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Go Green, Get Efficient with SQL Account’s E-Invoicing!
Embrace the power of InvoiceNow
for cost-effective, fast, and eco-friendly invoicing.
Seamlessly integrated via PEPPOL for all your transactions, local and international.
Upgrade to smarter financial management!
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Enhance your invoicing experience with InvoiceNow! Utilizing the Nationwide E-delivery network and Peppol standards, we provide a smooth, digital pathway for transferring invoices between finance systems. With InvoiceNow, effortlessly convert your invoices into E-payments like Paynow, taking your financial management to new heights.
Save Time with SQL Account E-Invoicing (InvoiceNow)
Make your invoicing process faster and simpler with SQL Account E-Invoicing (InvoiceNow). Say goodbye to the lengthy 60-day invoice sales of the past. Our InvoiceNow solution streamlines this process, saving you significant time and enhancing your business efficiency. It’s a straightforward, efficient way to manage your invoices, freeing up more time for you to focus on growing your business.
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SQL Account E-Invoicing (InvoiceNow) FAQ
General Questions
- 1. What is InvoiceNow?
- 2. I am already using PDF E-Invoice, why is InvoiceNow different?
- 3. Is InvoiceNow a form of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) e-invoice?
- 4. What is Peppol?
- 5. Is InvoiceNow e-invoicing different from Peppol e-invoicing?
- 6. How are the banks involved in InvoiceNow?
- 7. What is IMDA's role in the network?
- 8. Are consumer invoices covered under InvoiceNow?
- 9. How can I get InvoiceNow and connect to the Nationwide E-delivery network?
- 10. How will InvoiceNow work with other Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) solutions?
- 11. Should I replace my Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) solutions?
InvoiceNow to Government
- 12. Do I have to be on the Peppol network in order to issue InvoiceNow invoices to the Government through the Peppol network?
https://www.vendors.gov.sg/doc/Guide-E-invoice_Submission_via_InvoiceNow.pdf?ver=1.2
- 13. Does InvoiceNow E-Invoice meet the requirements of a tax invoice for Goods and Services Tax (GST) purposes?
To comply with the record keeping requirement under the relevant Tax Acts, businesses will have to ensure that proper internal controls are put in place within their e-invoicing/accounting systems to ensure the integrity, completeness, accuracy, availability, and reliability of the electronic records, including all transactions executed electronically, where applicable. For more information about record keeping requirements, please refer to the following e-Tax Guides on IRAS website to find out more:
Cost and Benefits to Organisations
- 14. How can InvoiceNow E-Invoicing help save cost?
- Faster payment of Invoices due to simplification of Invoice to Payment processes. Several banks are working on solutions that allow users to directly flip an InvoiceNow E-Invoice to an E-Payment.
- Reduction of tedious and time consuming manual processes (estimated $8 per invoice according to a study commissioned by IMDA).
- Reduction of errors and rectification costs (estimated to affect 3% of paper invoices and costing as much as S$72 to rectify, according to a study commissioned by IMDA).
- Reduction of storage, retrieval and delivery costs.
- 15. How is the government helping end-user companies? How does this actually benefit them?
- 16. If my supplier and/or client is not on the network, will I still enjoy the benefits?
- 17. Is there a monetary benefit for end-user companies coming on board? Or are there only non-monetary benefits such as faster payments?
- 18. What benefits are there for InvoiceNow e-invoicing?
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Faster payment cycles
InvoiceNow Invoices are more efficiently being sent out in suppliers' systems and then received, captured and processed more quickly at buyers’ systems, thus speeding up payment. Faster payment as a result of faster processing. Delay in payment is a major concern of SMEs (SPRING 2017 business survey). A US Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in 2017 showed 45% of paper invoices were paid on time compared to ~92% of e-invoices. -
Cost reduction
Research have indicated that senders of e-invoices can save about 59% and recipients can save 64% compared to using paper-based processes. Contributing cost factors could be storage and retrieval of hard copy invoices. -
Improve efficiency
i. Paper and PDF invoices require finance or accounting staff on both sides to key and rekey data into electronic systems. This process of data entry leads to human error. Error-prone manual process is avoided with e-invoicing.
ii. Businesses can skip labour-intensive steps such as verifying information, rectifying errors and resolving conflicts.
iii. Process are more streamlined -
Reduced Complexity
Just as PayNow is a UEN-based e-payment, InvoiceNow is also a UEN-based e-invoicing, by using the same underlying UEN, Invoice to payment processing can be further simplified. -
Transact internationally
When other businesses are in the network, sending e-invoices to overseas partner is seamless.
- 19. Is there a charge for InvoiceNow einvoices? Won't this add costs to a business?
For businesses who require value-added services (e.g. translating the PDF invoice into the InvoiceNow Peppol format), APs and/o SP’s may charge additional fees. The overall savings by moving to e-invoicing is expected to exceed the costs, irrespective of size of businesses.
How Do I Get Connected?
- 20. How long does the process of getting connected take?
- 21. I am interested in InvoiceNow e-invoice and would like to know how do I get connected
- If you are using a service provider's Accounting/ERP solution, check that they are certified as a Peppol Ready solution (meaning that they are already connected to Peppol). If so certified, find out from them how to sign up and use.
- Alternatively, you can check with your banking provider if they can assist with a solution offering.
- If you have your own financial system, engage with an approved Access Point (AP) operator who will be able to help you connect your system. The list of approved Access Point operators can be found from IMDA website www.imda.gov.sg/einvoice (see under ‘Access Point and Solution Providers’)
- Once you have your solution established, register and get your Peppol business identity (typically done by your AP)
- Learn how send and receive Peppol e-invoices using your solution.
- Update all Purchase Order documents with your Peppol business identity for invoicing
- Announce that you are E-invoicing ready to all your business partners and suppliers
- 22. What are the available technical support for implementing e-invoicing?
- 23. Will this be integrated to accounting systems?
- 24. Are there any other countries which has adopted E-Invoicing?
- 25. Can I send and receive InvoiceNow invoices cross border? How will this impact my business with overseas customers?
- 26. Are my suppliers and partners on the network?
- 27. Are there any briefings on InvoiceNow?
Network Security
- 28. Is the InvoiceNow network secure?
Secondly, all data being transmitted on the network is protected with SSL transport layer security such that it only goes through securely encrypted pipes.
Thirdly, the data being transmitted is signed using the Access Points Service Provider (AP) authorised PKI certificate to ensure that the data is genuine and non-repudiable.
Lastly, any receiving Access point will check the signature of the sending Access point service provider to ensure that it is as per the authorised one registered on the network and only accept data sent by genuine Access Points.
- 29. Will I able to recall an e-invoice after sending it? What should I do if I need to recall an e-invoice?
In order to cancel the incorrect invoice, we recommend the supplier to send out a credit note with reference to the wrongly sent invoice to cancel the incorrect data elements.
Alternatively, the supplier can instruct the e-invoice recipient to discard the received incorrect e-invoice and re-send a fresh one.
To minimise such issues, the sender could try saving the invoice as draft and review the details before finalising and sending out to the customer.
- 30. Will the government be able to see the details of my invoices?
The routing of e-invoices through the network is on a direct peer to peer basis between the sending and receiving Access Point providers.
SGNIC maintains a central directory of businesses on the network which is necessary for Access Points to know which AP to route destination e-invoices to. (similar to how SGNIC maintains the DNS addresses of Singapore registered domains, such that any URL typed on a browser lands on a destination webpage).