Promote the use of fast and secure e-invoicing together

• E-invoice metrics

  The purpose of the E-invoice metrics document is to describe the current situation of e-invoicing and its development in Finland. The metrics monitor the realisation of the Real-Time Economy project’s goal of e-invoicing, as well as verify the necessary measures to achieve the goal. The metrics were implemented for the first time in 2021 and will be repeated annually during the Real-Time Economy project.

  Read about the e-invoicing metrics, which compiles the changes in inter-organizational e-invoicing from 2020 to 2023.

  The first e-invoicing metrics are based on the figures for 2020, reported by e-invoicing operators, an analysis derived from the e-invoicing address registry, the state’s e-invoicing statistics, and surveys made by the State Treasury to municipalities and municipal federations. Read about the first e-invoicing metrics. The second e-invoicing metrics are based on 2021 figures. Read about the second e-invoice metrics

• If you are an entrepreneur and want to receive e-invoices, do this

  If your company already uses financial administration software, such as

  • an enterprise resource planning system (ERP)
  • accounting firm software, or
  • invoicing software

  ask your service provider whether your software can process e-invoices. Follow the service provider’s instructions on how to start using the service.

  Tip! Go through the checklist below to ensure trouble-free e-invoicing from the start.

  If your company does not have suitable software for sending e-invoices

  You can commission your own invoicing program or use a service provided by the buyer.

  Method 1. Commission software that meets your company’s needs. There are several options available:

  • Check whether there are any enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) for your line of business that can also process e-invoices.
  • Check whether your accounting firm has invoicing software that your company can use.
  • Learn about other invoicing software on the market and choose one that suits your needs

  See detailed information in the checklist for e-invoicing, which can be found below on this page.

  Method 2. Use the e-invoicing portal provided by the customer

  • Some organisations offer an e-invoicing portal for their own suppliers, where they can log in and send e-invoices directly to that organisation. Most of these portals are provided by large organisations.
  • For example, the state offers a portal to its own suppliers: sending an invoice to the state
  • Tieke ry has compiled a list of online services through which you can send e-invoices without monthly invoicing.

  Sending an e-invoice

  1. Check that the customer accepts e-invoices and Also check the customer’s invoicing details.

  You can check the e-invoicing information of your Finnish customer in the e-invoicing address registry verkkolaskuosoite.fi. Note that large organisations may have several e-invoicing addresses. If necessary, contact the customer to check the invoicing details.
  Basic information for users of the e-invoice address registry can be found at Using the E-invoice Address Registry

  2. Complete the e-invoice using the software

  Follow the service provider’s instructions.
  By using e-invoicing that complies with the European standard, you can ensure that all mandatory information is entered on the invoice. Read more about the information required on the invoice at Requirements for the information content on an invoice

  3. Send the e-invoice

  Your e-invoicing operator is responsible for ensuring that the invoice is sent to the recipient in the technically correct format.

• To receive e-invoices, do the following

  If your company already uses financial administration software, such as

  • an enterprise resource planning system (ERP)
  • accounting firm software, or
  • other software for processing purchase invoices

  ask your service provider whether your software can process e-invoices.
  Follow the service provider’s instructions on how to start using the service.

  If your company does not have the right software:

  Commission software that meets your company’s needs. There are several options available:

  • Find out if there is an enterprise resource planning system (ERP) suitable for your line of business and operations that would also process e-invoices
  • Check whether your accounting firm has software for processing purchase invoices that your company can use.
  • Learn about other purchase invoice software on the market and choose one that suits your needs

  See the online invoicing checklist below, so that online invoicing is as smooth as possible for you from the start.

  Receiving e-invoices

  1. Make sure that your purchase invoice service supports invoices compliant with the European Standard. You cannot require other types of purchase invoices based on the E-invoice act.

  Tell the invoicer that you only accept e-invoices and that they must be in accordance with the European Standard*.

