"We carried out a survey among our member companies between 24 January and 4 February, and 54% of the 460 participants replied that they did not know the law. And almost 50% of respondents said they did not use any software or a simple word processor or spreadsheet (Word, Excel, etc.) to send their invoices,” explained , director general of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, on Tuesday 15 March, at the end of the "E-Invoicing: meeting experts from the field” event.
On 18 December, a new law amending the law of 16 May 2019 and making electronic invoicing compulsory in the context of public contracts came into force.
In concrete terms, large businesses--with a turnover of more than €40m and more than 250 employees--must be in compliance by 18 May 2022. Medium-sized businesses--with a turnover between €8.8m and €40m, and between 50 and 250 employees--have until 18 October 2022, and small or newly created businesses--with a turnover under €8.8m and between 1 and 50 employees--have until 18 March 2023.
A dedicated "Fit 4 Digital Package”
"98% of companies in the country have fewer than 50 employees," explains , COO and director of entrepreneurship at the Chamber of Commerce. "And some of them don't even have their own website, so we're really going to provide extensive support for all companies.” The Chamber of Commerce will develop a series of dedicated services, including specific training courses offered by the House of Training. The House of Entrepreneurship has set up a specific council to help entrepreneurs and guide them in the implementation of their electronic invoicing tool.
The Directorate General for the Middle Classes will set up a "Fit 4 Digital Package" dedicated to e-invoicing. This package is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises and applies to both the public (B2G) and private (B2B) markets. "Digitalisation is a real source of growth, regardless of the size of a company,” said the minister for small and medium-sized enterprises, (DP) on Tuesday.
"New technologies can reduce costs, increase visibility and ultimately increase competitiveness. In this context, mandatory electronic invoicing is an important step towards digitalisation and administrative simplification,” Carlo Thelen confirms. "SMEs that integrate digital technologies into their strategy can grow up to three times more than those that do not,” he added. Luxembourg is not ahead of the game, as many countries such as Norway, France and Italy have already made electronic invoicing compulsory in the context of B2G.
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.