A Conversation on the Future State of Global E-invoicing

Welcome to Tax Matters, a Vertex podcast. I’m Rachel Litcofsky, Manager, Public Relations.

We’re pleased to welcome to Tax Matters Marcus Laube, Owner and CEO of Billentis,. 

Based in Frankfurt, Billentis is a leading consulting firm that specializes in e-invoicing and tax compliance. Marcus is an e-invoicing pioneer and thought leader who also serves as Secretary General of the Global Exchange Network Association. 

In this episode, Marcus and business writer Eric Krell discuss highlights from Billentis’ Global E-invoicing and Tax Compliance report. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the current and future state of global e-invoicing and related digital trade practices.

Marcus also talks about the leading e-invoicing compliance approaches, supporting tax automation and items that should be on tax leaders’ e-invoicing priority lists. 

Now, I’ll turn it over to Marcus and Eric.

Eric Krell: Marcus, thank you for speaking with me today. Before we dig into your research I’d like you to summarize the global state of e-invoicing requirements in 2025. What should indirect tax leaders including those who are less familiar with e-invoicing keep in mind? 
Marcus Laube: Well, thank you. Welcome, everybody. First of all, I think it’s important to notice that we’re talking about 560 billion invoices on a global level. Out of those 560 billion, only roughly 16% are truly paperless today. So, there’s still a huge amount of paper invoice that need to be covered and managed. Secondly, if we talk about the status quo in 2025, it’s also important to understand that there is a difference between electronic invoicing and e-reporting. Everybody is probably aware of these different e-reporting requirements coming up, but they’re not necessarily linked with mandatory electronic invoicing – even though that’s often the case. That’s a development we need to notice.

And finally, if we look at different regions, we certainly recognize differences. Where it all started when we talk about e-reporting is Latin America, with what we call a clearance system focusing on e-reporting, where you need to send an invoice to some central platform where the invoice is approved before being sent to a customer. Only after [those rules in Latin America] did development start in Europe where there is a focus on an initiative called ViDA -- VAT in the Digital Age. ViDA will influence the development in Europe for the next couple of years until 2030. And, briefly looking to Asia, you see a framework called PEPPOL, which is quite popular as it is used in different countries like Singapore, Malaysia…. Obviously, in the U.S. there’s no real framework in place… 

Eric Krell: The title of your global e-invoicing and tax compliance research report contains a warning. Watch out for the tornado. What is the e-invoicing tornado, Marcus? 
Marcus Laube: Actually, we borrowed that idea from a concept that was created by Geoffrey Moore. It describes the technology lifecycle -- saying that there is often poor adoption at the very beginning, followed by a peak before slowing down. He invented that concept of a tornado, which is the starting point of mass adoption, really. That’s actually where we think we are with the e-invoicing industry. What that means is that everybody’s looking for a solution, which places some challenges on both vendors and companies…

Eric Krell: I’m curious about companies that are a little bit further along on that tornado framework. What are some leading practices or maybe some emerging leading practices at this point? 
Marcus Laube: Well, there are different ways how to look at it. As I said, there are just a couple of companies that really started to look at it. This is about to come, and there’s a huge difference between large companies and smaller companies and SMEs. Currently, it is mainly the larger companies that have started the journey, while small companies tend to adopt [processes and solutions] closer to the mandates that are coming up. What is important to notice is that there is a difference between in-house development and outsourcing. Given all these changes and all these requirements, we strongly recommend to look at an outsourced solution and not to start any in-house development. That’s what we actually see many companies doing. And last but not least, it is also important for many companies to use this opportunity not only to become compliant, but to completely review their processes in terms of what we call “integrated digital trade.” So, no longer only about electronic invoicing but an activity that covers the whole process including procurement, financial processes and tax determination. We refer to that as  integrated digital trade, and this is what some companies currently do.

