1) The document discusses e-invoicing and measures to guarantee the authenticity and integrity of invoices from the perspective of businesses. 2) It provides an overview of the Tax Executives Institute (TEI) and notes that while VAT makes up the visible part of an invoice, the commercial value submerged below is on average 5 times more important. 3) The chairman argues that converting from paper to e-invoices should not be an anti-fraud measure and that equal treatment between paper and e-invoices is needed for high adoption.

1. TEI – EMEA Chapter
Indirect Tax Committee
Measures guaranteeing integrity &
authenticity:
views from businesses
E-Invoicing conference
Madrid, April 28, 2010
Presenter:
Jean-Daniel Rouvinez
Chairman of the Indirect Tax Committee
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2. TEI – EMEA Chapter
Indirect Tax Committee
Ø About TEI:
• Tax Executives Institute (TEI) is the pre-eminent
professional organization of in-house Tax Professionals
• TEI was founded in 1944 in the USA.
• Today, the institute has nearly 7,000 members, aligned in
54 separate chapters
• EMEA Chapter was established in 1999 and has about 300
members out of which approximately 1/3 are focussing on
VAT
• Since 2005 members of the Indirect Tax Committee are
sharing on a regular basis experience on e-billing & e-
archiving projects and are involved in discussion and
expert forums
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3. TEI – EMEA Chapter
Indirect Tax Committee
Ø An invoice is like an Iceberg!
Ê VAT is the emerged part
VAT Ê Submerged part is, in average, 5 times more
important
Ê Tax authorities are rightly concerned by
fraud, so are genuine businesses - our risk
is 5 time bigger
Commercial
value Ê Conversion from paper to e-invoice should
not be an anti-fraud measure
Ê Equal treatment between paper and e-
invoice is a must, to guarantee a high
adoption rate
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4. TEI – EMEA Chapter
Indirect Tax Committee
Ø Authenticity & integrity of a paper invoice
Supplier Customer
Generation & Postal service PTP process
long term Transfer & long term
archiving archiving
No guarantee
Internal control during the transfer Internal control framework:
framework: itself, as cash in • agreements & orders
• agreements & orders transit (armoured • approval process,
• delivery documents vans, …)
• segregation of duty,
procedures are
• master data • master data,
not required…
• payments •…
•…
Most tax authorities
but no stamp, view EDI & AES as
signature, notary, technical measures
apostil , … to secure transfer
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5. TEI – EMEA Chapter
Indirect Tax Committee
Ø What next?
• Internal business controls are pre-eminent to guarantee
authenticity & integrity in a paper invoicing environment, so
should it be for e-invoices
• Member States can as of now modify they VAT law and
introduce the “other means” on top of EDI & AES and adopt a
broad definition of this concept
• Concrete implementation of the modification to the Invoicing
Directive by Member States to be carefully followed by the
Commission
• What is of real interest to businesses is the conversion from
paper to “structured invoice message” not to “Pdf”. Guidelines
and best practices in rooming scenarios are required.
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