E-invoicing involves the digital transfer of financial data to help companies get paid electronically. Keeping payment information secure simplifies the entire transaction process. And with mandatory e-invoicing coming in across lots of countries in the last twenty years, opportunities for invoice fraudsters have dwindled.
Learn about how mandatory e-invoicing could benefit your organization, and how platforms like Trustpair can implement automated controls which reduce the risk of invoice fraud and verify the legitimacy of your electronic invoices. Contact an expert to learn more!
What is an e-invoice mandate?
E-invoice mandates are sweeping regulations from the government that force all eligible businesses to use a specific electronic billing platform.
The mandates are typically enforced once a national government has tested the security of a platform and are confident in its abilities to transform the security and efficiency of business payments in their country.
In the USA, there has not yet been a total e-invoice mandate, but a recent joint statement with the EU in April 2024 has revealed that the two jurisdictions are looking to increase interoperability. A shared e-invoicing platform could certainly make it easier for organizations in both locations to work together, which should positively impact international trade, payments, and global supply chain management practices.
How does mandatory e-invoicing work?
E-invoicing mandates work through the local government, building them into regulations, usually under governance risk rules.
Typically, this happens by testing and verifying a secure and efficient system for invoice delivery, payment, and document record-keeping. A mandate that forces businesses to send and receive their invoices through this system, under the system’s specific rules.
Some mandatory e-invoicing rules include:
- Limiting the time to payment (such as a maximum of 30 days)
- Preventing editing once the invoices are created, helps to protect the integrity of the system and prevent the risk of fraudulent invoices
Mandatory e-invoicing systems typically work through the supplier creating an invoice on the authorized software, and then sending it through the system straight to their customer. Thanks to the integrated nature of e-invoicing software, due to APIs, the data can usually be automatically transcribed into the customer’s system, which is helpful for efficiency.
Which countries have implemented e-invoice mandates?
The USA has not made e-invoicing mandatory, largely because there is no current system for formal tax invoice regulations. That being said, some businesses have chosen to voluntarily adopt e-invoicing.
In the rest of the world, several EU countries have e-invoicing mandates, such as Poland’s KSeF system and Romania’s RO-eFactura, both enforced from July 2024. Likewise in Latin America, countries like Brazil, Chile, and Mexico all enforce mandatory e-invoicing, as do Vietnam, Malaysia, and Pakistan in Asia.
| Country | E-invoicing mandate? | System | |
| USA | No | n/a | |
| UK | Yes, for National Health Service invoicing only | PEPPOL | |
| Romania | Yes | RO-eFactura | |
| Poland | Yes | KSeF | |
| Brazil | Yes, but each of the 27 states has its own platform | NF-e | |
| Mexico | Yes | CFDI | |
| Vietnam | Yes, two (one to include verification codes and one without) based on the size of the business | Several authorized providers | |
| Pakistan | Yes | JSON clearance |
What are the benefits of mandatory e-invoices?
Mandatory e-invoice systems can be hugely beneficial for tax and compliance purposes, efficiency reasons and reducing both costs and paperwork.
Cost savings
The expenses associated with paper-based invoicing tend to add up quickly; the likes of paper, printing and ink costs, packaging, and postage. Not to mention the price of processing these invoices, which are estimated to cost approximately $16 each in 2025.
Then it’s time to factor in the cost of errors, which are inevitable with manual invoicing processes and can lead to duplicate payments, missed payment charges, or late payment charges.
Alternatively, working with e-invoicing software presents a real-time display of the progress of each payment, which is helpful in avoiding those manual payment error risks.
Furthermore, you’ll avoid the paperwork costs altogether, with faster processing saving on staff and storage costs.
Tax and compliance integration
Compliance with regulations is an incredibly important part of any business process because the costs and risks associated with non-compliance can be severe.
E-invoicing mandates are particularly beneficial for compliance because most include built-in tax integration. This means that the platforms automatically track and monitor the invoice data to work out tax due, and match this to the final year tax bill, preventing invoice or tax fraud.
Each of the platforms has been specifically created in compliance with the rules and regulations of the local country, making the companies that use them automatically compliant too.
This significantly reduces the risks around non-compliance and therefore eliminates the chance of financial or reputational damage that follows.
Error and fraud reduction
Similarly, thanks to the automated nature of e-invoicing systems, the risk of manual errors are completely eliminated.
The fraud risk also drops, thanks to several factors:
- The channel is secure, as invoices are all transferred across the e-invoicing platform instead of hackable email systems, for example
- E-invoices either cannot be changed, or all amendments are tracked and attributed to the member that has made the change, holding internal staff accountable
- Digital signatures mean that the e-invoices never leave the platform, even when they are approved by multiple managers, which is best practice under the four eyes principle
Platforms like Trustpair focus on payment fraud prevention by validating payee information and automatically blocking payments to accounts that can’t be verified. This helps to protect your business accounts, whether fraudsters have been able to bypass the security features of an e-invoicing system or not.
Faster payments
E-invoicing mandates can significantly increase the efficiency of payments, with the ability to scale up much quicker than paper invoicing systems.
Reducing time to payment generally keeps vendors happier, which can improve your supply chain relationships and may unlock discounts across the products and services your business accesses.
How can businesses prepare for e-invoice mandates?
Preparing for e-invoice mandates is all about getting compliant ahead of time. Of course, each jurisdiction is going to set up different rules, with purpose-built systems that work slightly differently.
So acting quickly to analyze your current processes and the legal changes that will need to occur can help companies reach readiness in good time.
Some of the preparation steps that you may need to undertake for e-invoicing include:
- Training accountants and financial staff on the new systems
- Implementing new internal controls and policies to ensure the mandate rules are adhered to, and your processes are compliant
- Moving your clients over to the digital age by sharing the benefits of e-invoicing and helping to onboard them onto the mandated platforms
Relying on a platform like Trustpair for automatic controls and compliance when the mandatory e-invoicing rules come in. As e-invoicing mandates expand, Trustpair’s automated controls reduce the risk of fraudulent transactions, ensuring businesses send and receive legitimate electronic invoices. Speak to an expert to learn more!
Mandatory e-invoicing recap: what you need to know
Mandatory e-invoicing has not yet been introduced in the USA, but with many other countries already implementing e-invoice mandates, it’s important to prepare.
Electronic invoicing helps businesses secure their systems, save on expenses, and work more efficiently. Partner with Trustpair to ensure you comply when the e-invoicing mandates apply.
