HMRC will shortly be launching a consultation on the introduction of e-invoicing.

What is e-invoicing?

E-invoicing refers to the process of creating, sending, receiving, and processing invoices in a digital format. Rather than a digital version of a paper invoice, e.g. a PDF, an e-invoice refers to a structured datafile that can automatically be read by the recipient’s computer system. This usually means in an XML format, or a variant of.

Tax authorities around the world are increasingly mandating e-invoicing to combat VAT fraud and enhance revenue collection. E-invoicing allows tax authorities to receive real-time, or near real-time, data on taxable transactions, giving them greater visibility into business activities and enabling faster and more effective auditing processes.