eFaktura.bg

Electronic Invoice – Presentation (EIP)

The presentation of electronic invoices is a process at which suppliers and buyers exchange and manage electronic invoices via Internet.

The EIP solution replaces the paper process and works in parallel with the accounting or ERP systems improving the automation, reducing the price and maintaining high quality of the service.

The EIP solution maintains the electronic exchange of financial documents amongst suppliers and buyers and manages the processes related to these documents in a fast and secure manner. Another great benefit for suppliers and buyers is the improvement of the monitoring over the cash flows, control within real time of documents and fast settlement.

The electronic invoice is a document signed by a valid electronic signature and is fully equal in value to the relevant paper carrier. The electronic invoices presented through the system eFaktura.bg fully satisfy the requirements of the Electronic Document and Electronic Signature Act, the Accountancy Act and the Value Added Tax Act.

Guaranteeing the authenticity of the origin of the invoice and the inviolability of the contents shall be reached through use of a digital certificate (universal electronic signature).

Several models of the EIP service are known:

Supplier – direct model. The defects of the model are that the buyers may not receive their invoices from all their suppliers in the same place.

Buyer – direct model. The defects of the model are that the suppliers may not present the invoices to all buyers from the same place.

Consolidator – This model comprises connections of the type many to many, connecting lots of suppliers with lots of buyers. The consolidator provides for medium for collection and aggregating of invoices from a lot of suppliers for a lot of recipients removing the requirement for connecting each to each one.The use of the platform of the consolidator for the provision of EIP services allows a lot of suppliers to get in touch with a lot of buyers and this model saves significant expenditures to both parties. Schemes of EIP through a consolidator are presented in the figures herein below.

 Bankservice realized the first in Bulgarian service Electronic Invoice – Presentation (EIP) through a consolidator under the title of eFaktura.bg.The scheme of the processes in eFaktura.bg is shown in the figure herein below.

 Sending of electronic invoices – The supplier has preliminarily drawn up electronic invoices through his system or through means for conversion. The invoices are signed by a universal electronic signature. The file with the invoices is loaded in the system.

Е-mail message – The system shall notify the buyer that there is an invoice directed at him;

Confirmation of the receipt – The Buyer shall obtain access to the system and after he confirms the receipt of the invoices he may get acquainted with them, print them out or store locally;

Online dispute – The system offers a possibility for conduct of online disputes between a recipient and supplier in events of need. The dispute shall last until a decision is made.

Payment – After the buyer receives the invoice, he may effect payment in favor of the supplier. The payer’s bank shall effect the payment.

Main characteristics of the system eFaktura.bg:

United format for presentation of the data – The invoices shall be presented and maintained in the system through a united “Standard for presentation of an electronic invoice in eFaktura.bg through XML”, which is based on the recommendations of [W3C01] XML Schema. W3C Recommendation.

The invoices are signed electronically – Each invoice shall be presented as an electronically signed document. XML signing based on the recommendations of [W3C02] XML-Signature Syntax and Processing (XMLDSig). W3C Recommendation shall be used;

Compatibility with the legal provisions – The standardized format shall maintain all the requisites needed required by the Value Added Tax Act;

Flexibility – The used format shall create a possibility for attaining description of lots of kinds of invoices from various sectors in the economy. The electronic invoice itself consists of the following elements:

Title part (InvoiceHeader) – it contains information about number, date, type and so forth;

Data about the issuer (Biller) – all the requisites required by the law and supplementary not mandatory ones

Data about the recipient (Recipient) – all the requisites required by the law and supplementary ones which are not mandatory

Data about the delivery (Delivery) – the delivery may be described as place, date and so forth

Data about the supplier (Supplier) – data about the supplier when the biller and the supplier are different persons

References (OrderReference) – various kinds of references are also maintained to the elements enumerated hereinabove

Details (Details) – It is possible through the maintenance of structured and non-structured rows and types of columns to make the most complex descriptions of the delivery.

VAT and other fees (Tax) – it allows for detailed description of the fees due under the transaction

Payment (PaymentMethod) – it contains instructions how the invoice should be paid

Terms for payment and discounts (PaymentConditions) – Deadlines for payment, discounts and other financial conditions under the transaction may be described here.

Presentation (PresentationDetails) – information needed at the visualization of the invoice

No paper – The invoice prepared in conformity with the standard of eFaktura.bg and the technologies used for storage, movement and transformations allow the suppliers and the clients to use fully paperless methods for the preservation of the invoices which saves significant expenditures;

Storage – In eFaktura.bg the invoices shall be stored for a sufficiently long time period during which period the suppliers and the recipients are provided with a possibility to store locally the invoices with themselves, having a possibility to visualize them and print them out;

Electronic archives – The service of electronic depository of invoices shall also be rendered. The invoices shall be stored with the consolidаtor for the time period anticipated by the law, and the users of the system shall have permanent access to them;

Conversion and signing – Bankservice also offers local means for conversion of invoices from the formats used by the information systems of suppliers in the standard format of eFaktura. The signing of the invoice by a universal electronic signature shall be made along with the conversion as well;

Visualization – Bankservice also offers preparation of transformations (XSLT) for visualization and giving a kind of the electronic invoices specific for the supplier.