Invoicing the state
The state only receives e-invoices. Electronic invoicing is a prerequisite for the automation of financial administration.
From April 1 2021, the state will only receive invoices in accordance with the European standard.
The state will only receive e-invoices compliant with the European standard. Invoices compliant with the European standard have a higher quality. This means that the processing of invoices is faster, which benefits both invoicers and invoice recipients. Further information on the requirements regarding the content and transmission of the invoice are available on the tabs Application instructions for public administration and instructions EN16931 as well as Minimum information content on an invoice.
The state will not receive invoices attached to an email, as this is not an electronic invoice.
In matters concerning individual invoices, you will receive instructions from the organisation you wish to invoice.
Up-to-date electronic invoicing details of government agencies are available in the Electronic invoicing address list Verkkolaskuosoitteisto.
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What is an electronic invoice?
An electronic invoice is a machine-readable invoice sent directly to a financial administration software or online bank. In other words, you always need a suitable service to process an electronic invoice.
Electronic invoicing is a quick, easy and secure way to forward the invoice to the customer. Electronic invoicing contributes to up-to-date and automated financial administration. Automating your financial administration helps you to streamline the company's financial processes, improve data quality, reduce the number of errors, and eliminate burdensome manual work.
The state only receives e-invoices. You can also send attachments with your e-invoices. All invoices must have sufficient and correct information in order for the invoices to be processed automatically. The required invoice content can be found on tab Minimum information content on an invoice.
Note! Invoices sent in pdf or image formats attached to an email are not electronic invoices.
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Entrepreneur, follow these instructions to send electronic invoices
If your company already has financial administration software, such as
- enterprise resource planning system (ERP)
- accounting firm’s software
- invoicing software
Ask your service provider if you can process electronic invoices in your software. Follow the instructions provided by the service provider on how to introduce the service.
If the company does not have an appropriate software for electronic invoicing
You can introduce your own invoicing program or use the service provided by the buyer.
Method 1. Introduce a software to suit your business needs. There are several options:
- Find out if there is an enterprise resource planning system (ERP) available that is suitable for your industry and operations, where you could also process e-invoices
- Find out if your prospective accounting firm offers an invoicing software that fits your business needs
- Other invoicing software that suits your needs
Detailed information is available in the electronic invoicing checklist further down on this page.
Method 2. Use the electronic invoicing portal provided by the buyer to send an electronic invoice
- Some organisations provide their suppliers with an electronic invoicing portal where you can register and send electronic invoices directly to that organisation. These supplier portals are mainly offered by large organisations.
- For example, the state provides a portal for its suppliers: E-voicing solutions and links to invoicing portals
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E-invoicing solutions and links to invoicing portals
Finnish government agencies accept only electronic invoices, and government agencies are also prepared to send them. Electronic invoicing is a prerequisite for financial administration automation. If your service provider has an agreement with Posti Messaging Oy on sending electronic invoices, you can send the invoices to Finnish government agencies via Posti Messaging. It is also possible to send the invoices to government agencies using the Peppol network. If you are not able to send the electronic invoice through the above channels, you can create an electronic invoice free of charge using Handi Supplier Portal or Basware Supplier Portal.
Suppliers of the Finnish Defence Forces use the Apix Messaging Oy invoicing portal. Any questions related to the invoicing portal used by the Finnish Defence Forces can be directed to ostolaskut.pvpalvk(at)mil.fi.
Handi Supplier Portal
If you do not yet have an e-billing system, you can use the Finnish Government’s e-billing service Handi to produce and send invoices. To start using the Handi portal, you must contact the agency contact person or purchaser and provide them with an e-mail address, where the invitation to the portal is to be sent. In the future, this e-mail address serves as your system administrator ID, which you can use to create new user IDs in the portal. The agency that you are about to send an invoice to, will create a supplier invitation to the Handi service.The Finnish Government Shared Services Centre for Finance and HR (hereinafter referred to as Palkeet) performs a technical check-up before the invitation is sent. You will receive a login link and further information on the supplier portal via e-mail. If you have never supplied anything to central government agencies before, we will be asking for your company information in connection with registration. Please fill in this information and submit it to Palkeet. You will be given the final link to the supplier portal once Palkeet has saved your supplier details into the financial control system.
