Compliance updates - Singapore

The Singaporean government has now announced plans to establish InvoiceNow as the sole means of issuing electronic invoices with all vendors providing goods and services to public sector recipients. InvoiceNow would effectively replace the vendors@gov portal over the next few years, further requiring solution providers to equip capabilities for issuing invoices via the new obligatory method.

The Accountant-General’s Department has already made clear that InvoiceNow is the preferred channel for e-invoice submission, but looking to the future, acknowledges that there are aspects to be introduced to optimize its use further.

The recognition of the importance of adapting invoice responses and purchase orders is also addressed by the initiative to promote InvoiceNow. For solution providers, it is recommended that the minimum capabilities be enabled:

*M – Mandatory, R – Recommended

While the timelines for complete conversion to InvoiceNow are not finalized, IMDA and AGD strongly recommend that entities acknowledge the upcoming changes' notifications. Stay tuned with Pagero as we monitor the upcoming timelines.

With the introduction of the new document types, such as Electronic Orders and Invoice Response, to be used via Peppol, Singapore enhances document flow and procurement efficiencies.

Learn how the new developments will benefit businesses in the latest news.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) issued a statement announcing that they are cooperating with the government agencies such as the Housing and Development Board (HDB), Jurong Group (JTC), and Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) to allow them to issue electronic invoices directly to corporate customers through InvoiceNow. The purpose of e-invoicing adoption by the government is to promote digital transformation and assist Singaporean companies in seizing opportunities in the digital economy.

According to IMDA, HDB, JTC, and MPA make up around 70% of the outbound invoices from the public sector in Singapore, meaning private businesses can now leverage e-invoicing not only by their outbound transaction with the government but also by their inbound flows.

Since January 2020, contracting authorities behind the state-owned Vendors@Gov platform have been able to receive Peppol e-invoices from their suppliers.

Businesses that still have not obtained the ability to receive e-invoices via the Peppol Network should follow the trend to automate and standardise the invoicing flows.

Pagero has been a Peppol accredited provider since the IMDA became a Peppol authority in 2018. In recent years, e-invoicing in Singapore has grown dramatically, with over 40 000 Singaporean businesses now connected to the Peppol Network for the electronic invoice exchange.

The announcement by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information (MCI) revealed that e-invoicing is a crucial step forward for Singapore’s businesses. Among other things, he said that “Without an invoice, businesses do not get paid. But invoicing can be very tedious and manual, with many inherent errors. E-invoicing can change that.”

What system is currently in place?

Since May 2008, Singapore has enforced e-invoicing for suppliers of government agencies (B2G). The introduction of mandated e-invoicing has been very successful in reducing the costs of processing governmental supplier invoices, as well as increasing the handling speed and accuracy. However, at present business-to-business (B2B) invoicing has multiple fragmented standards in operation with no mandate in place.

This may soon to change as the Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA), which oversees the development and regulation of info-communications in Singapore, will be co-operating with industry partners, government agencies and Singapore Business Federation to examine the various standards of e-invoicing that are currently implemented around the world.

The authority has indicated that the quintessential standard should fit both Singapore’s domestic requirements while having an international outlook. We anticipate that the IMDA will provide more details later this year.

From industry sources, PEPPOL is being considered as a very likely infrastructure and format to be implemented in Singapore. Pagero is closely following the developments of Singapore’s plan to develop e-invoicing and will continue to publish updates as their implementation plan is revealed.

What this means for Singapore’s businesses

Businesses in Singapore will need to prepare their systems to send and receive e-invoices in a structured format such as XML. A structured format is different from digitised invoices like PDF, Word, and scanned paper invoices, as it allows machines to automatically read the data into ERP and accounting software without the need for human interaction.

Potential benefits include:

• Faster payment cycles via improved integrity and authenticity of invoices
• Operating costs reduction
• Speeding up business transactions
• Minimising disputes and error reduction

More information can be found on the Ministry of Communications and Information’s factsheet.

Pagero Online

Pagero is following Singapore’s developments closely. We will stand ready to support businesses of any size. Our platform already provides connectivity with many of the most common standards adopted around the world including PEPPOL. The solutions offered by Pagero support both domestic and cross-border e-document exchange regardless of the software you use, the processes you apply or the size of your company. We help our customers maintain compliance around the globe.