Eric Krell: I hear you mention several different parts of the business and different corporate function. When companies begin to think about e-invoicing and compliance, what are some of the biggest people process and/or technology adjustments that they need to focus on making? 
Marcus Laube: Yeah right. As you just said, it’s really a cross-functional exercise in a company when you introduce electronic invoicing. Different departments are affected -- not only the finance department. IT is obvious affected as is procurement and many more groups. One of the huge impacts that you need to be aware of that there are many different processes companies to look at. If we talk about e-reporting, it’s mainly about outbound invoicing, right? But at the same time, companies start to look at the inbound invoicing process. That’s just as relevant as the outbound processes even though it’s not always linked to e-reporting -- it’s also very important if you look at the possible cost-saving to the company [derived from e-invoicing processes]. You also need to do is to look at the different IT systems that are in place, so that they’re ready to transact with electronic documents. This involves looking at the different ERP systems you might have in place. Finally, beyond talking about challenges, there is a huge opportunity here. There are obviously a lot of savings related to the introduction of electronic invoicing. We’re generally talking roughly €10 to €20 (or about $10 to $20) per invoice, as a cost-savings when introduce [e-invoicing] processes.

Eric Krell: If you were an indirect tax leader what would be some of the highest priority items on your to do list as you prepared and started e-invoicing compliance? 
Marcus Laube: We believe the very first thing you need to do is to check the status quo in your company. Surprisingly, few people know, for example, about the number of invoices that their company processes or  even about existing solution that they have in place. This is especially the case when we look at multinational companies, where there might be smaller solutions in specific locations and countries. It’s important to really have a global view, a central view on those processes. …Once this is done, you probably will need to define priorities and a roadmap. Not everything can be done at once. Depending on your findings during the very first step, you might need to define a specific roadmap and define what to start with at the very beginning. And then, well, as we said, it’s a cross-functional exercise. You need to involve all your stakeholders from the very beginning as well because it’s also a change management process that you kick off with that process. Last but not least, a recommendation is look for an expert, look for a solution that really covers all the [e-invoicing] requirements that you will have in the future.

Eric Krell: On that note, Marcus, tell me a little bit about some of the technology solutions that companies are using to support e-invoicing and also tax compliance associated with e-invoicing? 
Marcus Laube: A I just mentioned, it is very important that you look for a solution that is using one single central platform to cover all your requirements because you might just start with one module, but you shouldn’t go down a one-way road where the solution is limited from the beginning. With all of the [policy and rule] changes that are coming, it’s important that you have all the possibilities with the technology that you choose. The flexibility you get is very important. Obviously it’s also a lot about ERP integration. You need to make sure [the e-invoicing solution] is integrated with your accounting system and maybe even other applications. And. same thing -- you need to have the flexibility to integrate with different systems. So, that should be part of the solution. And nowadays you probably cannot skip AI, which becomes more important every day. That’s an embedded technology that you may find in the most convenient solutions as well.

Eric Krell: I want to ask you to zoom back out to the regulatory landscape. What e-invoicing developments are you monitoring this year and even over the next 24 months? 
Marcus Laube: Well, that’s not an easy one. There really are so many changes coming up, it’s difficult to mention all of them during a podcast. Consider that there are roughly 30,000 changes in the global tax environment every year, and I would like mention a few countries that are now changing in 2025 and 2026.  If we start with Europe, obviously the largest markets have started to [mandate e-invoicing]. Germany started at the beginning of ‘25. France will follow in ‘26. There are also other countries like Estonia and Greece where there are ongoing changes. I mentioned at the very beginning , by 2030, almost every country in Europe will have e-reporting requirements and mandatory electronic invoicing…The same goes for Asia. Singapore and Malaysia have new requirements in ’25 and ’26 … and a lot of different countries will follow soon after. 

Eric Krell: Marcus, thank you very much for sharing your time and insights today. I really appreciate it. 
Marcus Laube: You’re welcome – thank you.

Rachel Litcofsky: Thank you for listening to Tax Matters, a Vertex podcast…Check back here for more episodes soon.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.