According to the law dated 20.12.2017 amending the Public Procurement Law of 2012 to include EU Directive 2014/55, B2G eInvoicing has become mandatory for all public authorities in the Netherlands since 18 April 2019.
The Dutch government added a part of the EU Directive 2010/45 to its legislation under the name of the implementation of the Invoicing rules Directive of 15 March 2012. With this addition, the Netherlands has simplified the rules in the invoicing area for the accrual of VAT and made an introduction to eInvoicing.
e-Invoicing Platform and e-Invoicing Management Solutions
In the Netherlands, the implementation of e-Invoicing by the 2014/55 / EU Directive and the Dutch Procurement Law was carried out through the adoption of the PEPPOL framework to establish an interoperable exchange infrastructure. Currently, all government agencies are directly or indirectly connected to the PEPPOL infrastructure. There are 42 PEPPOL providers in the Dutch market.
Approach to receiving and processing e-Invoices
Economic Operators in the Dutch economy submit the eInvoice in three ways:
Using theSimplerinvoicingnetwork. The network can use for both B2B and B2G (central and local). International invoicing is also possible, as it has been affiliated with PEPPOL since 2013.
Using solution providers. Suppliers can send eInvoice for the government through solution providers who directly contact the hub.Logiusprovides a list of solution providers on their website. eInvoicing is suitable for suppliers who send medium-volume invoices, have a fully automated eInvoicing process, or do not have a direct connection with the transfer center.
Using government solutions and services provided byLogius. This way, actors in the economy can manually submiteInvoices via web forms.
The processing of eInvoices received by public institutions carries out semi-automatically. The processing of bills by public institutions depends on the level of automation and the sophistication of IT systems. Government agencies process e-invoices automatically or manually.
Public organizations in the Netherlands can receive eInvoices in three formats:
UBL-OHNL is a standard that describes messages regarding the public procurement of all goods and services, except for the recruitment of temporary staff. UBL-OHNL is based on the international standard UBL. The UBL-OHNL invoice will be replaced by NLCIUS by 2021 at the latest.
SI-UBL is a subset of the entire UBL specification. The SI-UBL standard is used by Simplerinvoicing. The standard SI-UBL will eventually be replaced by NLCIUS.
The SETU (HR – XML) standard describes messages (including eInvoices) in the context of data exchange for recruiting temporary staff. This standard is the standard that offers the highest invoice volume to the government.
The Dutch government aims to reconnect to the European standard by setting up the NL CIUS in PEPPOL BIS and implementing it in the first half of 2021 at the latest.
Invoicing Application in Sub-Central Level Contracting Authorities
The eInvoicing application continues to work in sub-central. While 95% of authorities in sub-central used eInvoices in November 2019, eInvoicing was not mandatory for all municipalities and suppliers. However, the use of PEPPOL is not obligatory but recommended. The Municipalities are not legally required to request an e-invoice from their suppliers. However, they have the opportunity to set a condition in supply contracts.
The Situation Regarding the Implementation of the European Standard for Invoicing (EN)
The Netherlands has transposed the Directive through the National Procurement Act. The Directive did not require an extended deadline for sub-center authorities. The ability to contract public authorities to be included in the address network (i.e., PEPPOL SMP) is not included in the regulation, but an additional protocol is provided.
Use of National Invoicing Usage Specifications (CIUS)
NLCIUS is a subset of the mandatory European Standard (EN) 16931 to be implemented in the Netherlands. The European Standard (EN16931) describes the eInvoicing method to governments and can also be used by companies. EN16931 and NLCIUS provide clarity to governments and companies about the elements and data that should uses in invoices to government agencies in the Netherlands.