Improved and efficient invoice processing is in your interest and ours. That is why Air Traffic Control the Netherlands (LVNL) is switching to electronic invoicing (e-invoicing). E-invoicing offers many advantages to sender and recipient: convenience, speed and fewer errors.
Companies in the Netherlands send millions of invoices to the government every year. Manual processing of invoices sent by post or in an email with a PDF attachment costs lots of time and money and runs the risk of errors. The paper invoice, but also the email with the ‘PDF invoice’ are slowly becoming obsolete in the digital age we live in. E-invoicing is the future.
An electronic invoice (e-invoice) is not just an email with a PDF attachment. According to the official definition, an e-invoice is 'a structured electronic file that allows automatic and electronic processing'. A PDF invoice cannot do that.
Studies show that the automated exchange of e-invoices significantly boosts efficiency for both sender and recipient. The Dutch government is promoting this, as is the EU. Local authorities and other contracting agencies must therefore be able to receive and process e-invoices as of April 2019.
The advantages of e-invoicing for you:
LVNL has been able to receive e-invoices since 1 April 2019.
Starting 1 April 2019, you will be able to send e-invoices to us. Sending e-invoices has become easy in recent years. For instance, most accounting software packages already have the built-in option of sending e-invoices. If you do not use accounting software, there are market parties that use portals or other solutions to give you access to the Peppol network, which provides an easy way to send e-invoices to our organisation.
We recommend that you familiarise yourself with how you can switch to e-invoicing. Consult your (accounting) software provider or visit the various websites that can provide you with objective information:
It is expected that many of your government clients will use an e-invoice network that allows for easy e-invoice exchange. In the Netherlands, for example, this is the Netherlands Peppol Authority (NPA), which enables a secure flow of invoices via the Peppol network.
The requirements, such as the UBL standard, for e-invoices sent to your government client or other contracting agencies, have been established at a European level. The options for deviations from these requirements are very limited. This provides clarity and uniformity, to ensure that it is no longer necessary to continue making new agreements between clients, government authorities and suppliers every time.
Click here for ‘LVNL – Specifications for sending e-invoices’. This document contains all the specifications required for an e-invoice sent to LVNL.
An e-invoice, similar to a normal invoice, must comply with the requirements set for an invoice. For example, it must include an invoice number, VAT rate and amount, your company’s Chamber of Commerce details, etc. It is also important to write the correct LVNL purchase order number on the e-invoice. E-invoices without a purchase order number cannot be processed.
For now, we also still offer the option to attach the XML file to an email and send it to this email address: crediteuren@lvnl.nl.
LVNL wishes you good luck with your switch!