As technology has evolved, and the feasibility of e-Invoicing mandates has become more palatable, more and more governments have begun to legislate mandatory e-invoicing requirements. From the initial voluntary requirements implemented by Chile in 2001, to now having over 80 countries globally with e-invoicing mandates. By the end of 2026, an additional 5 countries are expected to require B2B/B2G e-Invoicing: Poland (2025), Israel (2025), France (2026), Croatia (2026), and Belgium (2026).
What is e-Invoicing?
At its most basic, e-Invoicing refers to the electronic transmission of invoices viewed from either the B2B (Business to Business) or the B2G (Business to Government) perspective. In B2B e-Invoicing, the electronic exchange happens between businesses. This helps to streamline the invoice processing as business leverage standardized formats. In the B2G context, businesses are submitting invoices electronically to government entities as part of efforts to improve transparency and improve government efficiency. What we have seen since the first e-Invoicing requirements were established by Chile in 2001 is a consistent trend where governments will first establish B2G e-Invoicing requirements and eventually establish B2B requirements. Many governments/tax authorities have found that businesses readily adapt to the B2B requirements as they are able to leverage the existing investments/technology platforms established for the B2G requirements.
It is also important to differentiate between e-Invoicing and e-Reporting. While both may use the same technical systems and structures (and in many cases both may be mandated such as in Mexico), there are differences. e-Reporting, also referred to a Periodic Transaction Controls (PTC), refers to the monthly, quarterly, etc. reporting of business transactions. Often times, this data is reported in the Standard Audit File for Tax (SAF-T) format. e-Invoicing, however, attempts to review data in real-time and is referred to as Continuous Transaction Control (CTC). The CTC approach attempts to address the inherent flaws of PTC where transactions are only reviewed retroactively, and the transactional data itself is stored by the entity being audited.
eInvoicing Models
Real Time Reporting Model
The Real Time Reporting Model requires that taxpayers (business or otherwise) report transactions to the government once an invoice has been exchanged between trading partners. This model is utilized in Hungary and South Korea and allows for more flexibility in how invoices are processed. Existing processes between suppliers and customers are not impacted as there is no specific format requested by the tax authorities, but rather the requirements are that an invoice be submitted to the competent authority within a 24-72 hour period following issuance. However, this model is not without its downsides as real time reporting also requires implementing additional solutions/systems to facilitate the real-time submission (including additional data that may not typically be present in an invoice).
Clearance Model
While the Clearance Model shares many similarities with the Real Time Reporting Model, the key distinction is that the invoice is validated by the tax authorities before being forwarded to the purchaser. There are two sub-models – pre-clearance and post-clearance.
The most common is the pre-clearance approach where invoices are first submitted to the tax authorities before being submitted to the buyer. With the post-clearance approach, the invoice can be sent to the buyer before being sent to the tax authority for clearance.
As with other models, there are pros and cons to this approach. One of the bigger downsides to this approach is that invoice formats are designed to meet the government needs/requirements and not those of the entities conducting business. As such, this can often lead to inconsistent methods of exchanging documents and create barriers to the automatic exchange of information between buyers and sellers. This model does encourage and facilitate the electronic transmission of invoice and is a key step in the broader goal of achieving broad acceptance of electronic invoicing. This is the current model used in countries such as Mexico and Chile (who were amongst the early adopters of e-Invoicing) as well as Brazil and India.
Centralized Exchange Model
In the Centralized Exchange Model, there is a central platform for exchanging invoices. A central entity, such as the tax authority is responsible for receiving, processing, and forwarding the invoices in real-time. This model relies on the use of a standard format (such as the EU PEPPOL standard or the DBNA standard in the US) which will be validated by the central entity along with the data itself such as tax compliance, exchange rates, and other business rules prior to being sent to the customer.
While this approach does allow for full end to end e-Invoicing adoption, a singular platform runs the risk of creating a central bottleneck should there be any system downtime. Furthermore, similar to the issues in the Clearance Model, a standardized format may not be suitable for every industry and business process. Some of the better-known examples of this model are Italy, Serbia, and Turkey.
cbs e-World.Cloud
With so many different models and more and more countries implementing e-Invoicing requirements, it has become increasingly hard for businesses to keep up – especially those with global footprints.
Since the first cbs e-Invoicing implementation in Brazil in 2010, cbs has grown to support 30+ countries across the globe, and new solutions keep getting added such as France, Poland, and Croatia (just to name a few). Today, the cbs e-World.Cloud processes over 10 million documents/messages per year and is a key partner for some of the world’s largest companies, helping them ensure 24/7 compliance.
The cbs e-Invoicing solution is fully embedded within the SAP eDocument Framework, providing users with a seamless, native SAP experience that allows end users to manage electronic invoicing directly within their standard SAP processes. It is supported by the e-World.Cloud — a flexible, cloud-based platform that enables rapid adaptation to evolving legal and compliance requirements. Since the data mapping and transformation logic are handled in the e-World.Cloud, updates to reporting rules typically require little to no involvement from internal IT teams. This reduces the burden on SAP development resources and helps ensure continuous, 24/7 compliance across countries.
By using the e-World.Cloud, companies can access a global, scalable solution that eliminates the need to establish individual connections for each country. With one connection, customers can have access to 30+ countries. cbs manages the connection with the third-party providers (i.e. PACs) and/or government entities and ensures the availability of these connections. The e-World.Cloud offers global enterprises flexibility, global scalability, process automation, and a seamless user experience.
