What are the most common e-invoicing formats and standards?

EDIFACT - Used internationally, particularly in Europe, for electronic data interchange. UBL (Universal Business Language) 2.0 - Developed by OASIS, UBL is widely used and includes standards for various business documents in addition to invoices. ZUGFeRD - A format popular in Germany that combines PDF and XML data for invoices. FacturaE - The mandatory standard in Spain for invoicing within the public sector. PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 - Used by the PEPPOL network for cross-border transactions within Europe. eFFF (Electronic Flexible File Format) - Used in Belgium, accommodating various business document types. Svefaktura - Used in Sweden, particularly for transactions involving the public sector. FatturaPA - The standard format for electronic invoices in Italy, specifically for public administration transactions. ANSI X12 - A standard widely used in North America for EDI transactions, including invoicing.

What are the benefits of using IDP for processing e-invoices?

Processing e-invoices with IDP can bring many benefits to businesses, such as: Providing a unified process for hybrid invoice streams (electronic, PDF, paper). Reducing manual labor and errors, by automating the data capture and extraction from all types of invoices in one single workflow, regardless of their format and layout. Improving compliance and security, by ensuring that the e-invoices are validated against the relevant rules and agreements. Normalizing data from invoices of different types (PDF, paper, electronic) and different e-invoice standards (ZUGFeRD / Factur-X, XRechnung, FatturaPA, FacturaE, Svefaktura, UBL, PEPPOL BIS Billing etc.) for seamless integration into downstream systems such as ERP.

Electronic invoices

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What is e-invoicing?

Electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) is a digital way of sending and receiving invoices between suppliers and buyers. Unlike PDF or paper invoices, e-invoices are structured data files (usually in XML format) that can be automatically processed by software systems.

Many countries around the world are adopting e-invoicing to reduce tax fraud, improve efficiency, and promote sustainability. In the European Union, e-invoicing is mandatory for public sector transactions, and some countries have extended this requirement to the private sector as well. Businesses that deal with cross-border trade need to comply with different e-invoicing regulations in each market and a multitude of standards such as ZUGFeRD / Factur-X, XRechnung, FatturaPA, FacturaE, Svefaktura, UBL (Universal Business Language), and PEPPOL BIS Billing.

Integrating e-invoices into AP automation

By integrating e-invoicing into AP automation, businesses can benefit from faster and more accurate invoice processing, lower operational costs, higher compliance and security, and better cash flow management. ABBYY's purpose-built intelligent document processing (IDP) solutions enable businesses to handle any type of invoice, whether electronic, paper, or PDF, within one single platform. ABBYY IDP leverages artificial intelligence to extract, normalize, and validate data from invoices, and seamlessly integrate with ERP systems via API.

With ABBYY IDP, businesses can easily adhere to obligations to accept and process electronic invoices while remaining equipped to handle the complexity of international trade.

Efficient invoice processing in a unified workflow

Streamlined invoice processing

Process all incoming invoices—electronic, paper, or PDF—and normalize data for downstream ERP systems in one single flow.

AI-based AP automation

Achieve high rates of touchless invoice processing thanks to purpose-built AI models, optimized to process any invoice, any format, any language.

Compliance with e-invoicing mandates

Adhere to imposed obligations for accepting electronic invoices alongside “traditional” invoice formats such as paper and PDF.

Easy connection to your business ecosystem

Ingest invoices from your preferred input channel. Feed extracted data seamlessly into your preferred ERP via simple API.

Processing e-invoices with purpose-built AI

Whether you receive electronic, paper, or PDF invoices from your diverse and global business partners, you can easily integrate them into your existing invoice processing workflows with ABBYY IDP. Our pre-built AI models automatically detect and parse data from any invoice format, including XML, PDF, or a combination of both. No need to worry about different standards or formats, ABBYY IDP handles them all with accuracy and speed.

ABBYY IDP can ingest invoices from any source, such as email, paper, file share repositories, SFTP / FTP, or API. You can also connect with e-invoicing, supply chain finance, and spend management platforms to receive and process electronic invoices. ABBYY IDP simplifies the ingestion process and ensures you don't miss any invoice data.

