For the purpose of the European Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement, ‘electronic invoice’ means an invoice that has been issued, transmitted and received in a structured electronic format which allows for its automatic and electronic processing; The Directive establishes the European Standard or Norm for eInvoicing as the structured electronic format that public bodies are obliged to receive and process.
The structured electronic format facilitates the automatic processing of invoices received into back office financial accounts, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other data processing systems. While the term ‘electronic invoicing’ is often used to refer to the processing of invoices sent by a range of electronic means, from sending a scanned image or PDF invoice by email, to sending an invoice in propriety ERP or national standard formats, these methods and formats do not meet the requirements of the European Directive.
The benefits of electronic invoicing are maximised when the generation, sending, transmission, reception and processing of an invoice can be fully automated.
Widespread adoption of electronic invoicing within the EU is expected to lead to significant economic benefits. The move from paper to (fully automated) eInvoices allows public entities buying goods or services to reduce business costs and contribute to the modernisation of domestic payment infrastructure. This is achieved by:
In order for suppliers to be able to send eInvoices to Maltese Government entities they have two options:
The Maltese Government has entered into an agreement with Pagero, an internationally recognised Certified Peppol Service Provider for the provision of Peppol Networking and eInvoicing services and to support their suppliers in sending eInvoices to all public sector bodies. For more information about Pagero and the services they are providing the Government of Malta and their suppliers, please click here.
There is no legal requirement for suppliers to submit invoices in electronic format to Maltese public bodies at this point in time. However, the Government of Malta is legally bound to accept eInvoices emanating from contracts that are within the EU Procurement thresholds.