Handi Supplier Portal support
Help with implementing and using the Handi Supplier Portal is available at the Palkeet Handi service team:- telephone: +358 2955 64060 (service hours Mon to Fri 9.00-15, Finnish time)
- email: handitoimittajapalvelu(at)palkeet.fi
- further information on the Handi supplier portal is also available on the Handi service for suppliers page of the Palkeet website
NB! Supplies who have already registered for the Handi Supplier Portal can log into the Handi portal through the link below. New supplies must always first contact the government agency client contact person or buyer in order to start using the Supplier Portal.
To the Handi supplier portal ( registered suppliers) >
Basware Portal
If you do not have accounting software with an electronic invoice function, you can use the online electronic invoicing service currently provided by the government free of charge when invoicing a Finnish government agency.
Required information on the invoice
If the government agency has given You procurement agreement identifier, order number beginning with V1, agreement number beginning with VSK1 and/or posting reference beginning with TK1, is this information required to enter in the portal as follows:
1. Procurement agreement identifier needs to be entered in Contract Number
2. Order number beginning with V1 needs to be entered in Purchase Order Number
3. Agreement number beginning with VSK1 or posting reference beginning with TK1 needs to be entered in Buyer ReferenceBasware Portal service support
The Basware telephone support is available for suppliers from Monday to Friday 8.00-17.00 Finnish time. The telephone support contact details are (the contact details can also be found on the Support website):
Area Phone numbers Opening hours Asia Pacific +61 2 6610 9066 Customer support team is available 24*7 Europe Belgium +32 3 300 22 66 French and English speaking customer support team is available from 9:00 – 17:00 (local time) excluding public holidays listed here. Denmark +45 89 87 70 50 English speaking customer support team is available 24*7 Finland +358 75 3251337 Customer support team is available from 8:00 – 17:00 (local time) Germany +49 32 221855111 English speaking customer support team is available 9:00 – 17:00 (local time)
Unser englischsprachiger Kundensupport ist von 9:00 – 17:00 Uhr (Ortszeit) für Sie erreichbar.The Netherlands +31 85 107 2555 English speaking customer support team is available from 9:00 – 17:00 (local time) excluding public holidays listed here. Norway +4737715000 English speaking customer support team is available 24*7 Sweden +46 10 762 29 71 English speaking customer support team is available 24*7 United Kingdom +44 330 822 5428 Customer support team is available 24*7 North America +1 980 224 4494 Customer support team is available 24*7 -
Electronic invoice addresses
Up-to-date electronic invoicing details of government agencies are available in the electronic invoicing address list Verkkolaskuosoitteisto.
To the electronic invoicing address list Verkkolaskuosoitteisto
Structure of the state electronic invoicing addresses*:
E-invoice address: Government agency EDI ID
EDI ID: Government agency EDI ID
Operator ID: FI28768767 (Posti Messaging Oy)The state e-invoice operator is Posti Messaging Oy.
* Unlike in the case of other government agencies, the Finnish Defence Forces and the National Emergency Supply Agency use Apix Messaging Oy as their e-invoicing operator and the operator ID is 003723327487.
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Minimum information content on an invoice
All invoices must have sufficient and correct information in order for the invoices to be processed automatically. Invoices must meet the invoice requirements concerning value-added taxation (Laskuvaatimukset arvonlisäverotuksessa) specified by the Tax Administration. In addition to this, the invoice must contain the order number, agreement number, the posting reference or site information, if the customer has supplied this information.
We will return invoices with insufficient information unpaid.
Invoices must also contain the name of the contact person and any additional details supplied by the customer to ease their processing.
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Order number
The order number allows for automatic allocation of the invoice with the order in the invoice processing system. That is why it is very important to indicate the order number supplied by the agency receiving the invoice on the invoice. In addition to the order number, the invoice must include the names of the contact people for the customer and the invoicer.
The first two characters of the order number are V1. The order number is a piece of invoice-level data and each invoice may only contain the information belonging to a single order. No other information should be included with the order number.
The order number is primarily indicated in the ‘order number’ field on the invoice (the OrderIdentifier in Finvoice XML). In exceptional situations the data may be indicated in the ‘Buyer’s reference/your reference’ field (BuyerReferenceIdentifier in Finvoice XML) upon agreement with the customer.
