. Choosing the right partner with the right experience is essential for this, to ensure that the opportunities presented by e-invoicing are maximised.”
Click here to download the full whitepaper: “E-invoicing – Seeking the Ideal Partner”