Whether you are filing a tax return, registering a change of address or submitting social security statements, an increasing number of official processes can now be carried out online with public authorities. Public administrations are pursuing a digital strategy with the goal of making interactions with citizens and companies more efficient, transparent and secure. This also applies to administrative processes that tend to run in the background, such as accounts payable and accounts receivable processes. Electronic invoices in particular (i.e. invoices that are sent or received digitally in a structured format), play a central role in the e-government aspect of public administration and are an important component of digitization. According to the national eGovernment Study 2022, electronic invoice processing is the third most frequently used online service: 66 percent of the private individuals surveyed stated that they had already paid for a government service electronically (i.e. with eBill). eBill has already been implemented at many government offices.

Also digitizing supplier invoices

B2B e-invoicing is to business partners what eBill is for invoicing to private individuals. The digitally structured invoice for the B2B sector allows public administrations to process invoices completely digitally from ERP to ERP (in data format or via a service provider portal (e. g. The link will open in a new window e-invoicing portal) – either when receiving or sending invoices. B2B e-invoicing is now mandatory for all business partners of the Confederation who provide services with a contract value of more than CHF 5,000. Various administrations at municipal and cantonal level are also already working with e-invoicing in the B2B sector. The The link will open in a new window edirectory.ch directory lists many companies, organizations and public authorities in Switzerland that can send or receive electronic invoices.

Electronic invoicing outside Switzerland

Electronic invoice transfer is becoming increasingly important not only in Switzerland, but also worldwide. In the EU, all public authorities must already be able to receive electronic invoices. Furthermore, the transmission of electronic invoices for public contracts is mandatory in some member states. Many countries are also introducing mandatory e-invoicing for companies. In Germany, for example, domestic companies must be able to receive e-invoices from 2025 onwards.

Why is it worthwhile for public administrations to switch to electronic invoicing or electronic invoice receipt?

The number of invoices that public authorities issue and receive each year is immense. Digitizing invoicing processes therefore gives public authorities the opportunity to save a lot of paper, time and money. For example, if a driver and vehicle licensing office sends invoices to vehicle owners directly to their e-banking via paperless eBill, it’s difficult for the invoices to be lost by the recipients, the office requires fewer resources for tracking and the outstanding amounts are paid on time. If you imagine the number of vehicle owners in a large canton and the resources saved by electronic invoicing, the potential for savings at all levels becomes obvious.

At a glance – the advantages of electronic invoices for public administrations

Tip: How public authorities and administrations can calculate potential savings

If public administrations want to digitize invoices as part of their digitization strategy, it helps to assess the potential savings. This can be calculated by answering just a few questions in the calculator from Billing Solutions.

What specifically needs to be considered when digitizing invoicing in a public administration?

On the one hand, digital invoicing is not permitted in all invoicing cases in public administration. One example of this is tax invoices. In order to issue tax invoices digitally, in some cases it would first be necessary to create the legal basis. On the other hand, invoices from public authorities are often subject to strict security requirements – the key factor here is data protection.

What steps are necessary to digitize invoicing in a public administration and speed up the workflow?

An initial effort is required in order to start issuing and receiving invoices electronically. The new processes must be set up and the technical requirements for implementation must be met. The procedures are very different. As a rule, electronic invoicing solutions in public administrations are not introduced all in one go, but in stages – for example, first in offices with recurring invoices that do not contain sensitive data, then in offices with more complex requirements and finally for one-off invoices. And when it comes to receiving invoices digitally, it is particularly important to get your suppliers on board. When doing so, public administrations and authorities rely on the expertise of an experienced service provider such as PostFinance, which offers an appropriate interface for electronic invoice exchange and supports them throughout the process.

Resources and tasks

The financial and human resources required for the project must be made available, and the tasks must be correctly allocated and contact persons defined from the outset.

Data, data, data

Implementing electronic invoices requires an initial clean data basis (master data management). Due to the complex structures of public administrations (e.g. when several offices are involved), this is often a particular challenge and requires some preparatory work.

Communication and marketing

Once the electronic invoicing solutions have been implemented, the invoice recipients or suppliers must be integrated into the digital invoicing process. Targeted internal and external communication is needed to get the ball rolling. The more intensively electronic invoices are sent and received, the more their potential is realized. Our guide to attracting new eBill recipients and our best practice guide: “Persuading your providers to use B2B e-invoicing” describe what public administrations can do to ensure that this is successful and that the investment will ultimately pay off.