France: B2G E-Invoicing Mandatory By 2017

France issued a decree earlier this week that requires large companies supplying the public sector to switch to electronic billing in 2017 and small-to-medium-sized enterprises will have to make the change by 2020.

Originally reported by Les Echos, the French government expects to save EUR 710 million per year, adding that the nation processes 95 million invoices annually. Furthermore, France expects the savings to include EUR 121 million in financial savings and the remainder in man hours, or the equivalent of 11,925 full-time jobs.

According to a recent E-Invoicing Platform article, the French government launched an e-billing platform called ‘Chorus Factures’ in January 2012, but it has been underused. However, the nation also decided to build a brand new portal at an estimated cost of EUR 40 million over five years.

E-invoicing is becoming a more popular option for numerous European nations. Last month, PYMNTS.com reported that the European E-Invoicing Service Providers Association processed and delivered 840.7 million electronic invoices in 2013, an increase of 19.1 percent from 706 million a year earlier. Additionally, 603 million direct and indirect B2B and B2G e-invoices were processed in 2013, up 16.6 percent from 517.3 million the previous year.

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