Digital invoice or electronic invoice?

Do you know the benefits of a digital invoice for your business? Are you curious about the different forms of a digital invoice? And do you want to work more efficiently by making optimal use of the digital invoice? Then read this blog.

In this article:

• What is a digital invoice?
• The scanned paper invoice
• Digital invoice saved as a Word, PDF or Excel file
• The e-invoice or UBL invoice
• Switching to the digital invoice

What is a digital invoice?

A digital invoice is an invoice that can be read digitally and processed in your financial administration. You can divide the digital invoice into three types, namely a scanned paper invoice, a digital invoice in PDF or Word format and the electronic invoice or e-invoice.

In this article we explain the different forms of the digital invoice and what the advantages and disadvantages are.

The scanned paper invoice

You receive and send the paper invoice (often) by post. On receipt these invoices are digitised, by means of a scanner or with a mobile app. Scanning invoices can take a lot of time and it is often not a very pleasant job to do. This can of course be done much more easily.

+ No advantages

– More manual actions because the invoices have to be scanned

– Costs for sending a paper invoice

– Greater risk of losing the invoice

Digital invoice saved as a Word, PDF or Excel file

Processing and sending invoices can already be improved considerably if you receive and send the invoices digitally in the form of a Word, PDF or Excel file. Most companies already offer this and welcome it too. The big difference with the paper invoice is that you no longer have to scan this invoice manually. This saves a time-consuming and dull job!

+ Invoices do not have to be scanned

+ Invoices are largely recognised by the software

+ Sending invoices digitally takes less time

– Not all invoices can be recognised 100% by the invoice processing software

Did you know

Did you know that invoices must be kept in the form in which you received them? This means that you must also keep all digital invoices digitally. Fortunately, invoice processing software offers an online archive, where you can easily store these invoices automatically. These invoices must then be kept for 7 years.

The e-invoice or UBL invoice

An e-invoice, also called an electronic invoice, is a specific form of digital invoicing. However, it is fundamentally different from the digital invoice mentioned earlier. The big difference lies mainly in the way of processing and the file format.

A digital invoice saved as a PDF file can be read by us humans on a digital device. It is actually no different from a scanned paper invoice.

The e-invoice is not made for people, but written in computer language. This computer language is also called UBL, or Universal Business Language. The invoice is saved as a so-called XML file and thereby becomes an e-invoice.

Companies often send both file formats, so a PDF and an XML file. This allows both humans and computers to read the invoice. Because the e-invoice is written for the computer, hardly any manual actions are needed. Actually the invoices only need to be approved. This makes it possible to process these invoices 100% automatically.

+ It is possible to recognise and process 100% of the invoice automatically

– Not all companies are ready to send and receive the e-invoice

The government advises using the PEPPOL network for the automated exchange of e-invoices. In the Netherlands this is called Simplerinvoicing. Below is a video explaining how this works:

Please note!

Are you a supplier to the Dutch central government (Rijksoverheid)? Then you are even required to invoice electronically if you have concluded a purchase contract after 1 January 2017.

Switching to the digital invoice

Curious about the possibilities of sending and receiving the digital invoice and e-invoice for your business? And would you like to stop time-consuming activities with lots of manual actions, when all of this can be done automatically?

For the processing of incoming invoices, see the comparison of invoice processing software. And for sending digital invoices and e-invoices, see the comparison of invoicing software.

Please note: it is common for invoicing software to be integrated in, for example, accounting software or project management software. We have also listed the best software for this.

Would you like help finding a suitable software system? Then start the software selection tool with the “start software selection” button below, select the software features relevant to your business and find the software that suits your business.

If you still can't work it out, please contact us or call us, we will gladly help you find the right business software for your business.