EU moves on invoicing.
All 15 Member States of the European Union will be compelled to recognise the validity of electronic invoices if a directive proposed by the European Commission is adopted by member governments. Frits Bolkestein, commissioner for taxation policy, said new technologies made it necessary that updated harmonised rules covering VAT within the Community were introduced ‘urgently’.
Electronic invoicing could cut invoicing costs from £1.40 to about 40p per transaction compared to a paper document, he said. A move to electronic invoicing would encourage development of e-commerce currently hampered by ‘obsolete’ invoicing in the EU.