FAQ E-invoices

The information summarised in this article refers to Switzerland.

• What are e-invoices?
• Which (important) players are there in this area?
• Does Vertec have a standard interface for e-invoices?
• Are the user-specific adaptations technically complex?
• What are the challenges of implementing e-invoices from Vertec?
• It is only a matter of a few invoices per year, is electronic invoicing worth it?
• I have more questions, what should I do?

This usually means structured data files in XML format. Depend on the recipient, an electronic invoice can also be considered a simple PDF document. Service providers such as Conextrade also offer the option of manually entering your paper invoice via a web portal and putting it in electronic form.

• The Federal Government: From 2016 onwards, only accepts e-invoices for contracts from CHF 5000.--. A simple PDF document is sufficient as an e-invoice.
• Swisscom: Require electronic invoicing from its suppliers above a certain order size. You can use the Conextrade trading platform or alternatively enter your invoices manually via the Conextrade web portal.
• Conextrade: Service provider, trading platform and portal for the exchange of electronic documents. Conextrade is owned by Swisscom, but of course other companies can also participate.
• Postfinance: Own trading platform with the same name. So far, no invoices from Vertec have been processed for the Paynet platform.
• SIX Group: Offer their own trading platform (“Paynet”). So far, no invoices from Vertec have been processed for the Paynet platform.

No. Unfortunately, the requirements of the invoice recipients and trading platforms are far too different and cannot be standardized. Some recipients require, for example, that the country of the invoice recipient must be advertised, while others only want to receive an ISO country code. It is therefore impossible to avoid customizing the process for creating e-invoices and clarifying it in advance. Vertec offers an example implementation for the trading platform Conextrade on which to build: e-invoices with Vertec.

No, not at all. If the requirements are clear, the technical adjustments can be implemented very quickly in the extension.

Paper invoices have the advantage of being audited by people, who can add information for further processing or correct existing ones if necessary. Electronic invoices must comply with uniform standards set by the recipient from the outset so that they can be processed automatically later.

Invoice recipients have very different requirements for the information to be provided, even if they are registered with the same service provider: Some recipients, for example, want suppliers and/or customer numbers. Depending on the situation, such numbers have not been managed in Vertec at all and must therefore be entered and linked first. In one case, the SAP of a larger invoice recipient could not handle advance deductions on invoices. As long as only paper invoices were sent, this was not a problem. The recipient accepted such invoices without complaint. This was no longer possible with the e-invoice; such deductions may no longer be made here. The customer had to adapt his entire invoicing process accordingly.

Probably not. For example, you can also send a PDF to the federal government (in this case also counts as an e-invoice) and the trading platform Conextrade allows you to entered your invoices manually and thus put them in electronic form.

Your Vertec supervisor will be happy to assist you!