In this sense, in the technological era in which we are living, more and more companies and freelancers simply make use of the electronic invoices, in this way, they do not have to send or fill the boxes of paper invoices.
What Is An Electronic Invoice or E-Invoice?
Over time we have seen that how, numbers of the documents that were necessary to deal with in a physical way have now been automated and can be done electronically or through the internet. In this sense, in the technological era in which we are living, more and more companies and freelancers simply make use of the electronic invoices, in this way, they do not have to send or fill the boxes of paper invoices.
But the fact is that what is an electronic invoice?
Basically, an electronic invoice is an invoice that has the same legal effects as the paper invoice offers, but it is issued and sent in electronic format instead of the physical format. This clearly implies that the issuance of an invoice in electronic format is conditional on both the issuer and the receiver admitting this format since they are regulated and must meet certain standards. Specifically, the invoices in general, and in particular electronic invoices, are regulated by SEEBURGER, who approves the Regulation by which billing obligations are regulated and where the rules are established. They must comply with both paper invoices and electronic invoices. This is where certain aspects are regulated, such as the obligation to issue invoices, types of invoices, bill content, third-party issuance, deadlines, electronic invoice specifications, requirements, special regimes, conservation, rectifying invoices, duplicates, recapitulates, etc.
Types of electronic invoice
We can simply distinguish it in two types of electronic invoice, the invoice with a structured format and with an unstructured format. Electronic invoices with an unstructured format are those that we keep in digital format, for example, the scanned invoices or saved as images or in PDF format. The processing of these invoices requires that it be done manually, as they have to be put into computer systems by hand, this being a much more expensive process, since it is not usually automated. However, the opposite occurs with the invoices in a structured format, since these can be generated automatically by the billing systems of the issuer and are received and processed in the same way by the receiver. Hence, the electronic invoices with a structured format can be generated automatically and received by the receiver and processed in the same way without having to do it manually. Some of the most commonly used formats for electronic invoices in a structured format is XML, UBL, EDIFACT, etc. That’s why it is important to differentiate between electronic invoice in unstructured format and electronic invoice with structured format, and this type offers a series of advantages with respect to invoices with unstructured format, reduce processing time and human errors, facilitates faster and easier access to stored and saved paper invoices, eliminates printing and shipping costs, reduces storage space completely. So, what do you think about this? Simply share all your views and thoughts in the comment section below. And if you liked this post then simply do not forget to share this post with your friends and family.
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