The e-invoice seems to have cleared all the doubts that initially nurtured against it. In just six months, most SMEs have changed their minds
Despite what was thought before its launch – and even in the very first weeks after January 1, 2019 – the e-invoice seems to have won the favor of professionals, SMEs and large companies. To testify to this are not only the numbers of sendings, well above the forecasts, but the same users of the new fiscal tool.
This is what emerges from the report of the Electronic Invoicing & eCommerce B2b Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano and revealed in the last days of June. It is enough to scroll through the numbers in the report to realize how wrong the initial sensations were: e-invoicing shows to be appreciated both at a “quantitative” and “qualitative” level. Those who have used it in the first six months have appreciated various aspects of e-invoicing, which is capable of simplifying various bureaucratic steps and speeding up payment operations.
As we will see in detail in a moment, those companies that had already undertaken processes of digitization of the accounting flow were the ones that benefited most from the introduction of e-invoicing. The use of platforms such as Libero SiFattura, a complete and easy-to-use administrative management system, makes it possible to speed up the issuing and receiving of electronic invoices, keep the cash situation under control and much more. But let’s proceed in order.
Electronic Invoicing Observatory: the numbers of the first six months
The data from the Electronic Invoicing Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic testify to the fact that electronic invoicing is proceeding much better than initially expected. The survey, updated to the first days of June 2019, speaks of 854 million invoices sent through the Interchange Service to businesses (54% of the total), Public Administration (2% of the total) and private individuals (44% of the total). Of these, only 3% were “rejected” by the system due to irregularities in compilation. Also comforting is the number of companies and professionals who have made use of this tool. The 854 million tax documents were generated by 3.2 million taxpayers.
Data is constantly improving, proving the greater maturity reached by the sector: more and more companies are deciding to invest in digital platforms for administrative management, thus managing to speed up internal bureaucratic processes and optimizing the time needed to issue invoices and collect them.
Electronic Invoicing Observatory: the opinion of VAT account holders
As mentioned, the survey conducted by the Milan Polytechnic also shows that over 50% of the companies surveyed believe they have benefited from the introduction of electronic invoicing. Among the various benefits that have emerged, the most appreciated are the increased speed of recording invoices (indicated by 33% of large companies and 31% of SMEs), the simplification of the invoice verification phase (21% of the sample) and the payment approval process (20% and 14%). Other benefits indicated are reduced payment times and faster payment reconciliation times.
According to the data in the report, companies that already use an appropriate technology solution (such as an administrative management platform) have benefited more than “non-digital” companies. For this reason, the use of platforms such as Libero SiFattura is essential for every freelancer or company. Solutions of this kind make available tools to manage not only the accounting flow, but also the cash flow, speeding up various “bureaucratic” processes related to their business.
The management platform of Italiaonline allows you to send electronic invoices both to commercial and productive activities, to Public Administration bodies and to private citizens. And, thanks to the SdI recipient code, it is able to “intercept” the invoices addressed to us and download them independently. These, however, are only the “basic” features of the administrative and financial management tool. With Libero SiFattura you will have advanced tools designed specifically to facilitate business processes. These include the issuance of recurring invoices, automatic payment reminders, the management and display of the collected and outstanding invoices, the VAT forecast to know in real time how much you will have to pay and the cash flow to have visibility (even in the future) of the liquidity on the current account on the basis of invoices issued and received with future due date.
In addition, you can “build” the platform on your needs, choosing the package and services that best suit your purpose. Libero SiFattura Basic is free of charge and offers all the features necessary to manage the invoicing flow of professionals and VAT accounts; Libero SiFattura Lite costs 29 euros plus VAT for the first year and adds the automation of sending invoices and customizing the template; Libero SiFattura Pro, at 49 euros plus VAT for the first year, offers advanced tools such as sharing the platform with the accountant, creating the first note for the accountant, scheduler, statement of account, cash flow and much more.