The federal government has kicked off a consultation into the rollout of e-invoicing for Australian businesses.
The transition to e-invoicing aims to cut both red tape and running costs, according to a statement from Australia’s Assistant Treasurer, Michael Sukkar.
Acknowledging that more than 1.2 billion invoices are exchanged annually in Australia, Mr Sukkar flagged that almost 90 per cent of small and medium businesses still manually prepare and process paper-based invoices.
According to the estimates from Deloitte Access Economics, when an e-invoice replaces a paper invoice, the businesses involved could share savings of up to $20 per invoice.
“These reforms have the potential to deliver significant economic benefits for businesses and the wider Australian economy,” the minister said.
In kicking off the consultation, over 20 business leaders participated in roundtable discussions, including representatives from BHP, Bunnings, BOC Gas, Telstra and Origin Energy.
Major e-invoicing service providers MYOB, Xero, Intuit and SAP were also involved.
The federal government has also recently revealed that all Commonwealth government agencies must be able to receive e-invoices by 1 July 2022.
Large agencies will be required to be ready even earlier – by 1 July 2021.
The Morrison government expects that it will become common practice for businesses to be able to use e-invoicing when dealing with all three levels of government.
Public submissions for the consultation period into e-invoicing will close on 18 January 2021.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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