The EU Council has adopted a new directive which sets out to ensure the acceptance by tax authorities of e–invoices under the same conditions as for paper invoices, and to remove legal obstacles to the transmission and storage of e–invoices.

Current EU provisions on VAT invoicing have led to a less-than-harmonised set of rules, on account of the many options that remain available to the member states. The aims of current provisions have therefore not been fully met.

Furthermore, compliance with regulatory require–ments has hindered the take-up of technologies that are necessary for the development of e–invoicing. The Commission estimates potential annual cost savings for businesses at up to €18 billion if obstacles to e–invoicing in VAT rules were to be removed.

While the Revenue Commissioners are considering the question of the retention of original documents and electronic storage systems, the current position is that original documents i.e. purchase invoices etc must be retained in paper form.

Full details of the Directive are available at http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ecofin/115789.pdf