New law requires e-invoices in public procurement

As of April 1, 2019, a new law requires all purchases in the public sector to be invoiced by electronic invoice (e-invoice). This means that all suppliers must now send e-invoices to their customers in central government, municipalities and county councils. The new rules also apply to deliveries to many of the state, municipal and county council-owned companies.

Public procurement contracts started before April 1 are not retroactively covered by the law. If there are existing contracts, the supplier can continue to invoice using the e-invoice formats agreed by the parties.

According to the new law(2018:1277) on electronic invoices resulting from public procurement, e-invoices must comply with a new European standard established in Sweden in 2018. PDF invoices or scanned paper invoices do not comply with this standard.

A company that, after several reminders, still fails to invoice according to the new legal requirements may be ordered to pay a penalty.

The bill covers all purchases made by public customers against invoice

The law covers all invoices issued by a supplier as a result of any form of public procurement - including direct awards. In practice, this means all purchases made by public customers against invoice. However, the requirement does not apply to payments made in cash or by payment card.

Who is affected and how?

Companies that already have public customers or want to have public customers in the future need to ensure that they can send invoices that meet the requirements of the new law. This is a prerequisite for winning public contracts.