Editorial Joseph Sammut: National E-Invoicing and TBR initiatives avoid standardization and create unnecessary costs

Some EU Member States have postponed their initiative to introduce e-invoicing. Others seem to have decided to carry on with the introduction of e-invoicing and their own Transaction Based Reporting (TBR). This is a reality in the EU.

In my opinion, it doesn’t make sense to introduce a new initiative on a national basis at a time when this is being discussed at the EU Council. There are two risks associated with such decision:
1. It would be more difficult to reach agreement on standardized e-invoicing and TBR at the Council.
2. It would create unnecessary costs for businesses to adapt to an individual domestic system and a potentially different EU standardized cross-border system.

Hence, it would be more appropriate if Member States had to suspend any plans to introduce their own e-invoicing and TBR systems until agreement on such proposal is reached at the Council. For those who are perhaps sceptical or pessimistic I would say that where there is a will there is a way.

If Member States feel that this issue is very urgent, they could work things out with the EU Commission to prioritize. But it is always possible to reach unanimous agreement on the current proposal. It takes more time for sure, and more patience to have mutual understanding. But finally Member States will be united under one harmonised objective. So it is worth taking more time and do the right thing then going along an individual way which could create further hurdles for agreement and more problems for businesses.

Source Joseph Sammut

See also Editorial: E-Invoicing implementation in the EU … Why can’t we live together?

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