Why we must make e-invoicing mandatory

Enterprise Nation has signed an open letter, published today, in support of a call to make e-invoicing mandatory for B2B transactions for VAT-registered businesses.

We've backed the move from techUK and joined other signatories like Sage, The Entrepreneurs Network, Good Business Pays and Innovate Finance in recognising the impact that this step could have on eradicating late payments and boosting the UK's digital economy.

According to the government's own figures, the impact of late and other poor payment practices is estimated to be £11 billion.

An extract from the letter says:

"E-invoicing could reduce incidents of late payment by 20%, and support UK small businesses in getting paid faster and in accessing external finance."

It argues the UK is a late adopter of the technology and that other nations are already seeing savings.

Read the full open letter

Aaron Asadi, CEO of Enterprise Nation, says:

"We shouldn't even be having this conversation. Late payment is crippling small businesses, taking food off tables and putting millions of livelihoods at risk.

"The mandating of e-invoicing is essential, eradicating the late payments that impact growth instantly.

"The UK already has a strong digital base to build on. Under Making Tax Digital, all VAT-registered businesses already keep digital records and file returns using compatible software, so the core plumbing is in place.

"What remains is to digitise the connections between firms by standardising invoices in structured, machine-readable form. That's why we support techUK's open letter today."

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