Electronic Invoices
DE E-Rechnung
FR e-facture
Understanding Electronic Invoices
When operating certain markets, your business may require to distribute electronic invoices – structured invoice data that is exchanged electronically between trading partners in order to automate accounts payable processing.
In particular, public institutions in the EU and, to an increasing extent, enterprises are required to accept and process electronic invoices. A set of common specifications and standards (Peppol) provides for interoperability between issuers and recipients across Europe.
E-Invoice Support in JustOn
Note
Be aware of the following preconditions:
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To prevent data incompatibility issues and be up to date with the latest e-invoice requirements, creating and distributing e-invoices always requires the newest JustOn Billing & Invoice Management version.
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Creating and distributing e-invoices involves Salesforce API access and therefore requires at least the Salesforce Enterprise Edition.
To support enterprise and public e-invoicing, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management can create electronic invoice files for invoices and credits. Currently, it supports the following formats:
- Peppol BIS Billing (with UBL syntax) for electronic invoicing across Europe
- Active Avalara ELR country mandates for electronic invoicing worldwide
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XRechnung (with UBL syntax) for electronic invoicing within Germany
JustOn Billing & Invoice Management always supports the current XRechnung version.
Businesses can
- create e-invoice XML files and send these documents to their recipients via an invoice submission portal or email, or
- prepare and send e-invoice XML files to Avalara ELR or the Peppol Network, from where the e-invoices will be distributed to their recipients, see E-Invoice Distribution.
For information on inbound e-invoices, see Expenses From Electronic Invoices.
Info
Prior to creating and distributing e-invoices, make sure to contact JustOn Support for your e-invoice onboarding. To this end, file a corresponding ticket in the JustOn Support Portal.
Be aware that if you want to send e-invoices via Peppol, your organization must contract with JustOn for this service and request the technical activation via JustOn Support.
E-Invoice Distribution
As a basic approach to e-invoicing, businesses can create e-invoice XML files and send these documents to their recipients via email or an invoice submission portal.
To help get a wider reach or to cover advanced use cases, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management integrates with the Peppol Network and Avalara E-Invoicing and Live Reporting (ELR).
JustOn Billing & Invoice Management allows distributing electronic invoices via email using the invoice email. See this as the basic approach, which works out of the box, is available in any case and can be automated if required.
Distributing electronic invoices via email
JustOn Billing & Invoice Management allows distributing electronic invoices via the Peppol Network. This is an infrastructure for exchanging electronic documents, where a set of common specifications and standards provides for interoperability between issuers and recipients across Europe.
When working with Peppol, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management creates legally valid e-invoice files and sends them to the Peppol Network. Peppol will transfer the e-invoices to the recipients and send notifications about the distribution status.
Distributing invoices through Peppol
JustOn Billing & Invoice Management allows distributing electronic invoices via Avalara E-Invoicing and Live Reporting (ELR). This global e-invoicing network supports many protocols and document formats and interoperates with tax authority platforms and exchange networks worldwide, enabling automated e-invoicing across multiple countries and tax jurisdictions.
Use Avalara ELR if you
- operate in multiple countries that require specific e-invoice formats (ZUGFeRD, Factur-X, FatturaPA)
- must report transaction data to tax authorities in real time
- need e-invoicing capabilities in the USA
When working with Avalara ELR, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management creates Avalara UBL files and sends them to Avalara ELR. Based on the transferred electronic invoice data, Avalara ELR generates legally valid electronic invoices – in accordance with dedicated country mandates – and distributes them to their recipients.
Distributing invoices through Avalara ELR
Info
Avalara E-Invoicing and Live Reporting (ELR) is a paid service. Before you can use Avalara ELR with JustOn Billing & Invoice Management, you must enter into a corresponding contract with Avalara.
In addition, using Avalara ELR with JustOn Billing & Invoice Management requires a specific configuration.
E-Invoice Workflows
JustOn Billing & Invoice Management supports the following e-invoice scenarios:
(1) The use selects the intended e-invoice format via the E-Invoice Format field on the invoice.
(2) The user invokes the e-invoice generation for an invoice, clicking Create E-Invoice.
(3) JustOn Billing & Invoice Management prepares the e-invoice XML file (einvoice_<invoice-date>_<invoice-number>_<format-specifier>) and validates it.
(4) On successful validation, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management saves the e-invoice XML file as an attachment to the invoice record.
In case of validation failures, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management writes an error summary to the E-Invoice Error field and attaches a complete HTML error report (einvoice_<invoice-date>_<invoice-number>_<einvoice-format>_validation_report) to the invoice record.
During creation, all previously attached e-invoice specific files with the prefix einvoice_<invoice-date>_<invoice-number>_ will be deleted.
(5) The user sends the produced e-invoice XML file to the recipient.
- When doing business with German authorities (B2G scenarios), you can either upload the e-invoice file to an invoice submission portal or send it via email. For details, see The transmission method: Manual upload and The transmission method: Email.
- In B2B scenarios, you need to agree on a transmission method with your business partner.
(1) The user finalizes an invoice that meets the e-invoice preconditions and clicks Send E-Invoice.
(2) JustOn Billing & Invoice Management prepares the e-invoice XML file (einvoice_<invoice-date>_<invoice-number>_<format-specifier>) and validates it.
(3) On successful validation, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management saves the e-invoice XML file as an attachment to the invoice record and shows the Send dialog.
In case of validation failures, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management writes an error summary to the E-Invoice Error field and attaches a complete HTML error report (einvoice_<invoice-date>_<invoice-number>_<einvoice-format>_validation_report) to the invoice record.
(4) The user clicks Send. If necessary, the user can modify the recipient address (and scheme). JustOn Billing & Invoice Management transfers the e-invoice file to the Peppol Network for distribution (E-Invoice Provider Status is Queued).
(5) Peppol will transfer the e-invoices to the recipients and send notifications about the distribution status, which is stored in the E-Invoice Provider Status field on the invoice and related Peppol Notification records. Once the e-invoice is successfully sent to the recipient, the E-Invoice Provider Status will be Sent.
(1) The user finalizes an invoice that meets the e-invoice preconditions and clicks Send E-Invoice.
(2) JustOn Billing & Invoice Management prepares the Avalara UBL XML file (einvoice_<invoice-date>_<invoice-number>_<format-specifier>) and validates it.
(3) On successful validation, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management saves the Avalara UBL XML file as an attachment to the invoice record and shows the Send dialog.
In case of validation failures, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management writes an error summary to the E-Invoice Error field and attaches a complete HTML error report (einvoice_<invoice-date>_<invoice-number>_<einvoice-format>_validation_report) to the invoice record.
(4) The user clicks Send. JustOn Billing & Invoice Management transfers the Avalara UBL XML file to Avalara ELR for e-invoice XML file creation and distribution (E-Invoice Provider Status is Queued).
(5) Avalara ELR will create the valid e-invoice XML file according to the relevant country mandate and transfer it to the recipient. It will return notifications about the distribution status, which is stored in the E-Invoice Provider Status field on the invoice. Once the e-invoice is successfully sent to the recipient, the E-Invoice Provider Status will be Sent.
After the Avalara ELR processing is complete, JustOn Billing & Invoice Management downloads the produced e-invoice XML file and attaches it to the invoice record.