In addition to being shown in a visual image of the e-invoice, the order number should also be included in the XML file generated from the invoice. Invoices are allocated with the correct order automatically based on the order number in the invoice XML. An image of the invoice cannot be used for the allocation.
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Agreement number
Invoices with agreement numbers can be allocated with previously saved agreements in the invoice processing system. It is very important to indicate the agreement number supplied by the agency receiving the invoice on the invoice. In addition to the agreement number, the invoice must contain the names of the contact people for the customer and the invoicer.
The first characters of the agreement number are always VSK1. The agreement number is invoice-specific and each invoice may only contain the information of a single agreement. No other information should be included with the agreement number.
The agreement number should primarily be entered in the ‘agreement number’ field (AgreementIdentifier in Finvoice XML). If your invoicing system does not support this field, in exceptional cases the agreement number may be entered in the field ‘Buyer’s reference/your reference’ (BuyerReferenceIdentifier in Finvoice XML).
In addition to being shown in a visual image of the e-invoice, the agreement number should also be included in the XML file generated from the invoice. Automatic allocation of the invoice with the agreement is based on the agreement number in the invoice’s XML. An image of the invoice cannot be used for the allocation.
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Posting reference
The posting reference is a functionality that can be used to automatically assign a posting reference to an invoice based on the data in the invoice processing system.
The first characters of the posting reference are always TK1. The posting reference is invoice-specific and each invoice may only contain one posting reference. No other information should be included with the posting reference.
The posting reference should primarily be entered in the ‘posting reference’ field (AccountDimensionText in Finvoice XML). If your invoicing system does not support this field, in exceptional cases the posting reference may be entered in the field ‘Buyer’s reference/your reference’ (BuyerReferenceIdentifier in Finvoice XML). In addition to the posting reference, the invoice must contain the names of the contact people of the customer and the invoicer.
In addition to being shown in a visual image of the invoice, the posting reference should also be included in the XML file generated from the invoice.
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Site information
Site data is used to identify invoices that fall within the scope of the notification obligation of the Tax Administration related to construction. The invoices are only used to invoice bills concerning the specific site.
The site information should first and foremost be communicated through Finvoice XM in the field titled DeliverySiteCode or in a similar field produced by the invoicing system.
Site information tags are TA-FI-ST or TA-FI. There must be no other data besides the site name in the site information field.
- Of all invoices sent to the state,meet the European Standard requirements73%
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Act on electronic invoicing (241/2019)
The European Union has issued Directive 2014/55/EU regarding electronic invoices in accordance with the European standard and message formats defined by the Commission in public procurements exceeding the threshold values. The Europe standard is available free of charge at the Finnish Standards Association SFS website.
The law on the electronic invoicing of procurement entities and entrepreneurs implemented Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on electronic invoicing in public procurement
For the state, the law entered into force 1 April 2019. According to the law, the state must then be ready to receive e-invoices according to the European standard also in the message formats defined by the Commission (ULB 2.1 and Cross Industry Invoice D16B).
In addition to UBL and CII, the state is also ready to receive e-invoices in other commonly known formats.
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Application instructions for public administration
The public administration has issued detailed instructions on the information content model of the European standard for e-invoicing described in directive 2014/55/EU and the law on electronic invoicing of procurement entities and entrepreneurs (241/2019). The information elements that the public administration requires for online invoicing are compiled in the guide. In addition, the instruction has been updated with the requirement for a VAT ID if there is a VAT sale on the invoice.
The public administration’s clarifying instruction BT-17 correction 3-2020>
Tax treatment codes used in online invoices according to the European standard >
Public administration guide in English>
Online invoice templates, which describe the tax codes used in the European standard>
EN-16931 Coupling of semantic model Finvoice3 and PEPPOL BIS3
Data content requirements for public administration e-invoices The content of the European e-invoicing model has been updated in Finvoice 3.0 and TEAPPSXML 3.0 versions, for which a correspondence table has been published on the pages of Finance Finland and Tieto, with links attached
Link to the Finance Finland website
Consolidated invoice
Traditionally, a consolidated invoice is an invoice that charges several contracts or orders in invoice lines. This kind of invoice is not suitable for invoicing according to the European standard, because in an invoice according to the European standard it is not possible to tell the number of each order or contract per invoice row (row-level information).