With ABBYY IDP, you can easily comply with the various e-invoicing standards and regulations that apply to your international trade. Out of the box, ABBYY IDP supports the most common e-invoicing standards, such as ZUGFeRD / Factur-X (Germany and France), XRechnung (Germany), FatturaPA (Italy), FacturaE (Spain), Svefaktura (Sweden), UBL (Universal Business Language), and PEPPOL BIS Billing.

Advanced users of ABBYY IDP can parse data from additional e-invoicing formats that are not supported by the system out of the box.

ABBYY IDP not only extracts data from electronic invoices (as well as PDF and paper invoices), but also validates it against your business rules to ensure data quality and accuracy. ABBYY IDP checks for required information, matches purchase orders with invoice line items, verifies vendors against a list of pre-approved ones, validates tax amounts, total amounts, quantities, and more. This reduces the need for human intervention and increases the rates of touchless invoice processing.

If any exceptions are flagged by the model’s data validation, they can be routed to a human operator for manual verification. The operator can view the invoice data in the XML form, compare it with its visual representation in PDF format (if available), and correct the extracted data if needed.

After the data is extracted and validated, it can be exported to your ERP system for further processing. ABBYY IDP also allows you to export and archive the electronic invoices in their original format.

Boost efficiency with ready-to-use AI extraction models

How does e-invoice processing work?

Ingest invoices
Extract and validate data
Export to ERP

Ingest invoices

Electronic invoices can be received and ingested into the ABBYY intelligent document processing (IDP) solution through various channels—API, email, file share—depending on the size of an organization, type of supplier, or use of third-party spend management platforms or e-invoicing platforms.

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Article: A Guide to E-invoicing in Accounts Payable

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Article: A Guide to E-invoicing in Accounts Payable

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Learn more about Accounts Payable automation with ABBYY

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FAQ

Electronic Invoicing (e-invoicing) is the digital exchange of invoices that follow a structured, machine-readable data format (such as JSON or XML) and can be automatically imported into the buyer’s ERP system without manual data keying.

Per definition, the main goal of an e-invoice is the automated import into the AP system. A visual representation of the data in a human-readable format (such as PDF) is, while possible, secondary, not obligatory, and not considered part of the invoice.

EDIFACT - Used internationally, particularly in Europe, for electronic data interchange.
UBL (Universal Business Language) 2.0 - Developed by OASIS, UBL is widely used and includes standards for various business documents in addition to invoices.
ZUGFeRD - A format popular in Germany that combines PDF and XML data for invoices.
FacturaE - The mandatory standard in Spain for invoicing within the public sector.
PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 - Used by the PEPPOL network for cross-border transactions within Europe.
eFFF (Electronic Flexible File Format) - Used in Belgium, accommodating various business document types.
Svefaktura - Used in Sweden, particularly for transactions involving the public sector.
FatturaPA - The standard format for electronic invoices in Italy, specifically for public administration transactions.
ANSI X12 - A standard widely used in North America for EDI transactions, including invoicing.

ABBYY IDP is a cloud-based platform that enables intelligent document processing (IDP) for various types of documents, including invoices. ABBYY IDP can capture, classify, extract, and validate data from e-invoices, as well as other input formats such as email, paper, or PDF. ABBYY IDP can also integrate with ERP systems via API and provide human-in-the-loop (HITL) verification for exceptional cases. ABBYY IDP helps businesses streamline their e-invoicing workflows and achieve higher automation and accuracy levels.

The adoption of e-invoicing varies depending on the country and the industry of the business. Some countries, such as Italy, Spain, and Brazil, have made e-invoicing mandatory for all or some sectors, as a way to combat tax fraud and increase efficiency. Other countries, such as the US and the UK, have not imposed any legal requirements for e-invoicing, but many businesses choose to use it as a best practice, to gain a competitive edge and to meet the expectations of their customers and suppliers.

Processing e-invoices with IDP can bring many benefits to businesses, such as:

Providing a unified process for hybrid invoice streams (electronic, PDF, paper).
Reducing manual labor and errors, by automating the data capture and extraction from all types of invoices in one single workflow, regardless of their format and layout.
Improving compliance and security, by ensuring that the e-invoices are validated against the relevant rules and agreements.
Normalizing data from invoices of different types (PDF, paper, electronic) and different e-invoice standards (ZUGFeRD / Factur-X, XRechnung, FatturaPA, FacturaE, Svefaktura, UBL, PEPPOL BIS Billing etc.) for seamless integration into downstream systems such as ERP.

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