Bruno Koch at Billentis, the e-invoicing and billing experts, reports that e-invoicing is growing world-wide with varing regional growth rates, and a new mandated reporting system in Lithuania is coming later this year.

European Market

Overall, the European market growth for electronic processes is sustainable. Driven by organisations in the public and private sector which are under more pressure than ever to reduce costs and improve their cash management. Billentis estimate 2016 growth of 14% in B2B/B2G/G2B and 11% in the B2C segment for 2016. The volume directly exchanged between trading parties is growing less than the volume exchanged via B2B networks. Network operators are expected to increase their processed volume by 17% in the B2B/B2G/G2B segment, whereas the B2C volume via service providers might increase by 12%.

The total B2B volume in Europe is expected to reach around 5 billion e-invoices this year. B2C volume is estimated to reach 2.8 billion.

Solution providers in Europe

There are currently 650 e-invoicing operators in Europe, and the number is expected to rise slightly in 2016. Of these 650, at least 27 operators of e-invoicing networks are expected to each process more than 20 million e-invoices/e-bills this year.

For more details, see: www.billentis.com/einvoicing_ebilling_market_overview_2016.pdf

Other regions

Billentis report that:

• North America is expected to achieve volume growth rates comparable to those in Europe. The processed B2B volume is expected to reach around 3.2 billion e-invoices this year. B2C volume is estimated to surpass 4 billion. The number of e-invoicing network operators is likely to grow from 150 to 170.
• Brazil and Mexico: current 16-17 billion annual e-invoices (original invoices) will likely grow less dynamically, but the proportion of supplementary paper invoice representations is expected to drop significantly
• other Latin American countries usage is expected to grow in 2016, with from Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay.

Lithuania plans to mandate enhanced electronic reporting from October 2016

The Lithuanian State Tax Inspectorate is implementing the smart tax administration system i.MAS. The inspiration for this project came from Portugal. The objectives are to reduce the administrative burden for taxpayers, improve the efficiency of tax administration and increase tax revenue by reducing the shadow economy.

The new rules include the monthly reporting of invoice data (issued and received), and a system to facilitate the issuing, transfer and use of electronic way bills for land transportation in real-time. 

The exact file specifications will be completed and approved by April 2016.