RO e-Invoice: The road to digitization is paved with good intentions, but it is done with the whip. The taxpayer's frustration level is at an all-time high

The RO e-Invoice system has generated the biggest chaos of the last decade in the entrepreneurial environment, the Romanian state being unprepared to manage the change it imposes and showing incompetence in digitization through the multiple errors of this system. Also, the state is once again failing to develop a good relationship with taxpayers, blaming them for blockages that it created through the rudimentary management of e-Invoice implementation, emphasize the representatives of NextUp Solutions, one of the main companies of software, which offers automation solutions for e-Invoicing.

NextUp Solutions, a software manufacturer with more than 6,000 SMEs in its portfolio, warns that most entrepreneurs and accountants are disheartened and disappointed by the chaos generated and the way the state has related to e-Invoice. In addition, they report that their business has been blocked by the chaos generated by e-Invoicing, wasting time and money.

"Through the implementation of RO e-Invoice, the state institutions intend to hit the taxpayer, threatening fines, in case of non-alignment with the system. At the same time, ANAF is not ready for the wave of tax information that will come, not even by a long shot. The existing infrastructure has stalled at not even 25% of the announced document estimate. What's more, for the time being, the existing system does not even receive the invoices sent correctly, duplicating the documents in the SPV account through an erroneous sending. Despite the state's promises regarding the efficiency and simplification of administrative processes, implementing the RO e-Invoice system generated great chaos in the first month of the year. Contrary to the repeated assurances of the authorities, it seems that the state was not prepared for the massive volume of information and transactions that must be managed through this initiative and to manage the change it requires. At the same time, it shows incompetence in digitization through the errors generated by the system. All this creates a relationship of distrust in the tax control institution from the taxpayer's side, and the level of frustration is all the greater as the officials kept announcing fines, fixed dates, and absolving themselves of any blame for the system's failure. That is, we whip, without explaining why we are punishing the entrepreneur", says Roxana Epure, Managing Partner of NextUp Solutions.

By implementing e-Invoice for B2B invoices, companies across the country faced a number of technical and administrative issues. Thus, the errors generated by the e-Invoice upset the activity in many companies, being lost precious time and money with the transmission of invoices in the Virtual Private Space (SPV) instead of the daily operations working efficiently.

Thus, against the background of the problems generated by the e-Invoice implementation, many companies have accelerated the digitization process, requesting invoicing software that automatically transmits invoices to the SPV. In this regard, the demand for invoice software increased by more than 50% in the first two weeks of January alone.
"The exponential demand for invoicing software in January is, among other things, a consequence of the implementation of the e-Invoice from January 1. Sure, you can do manual work, but no one wants extra bureaucracy in their backyard. The entrepreneur wants to work clean, and wants predictability in general, and especially in the costs of red tape E-Bill is a good step, we will one day know about this reporting but not need to do anything about it because the software does it. The software is ready. The entrepreneur wants it. The accountant does it. The state promises us but blocks us with its powerlessness. And threatens us with fines after March 31. Much talk, no results", explains Roxana Epure, Managing Partner NextUp Solutions.

Considered by many entrepreneurs as extra work, sending invoices via e-Invoice takes place instantly with the right software. Manually filling in the data for each invoice on the ANAF website can take up to 10 minutes, depending on the number of lines on the invoice and the user's ability to fill in the necessary data quickly.

Each sales invoice issued by the taxpayer will have to be uploaded to the SPV. Without software, this is done as follows: for each invoice issued, it is necessary to convert from PDF to XML, then access the SPV and upload the XML to the SPV. The SPV must also be accessed and checked frequently for invoices expected from suppliers - each invoice will need to be downloaded in XML format and then converted to PDF format. This will make the work considerably more difficult, especially since this arduous process will have to be carried out within 5 days of issuing an invoice, to avoid possible fines. Instead, with the right software like NextUp, invoices are sent to the SPV with one click, in just one second, and are automatically downloaded from the SPV once received from the suppliers.

NextUp Solutions is the developer of ERP software that saves entrepreneurs time with red tape, such as e-Invoicing. The NextUp software is adapted to local businesses and used mainly in online retail, traditional retail, production, distribution, and services, to automate repetitive activities that consume resources and optimize business processes and forecasts. NextUp has over 6,000 customers, with an average of 5 users per company.

The information provided by KomuniK