E-invoicing compliance and regulatory updates - Canada

Electronic Invoicing Canada

Canada has adopted a post audit model. This model relies on random audits executed by the tax authorities for a certain time period after the transaction. Electronic invoicing is legal in Canada, but it is not required by law or mandatory.

In 2017 e-invoicing was introduced in Canada once they adopted UBL (Universal Business Language) as a national standard. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has since promoted the use of electronic invoices in the country. Canada is also member of the Peppol Network.

All in all, the country is moving towards an e-invoicing system and preparing for the full implementation of electronic invoicing in Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Government (B2G).

Today, e-invoice requirements according to The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) are:

• The storage process must guarantee and store the accuracy, security and integrity of the data before the exchange or processing of any invoices.
• Documents describing the relevant business and operating system, as well as documents that include the way transactions are processed and managed, must be stored by trading partners.
• Data exchange standards compatible with CRA’s audit software are used for this process.
• Companies and organizations must store back-up data.

Want to learn more about e-Invoicing compliance?

Download our Global e-invoicing and Tax Compliance fact sheet here for more information.

Archiving

Digital invoice archiving for invoice receiving and sending is available and allowed in Canada.

The default retention period is 7 years. It is recommended to ensure the readability, integrity, and authenticity of stored invoices.

Basware provides compliant invoice archiving in Canada through the Basware Vault service.

Want to know more about Basware’s archiving services?

Download our Basware Vault fact sheet here to learn more about our flexible and scalable solution.

Basware Services

To receive invoices, Basware supports all methods. We do support electronic invoicing and operate multiple local scan centres to scan and capture data from paper invoices through optical character recognition (OCR) technology.

To send invoices, all methods are available. We can deliver invoices as true invoices, via email with attached PDF, on our portal or printed locally.

We can capture data from English, French, and Spanish invoices, and we provide buyer and supplier portals in English, French and Spanish. We offer support in English.

Want to find out how we can help in your specific case?

Speak to a member of our team to learn more.

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Interoperability

At Basware, we are passionate about delivering the benefits of open interoperability to our customers. That’s why we have partnered with more than 220 e-invoicing networks around the world to ensure the Basware Network remains the largest open commerce network of buyers and suppliers.

In North America have developed the following connections:

• Cortex
• Elemica
• Hubspan
• IBM/Sterling Commerce
• IDS Invoice Delivery System
• Inovis (Dell)
• Kleinschmidt
• OFS - Oil industry portal
• Oildex-Tranzap
• Opentext
• Softshare Network (GXS)
• Taulia
• TrueCommerce

These connections allow us to deliver invoices over the Basware Network to customers worldwide.

Our advice

Canada allows various invoicing methods: paper, PDF, electronic, and portal key-in invoices.

The pre-dominant method of invoicing is still paper-based. We see an increasing adoption of digital invoices (PDF-based) for mid-tier customers or suppliers, but true electronic invoicing (XML or EDI-based) is still limited to a handful of big corporations.

We strongly advise our receiving customers to implement smart capture methods for PDF invoices and avoid having to process them using OCR-techniques. With better PDF-handling solutions in place, buyers can request their suppliers to move away from paper-invoices and submit PDF invoices.

Want to understand how we can help in your case?

Get in touch with our experts.

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