Before Furious, many of our customers used Excel (or even Word or InDesign for the bravest) to create their quotes and invoices.
Beyond the limited aesthetics/over time, not using a billing software is a mistake in managing your business.
Indeed, your invoice is legally questionable if it is not created via an approved software (mono-task or ERP like Furious).
But that’s not all and we’ll explain why.
The obligation to digitalise invoices as a bonus
The French State, via the 2020 and 2021 Finance Act, wishes to accelerate its plan to modernise the economic life of companies (or e-invoicing) and the transmission of data to the tax authorities (or e-reporting). As an example, some countries such as Italy are more advanced than us on the subject. For example, some countries like Italy are more advanced than us on the subject.
The obligation to digitise invoices will therefore be effective from the 1st of July 2024 in all B2B exchanges.
Why?
- Reducing the cost of processing
The cost of processing invoices is not negligible and the difference between the paper version (estimated at 10 euros) VS the dematerialised version (estimated at 1 euro) speaks for itself… #ahouiquandmême
- Simplify and make exchanges more reliable / reduce payment delays
It is also clear that it is easier to ensure that invoices are received correctly, to simplify exchanges between suppliers and customers, and to speed up the whole process by going paperless. But this implies that all stakeholders must be able to issue and receive electronic invoices.
- Strengthening the competitiveness of French companies
Strengthen the fight against VAT fraud, but also pre-fill your VAT returns. In short, better traceability. In short, better traceability.
What are the deadlines for being in compliance?
Laurent Chetcuti, associate lawyer at KPMG, shared his expertise with dafMag.fr:
” As from the 1 st of July 2024, all companies must be able to receive an electronic invoice.. On the same date, large companies will have the obligation to issue electronic invoices. This obligation will be effective as from 11st January 2025 for ETI and 11st January 2026 for VSE and SME. The point here is to take into account the legal structure of the company and not the group. »
You will have two choices at that moment:
- submit your invoices to accredited platforms
- or submit them directly to the public billing portal, as Italian companies are already doing, for example.
How should my invoices be?
As you must have understood, the State, and more generally the European Union, wishes to standardise and structure invoices by means of this directive, in order to reinforce the coherence, security and quality of the data thus continuously transmitted to the tax authorities.
Invoices issued and received must imperatively comply to a specific format and precise data in order to be processed automatically.
So goodbye to non-standardised paper and PDF formats!
You will also have to communicate your data to the tax authorities:
- your sales made with foreign companies and / or with individuals (French and foreign)
- of your purchases made from foreign companies.
- of payment of certain issued invoices as well as their status.
What are the risks if I am not compliant?
It is obvious that electronic invoicing is an effective weapon to fight against extended payment deadlines, improve your BRF and thus avoid bankruptcy. Today, nearly 420 billion financial debts are estimated in France!
Those who do not abide will be penalised: “For non-compliance with e-invoicing, they risk a fine of 15 euros per invoice, limited to 15,000 euros per year. For non-compliance with e-reporting, the fine is 250 euros per transmission, also limited to 15,000 euros per civil year. But the main penalty is indirectly in terms of cash. If a company does not send an electronic invoice, it will simply not get paid,” says Laurent Chetcuti.
How do I prepare for it?
“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”
We review our tools and anticipate the choice of our partner. By the way, take a look at this TOP 10 of pitfalls to avoid when migrating to an ERP system. 😉
Furious automatically detects invoices to be issued, ensures a bank reconciliation, anticipates your financial situation for the next 12 months, and saves you time by communicating autonomously with your teams. And most importantly, it enables you to ensure compliance with future regulations.
In short, any change is an opportunity and this reform gives you one more reason to take an ERP.
