Firms can now receive e-invoices from govt agencies via InvoiceNow
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Kenny Chee
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Businesses can now receive electronic invoices from the Government through nationwide network InvoiceNow - a move that can help them cut processing time and costs.
The Housing Board, JTC Corporation and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) are the first public agencies to tap the platform to bill companies, such as for permit and licence applications.
About 70 per cent of invoices issued by the public sector come from these three organisations. Every month, their 25,000 business customers receive more than 49,000 invoices.
More public agencies are expected to use the network later.
Since January last year, government agencies have been able to receive e-invoices from businesses through InvoiceNow, which the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) launched in 2019.
Announcing the move for HDB, JTC and MPA yesterday, IMDA said this is part of the Government's efforts to drive transformation and help companies seize opportunities in the digital economy.
InvoiceNow allows businesses to issue e-invoices to other organisations on the network here and transact more cheaply.
It is part of a global e-invoicing network that covers more than 400,000 companies.
A 2018 study commissioned by IMDA found that e-invoicing cut the amount of time and effort needed to re-key data into company systems, with savings of up to $8 per invoice processed.
The authority noted faster processing times when businesses sent their own e-invoices. This also reduced their carbon footprint, as paper invoices were no longer used.
These e-invoices use a standardised digital format and do away with existing digitised invoices, such as scanned invoices, which require human input to process.
The update on InvoiceNow comes as Covid-19 prompts more people and companies to go digital. The Government said in February that the volume of money transacted through the PayNow instant fund transfer service hit $5 billion last December, double the amount from a year ago.
Since its launch, InvoiceNow has added more companies. In March last year, there were 1,000. This jumped to about 25,000 in September last year, and now there are more than 40,000.
Still, only about 10 per cent of the 25,000 business customers of JTC, HDB and MPA are on the network.
Freight services and logistics company Royal Pacific said that with MPA issuing e-invoices such as for daily port charges, it is easier to find the invoices online instead of searching physical files.
The company has also cut invoice processing time by about 50 per cent with e-invoices.
"Especially with the additional stress from Covid-19, e-invoicing has helped tremendously to reduce the pressure from trying to meet daily accounting deadlines," said its director Yoga Widarmoko.
