E-invoice and operators

In Finland, E-invoices account for 75% of all invoices issues. In Estonia however, only 3% of organizations are able to issue and receive e-invoices.

Why do we need operators to issue e-invoices?

• To convert e-invoices into other formats or forms. For example – when you are issued an invoice by a Finnish company, the format might differ from that used in Estonia. In that case, operators will convert the invoice into a format acceptable in Estonia before forwarding it to you. Operators are also used to convert invoices into your desired format, be it e-invoice, pdf or in paper form. Simply put – if you receive a paper invoice, but would like to receive it as an e-invoice, the operator will take care of that. Operators are responsible for delivering you invoices in your desired shape and form.
• Operators make issuing e-invoices more secure. Thanks to operators, accounting software providers have a designated partner from whom they can accept e-invoices from.
• Cost savings: for accounting software providers it is easier to integrate with one operator instead of building individual integrations with all providers.
• Operators also handle transferring e-invoices into online banks (for example invoices from your telecoms operator.)

What’s an e-invoice?

An e-invoice is a machine-readable invoice. When the e-invoice reaches your accounting software platform, it already contains all the necessary information in an already acceptable form. According to a standard established by the Estonian Bank Union, a compliant e-invoice also carries its picture in PDF form.

This is what an e-invoice looks like:

Who offer e-invoice operator services in Estonia?

In Estonia, operator services are offered by Telema, Omniva, Fitek and e-RIK. Information on whether the organisation can accept e-invoices and which operator they use is availble on rik.ee (use search to find the company and click on its name). Each organisation can only have a valid contract with one operator, but operators exchange e-invoices among themselves.

Issuing e-invoices via an operator looks like this:

To conclude – go ahead and sign up to benefit from using e-invoices and let us beat Finland in this race!