By the end of 2019, both Australia and New Zealand had announced the adoption of the PEPPOL standards for e-invoicing practices.
The announcement was confirmed by the Australian and New Zealand prime ministers: Scott Morrison and Jacinda Ardern.
They both announced the government’s conclusion in terms of using the PEPPOL set of components to supervise and dictate the e-invoicing practices. This is done by both countries’ governments to create tangible chances for the businesses in the country to connect with the other parties across the globe. In other words, it will also open the opportunity for business in every industry to integrate with the global trading ecosystem.
Back in mid-2019, both Australian governments announced their intention to finalize the membership of PEPPOL. As estimated by the experts, this would make it possible for the businesses to get access to peppol network by the end of the 2019 year.
The new set of international standards will improve the integration and cooperation in e-procurement. The peppol go has been more common in Australia than before. It is only a matter of time until all the small to mid businesses are adopting the same standards to spread their wings to the international markets.
Besides the e-invoicing, the peppol Australia can also revolve around the e-orders and other message types. It is sensible to take the unbeatable benefits to standardize the implementations of e-procurement. Therefore, it can minimize the risks of errors in the B2B trading activities.
What is peppol?
It is important to understand that peppol services are not e-procurement. Rather, it is a set of aspects and standards which rule the international scale e-procurement.
If we are to analogize it with an international language like English, we can think of PEPPOL as an international language. Back then, people in different countries were difficult to trade because of the language barriers. Therefore, English came up as an international language. It is a set of standards that every merchant on earth would apply to conduct cross-border procurement.
Now, let’s get back to the peppol network. Each business might have different procurement software. In each software, there can be differences in the language.
When the business exchanges the information with their partners, there’s a risk of misunderstanding or error simply because the particular software does not understand the language. Here is where the peppol Australia enter to help.
Peppol is not a facility but rather a set of standards. Here, businesses will implement these standards in order to ease the exchange services.
With the help of these components, the members can reach the level of interoperability between different systems.
The standardized documents which are exchanged in the peppol network are e-invoices, logistics freight, orders, catalogues, agreements, and so on.
To join with the network, the members (businesses or entities) could join to a peppol access point. Let’s say it as AP. The AP links the users with the network where they can exchange the files based on the mentioned standardized rules.
Both the providers and clients will have the freedom to pick their own AP to link to the network. All in all, they will be able to interact with each other after using the AP service.
There are three main bases that we need to understand about peppol go:
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The Network
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The document specifications
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The framework
All of these pillars have their own name. The network is called Peppol eDelivery Network. The document regulations are cited as Peppol Business Interoperability Specifications or BIS.
Last but not least, the framework, which is called Peppol Transport Infrastructure Agreements or TIA.
Implementation of e-invoicing and peppol services
In Australia, the government has announced that they adopted the peppol services and framework for e-invoicing.
Currently, there are 39 countries that are using the particular framework to conduct seamless interoperability between companies across the globe. Australia has been a part of the network rooting for successful international trade.
This decision has led to the wide array of international trading opportunities that are open for many Australian businesses. The good news is that the businesses in many sectors will have the same occurrences to reap the benefits of this set of specifications.
The Peppol Authorities in Australia are projecting around the clock to manage and maintain the local requirements. They are also responsible for managing the participants of the peppol network in the respective country.
The supervisors also have a range of tasks as follows:
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Support the implementation of peppol framework
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Maintain the members in the peppol network
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Support the peppol services providers in accreditation and quality controls
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Supervising and monitoring the adherence
For providers who want to provide access points for the set of standards, ones will need to register for OpenPeppol membership. Consider visiting the official site to register as a provider.
A push for peppol services in Australia
The authority which handles the peppol Australia is The Australian Taxation Office. There are also other government agencies who have the authority to supervise and monitor the businesses compliances with the practices.
There have been significant benefits due to the push for mandatory e-procurement in the country. As reported by the research experts, the highlighted advantage is productivity. And the runner-up noticed the benefit is for tax compliance purposes.
The rooms for improvement might still be there. But the governments have proceeded with the e-invoicing obligations for many businesses in Australia. The speed of reporting can be a huge challenge here since there are a lot of businesses that need to educate themselves in order to be tax compliant.
Rather than improving the acceleration of the reports, it is imperative that the businesses ensure that they are fetching the right and accurate data. The data errors can make the concerned parties work twice and increase the expenses.
The challenges in other countries look similar to what happened in Australia. Many governments around the world are also using technology to improve productivity without setting aside tax collection and compliance.