  Make sure that your e-invoicing details can be found in the e-invoice address registry verkkolaskuosoite.fi

  Tip! Also add your e-invoicing details to your own website. Your invoicing details should include at least the following:

  • business ID
  • e-invoicing address (EDI ID)
  • operator ID of the e-invoicing operator

  *Read more about invoices compliant with the European Standard in the e-invoicing checklist below.

  2. Receiving and processing purchase invoices

  Your e-invoicing operator is responsible for ensuring that the e-invoices are entered in your company’s software in the correct format.
  Follow the service provider’s instructions.

• Entrepreneur’s checklist for e-invoices

  1. Check whether the software meets your company’s needs.

  The choice depends on factors such as the number of invoices, parties invoiced, and archiving and reporting needs.

  2. Check whether the software also includes a connection to the e-invoicing operator.

  The e-invoicing operator transmits
  – your e-invoices to your customers and
  – the e-invoices sent to your company to your company’s software.

  • If the software does not include a connection to the e-invoicing operator, you must conclude an agreement with the e-invoicing operator.
  • You can have an agreement with more than one e-invoicing operator. You may need more than one e-invoicing operator if you use more than one program to send and receive invoices.
  • Read more about e-invoice operators: E-invoice operators

  3. Always remember to make sure that the software you use supports e-invoicing compliant with the European Standard (i.e., e-invoicing is based on EU standard EU16931).

  • There are e-invoices in several different technical formats. All e-invoices meeting the European standard are of high technical quality and contain all obligatory information in the correct format. This means fewer invoicing errors. Some organisations only accept e-invoices meeting the European standard.
  • TIEKE ry maintains a list of financial software that is ready to process invoices compliant with the European Standard: https://tieke.fi/palvelut/all/verkkolaskuosoitteisto/taloushallinto-ohjelmien-valmiudet-3-0-versioihin/
  • Finvoice 3.0 and TEAPPSXML 3.0 versions can also be used to produce invoices meeting the European Standard, but this is not done automatically. The user must check that the invoices produced with the software are in accordance with the European standard. Some e-invoicing operators support users by, for example, checking the invoices for compliance with the European Standard before transmitting them.

• One-time invoicing for consumers

  One-time customer invoicing typically refers to invoicing a consumer customer that is done only once.
  The workshops organised by the Real-Time Economy project determined how it is possible to implement one-time invoicing of consumer customers in Finland. When the workshops started, the solutions on the market did not allow for sending an e-invoice directly to a consumer, because the consumer must first make an invoice acceptance agreement with the invoicer in their online bank. A service description and instructions on the digitalisation of one-time invoicing aimed at consumers were created in the workshops.

  Read more about arranging one-time invoicing for consumers

• Pilot – The first one-time e-invoices were sent to consumers in January 2022.

  Nearly all consumers are familiar with e-invoice as a name and a service. It is a service incorporated into recurring invoicing. When you are a consumer and paying your first invoice to a specific invoicer, just remember to ask the invoicer to send all future invoices directly to your online bank.

  However, if you only receive one invoice (one-time invoice) from that particular invoicer, you cannot receive it as an e-invoice even if you wanted to. This means that companies that invoice both companies and consumers must use at least two different invoicing methods instead of a single efficient method. It was decided in the project to develop a one-time e-invoice for consumers, because there is demand for it and it would bring benefits to both companies and consumers.

  In a trial carried out in January 2022, the first one-time e-invoices were successfully relayed to consumers.

  In addition to pilots carried out in cooperation with banks, Apix Messaging Oy, Isolta Ltd, MobilePay Finland Oy and representatives of the State Treasury’s Real-Time Economy project also launched pilots with one-time e-invoices intended for consumers in December 2021. The aim was to check that an e-invoice can be sent using Isolta’s invoicing software to the MobilePay application of a consumer and to determine which changes would be required in the invoice transmitting process. Apix acted as the e-invoicing operator in the pilot. Following a successful pilot, the first one-time e-invoices were transmitted to consumers in January this year.

  Although Finland is one of the leading countries in digitalisation, we need and can develop better services to make Finnish companies more successful. Smooth cooperation across sectoral boundaries is a key factor in this respect. All this was achieved in the pilot described above and the production deployment.