Several deliveries can be invoiced with an invoice according to the European standard, if the deliveries in question have been ordered with the same purchase order number or contract number per invoice (header-level information). If the invoice does not have a header-level contract number or purchase order, then all separate orders must be invoiced with individual invoices.
Further information on application instructions for public administration and electronic invoicing according to the European standard: verkkolaskutus@valtiokonttori.fi
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Frequently asked questions about the European standard of electronic invoicing:
From April 2021 onwards, the State will only accept e-invoices that are compliant with the European Standard. The objective of the change is to direct invoicing by companies and public administration into electronic form.
What happens to e-invoices that are compliant with the European Standard after 1 April 2021?
European standard invoices are validated based on a common set of rules. If the data content of the invoice does not fill the requirements set for the European standard, the electronic invoice will be discarded. The invoice sender must correct the errors/shortcomings in the invoice and also check that the due date of the invoice corresponds to the agreed payment time when the invoice is sent again. If you cannot send an invoice that is compliant with the European Standard, contact the recipient of the invoice and agree on a transition period.
How do I implement the European Standard in my electronic invoicing?
Ask the supplier of the invoicing software you use, whether the software version you use supports e-invoicing that meets the requirements of the Electronic Invoicing Act. If necessary, update your software so that you can send and receive e-invoices according to the European standard.
Where can I find a list of requirements for the information content of an electronic invoice that is compliant with the European Standard?
The information content requirements for electronic public administration invoices are described on the website of the State Treasury If you would like to familiarise yourself with the European Standard, you will find the standard in the SFS online store as SFS-EN 16931-1:2017 + A1:2019:en. Downloading the standard from the online store is free of charge.
Why should I ask for an e-invoice that is compliant with the European standard?
The final invoice sum and amount of VAT are validated with a common set of rules, so the invoice will be rejected already by the e-invoicing service provider if the information content of the invoice is incomplete. Better information content in an invoice makes it possible to process the information in other financial processes as well.
What information of the seller and buyer should be stated on the invoice?
Mandatory entries (AVL § 209 e) on the invoice are the seller’s and buyer’s VAT identifier (FI+Y code without hyphen), seller’s and buyer’s name, seller’s and buyer’s address. E-invoices addressed to the government must include the seller’s business ID as well as the VAT identification number.
What information of the product or service should be stated on the invoice?
The requirements on the information content of invoices are available on the Tax Administration website. Old e-invoices were often missing the product name and the tax-free unit price on the invoice line. Invoices according to the European standard must also include a tax code that can be found on the CEF website:
Why should the European standard be used?
The recipient of the invoice has the right to request that the sender supplies an e-invoice that complies with the European standard. This applies to both public administration and private businesses. You can also send e-invoices with the European standard to Europe, as all public administrations must accept e-invoices compliant with the standard. When sending an invoice to Europe, it must be in an international e-invoice format, such as the UBL format supported by the PEPPOL network.
Why should the European standard be used?
Section 4 of the National Online Invoicing Act allows the recipient of the invoice to request an online invoice from the sender of the invoice. In this case, the online invoice must comply with the European standard. The right to request an invoice according to the European standard applies to both the public administration and companies.
You can also send e-invoices with the European standard to Europe, as all public administrations must accept e-invoices compliant with the standard. When sending an invoice to Europe, the format must be in an international e-invoice format, such as the UBL format supported by the PEPPOL network.
Can I send a consolidated invoice that is compliant with the European Standard?
An invoice containing more than one order or contract cannot be sent in as an invoice that is compliant with the European Standard. If the buyer requires a consolidated invoice, agree on the information content of the e-invoice separately with the buyer. These invoices are not marked as invoices that are compliant with the European Standard.
Where can I find the invoicing requirements laid down in the VAT Act?
Requirements for invoice entries can be found in the Vero.fi VAT invoice requirements
Invoicing requirements in VAT invoicing
What specific requirements should be taken into account when invoicing the State?
If the buyer – the recipient of the invoice – has indicated either the order number or the contract number, they must be indicated also on the invoice. The invoice must also correspond to the information content specifications for invoices laid down in the VAT Act
Further information can be found in the public administration’s detailed instructions on the information content of the online invoice and on the website of the Tax Administration.