Why is “digital e-tickets” the “medicine” for digital business?
As a key breakthrough in the construction of the fourth phase of the Golden Tax Project, the pilot promotion of fully digital electronic invoices (hereinafter referred to as "digital invoices") has covered the entire country, and the "Leqi Service" with a direct connection
applications in pilot areas, followed by the opening of invoicing pilots in Beijing, Hubei,
Hebei and other regions, will completely unveil the prelude to "counting electronic tickets".
The implementation of "digital electronic invoices" is not only the focus of the digital upgrade and intelligent transformation of tax supervision, but also an important starting point for the digital transformation of enterprises in scenarios such as invoice automation, financial compliance management, settlement collaboration, smart taxation, and supply chain management. , and even a "medicine primer" for building a digital business platform.
Why is “counting e-tickets” the medicine for digital business?
Below, I will gradually explain to you from four aspects: the situation of PEPPOL invoices, the relevant systems of "digital invoices", financial supply chain collaboration, and digital business platforms.
1. What is a PEPPOL invoice? how it works
PEPPOL is a secure international network HE Tuber through which enterprises can exchange critical business electronic documents with every organization registered as a PEPPOL network through the PEPPOL access point.
Hundreds of thousands of listed companies have accessed it. Although PEPPOL was developed as an EU standard, operators around the world can also adopt the standard, including companies in Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.
Currently, many countries have developed their own standards for electronic invoicing, and users must deal with different national standards when sending invoices to public sector customers.
However, in 2020, all public institutions in the EU are required by law to receive PEPPOL invoices, making it easier for all companies to trade in Europe.
In addition to sending and receiving invoices, connected companies can also use the standard to exchange electronic orders, order confirmations, cargo catalogs, shipping documents, and more.
The way it works is by establishing a connection to the PEPPOL network via a PEPPOL access point (a service purchased from a service provider), enabling the exchange of electronic documents with other companies linked to the access point.
It's like a telecom provider's service, when you want to call another person, you just dial the number and the telecom provider works with the telecom provider of the call recipient to establish the connection.
As of now, there are more than 300 certified access points around the world, which together form a secure global network that users can use to send (and receive) invoices and other electronic documents.
The process is as shown in the figure below:
Four-corner model of PEPPOL network
In addition, the PEPPOL network can also be integrated with the enterprise's ERP system. The enterprise only needs to create the invoice as usual, and then it can be sent to the right recipient in the right way.
It can be seen that with the continuous popularization of the EU PEPPOL standard, electronic transactions around the world will become easier.
2. Relevant norms and systems for “counting electronic tickets”
According to the promotion background of "digital electronic invoices" and the comparison with the functions of paper invoices and paper electronic invoices, in addition to strengthening the top-level design and improving the legal system related to electronic invoices, "digital electronic invoices" are obviously building a complete electronic invoice. Based on the invoice digital technical specifications, the invoice system has been reconstructed.
Establish a diversified electronic invoice application model and improve digital technology standards, including structured invoice elements, transmission and storage management standards, encryption authentication technology, digital platform construction, etc.
In addition, the "Tax Digital Account" is also a set of "digital ledgers" built by the tax bureau for enterprises, and has established a high-standard, strong and secure electronic invoice service platform to fully support applications such as "online instant issuance, total amount
control, and electronic delivery" .
In order to meet the needs of more users for issuing electronic invoices, standard interface specifications, data standards, identity authentication, etc. have also been released.
It is worth emphasizing that the goal of my country's electronic invoice construction is to realize the electronicization of all areas, all links, and all elements of invoices, and strive to reduce institutional transaction costs.
Therefore, compared with PEPPOL invoices, we must not only embed the electronic invoice system into the public procurement ecosystem, but also work together with multiple parties to establish a collaborative and co-governance situation for electronic invoices.
