E-invoicing compliance and regulatory updates - Sweden

Electronic Invoicing Sweden

The Swedish Government mandated e-Invoicing receiving and sending for Business-to-Government (B2G) at the state level starting from 1 July, 2008. However, from April 2019 onwards, all the suppliers in the public sector are required to send e-invoices.

Paper invoices are not allowed, and PDF invoices are not considered to be e-invoices. An operator can convert a PDF invoice to a true e-invoice before sending to it to the public sector. The format in use within the mandate is Peppol BIS Billing 3.0. Older setups in other formats, such as Svefaktura 1.0, can continue to be used.

Svefaktura 2.0 is a Peppol invoice, but it is no longer supported within the Peppol network. Content requirements follow the EN 16931– known as the SS-EN 16931-1:2017 Standard in Sweden.

In the private sector, for Business-to-Business (B2B) both existing interop and Peppol are in use. Small companies using common SMB ERP's like Hogia, Visma, and Fortnox can send true e-Invoices.

The Swedish Agency for Digital announced in 2023 that the Government is considering implementing electronic invoicing in Business-to-Business (B2B), and Business-to-Government that observe the ViDA proposals before EU Commission. However, there are no timelines at this point.

Want to learn more about e-Invoicing compliance?

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

Archiving

Invoices and other correspondence related to business transactions must be kept for at least 7 years after the end of the fiscal year. A fiscal year can be extended up to 18 months in total, and can start and end at any date.

In practice archiving for 9 years is recommended. The accounting information must be saved in its original form—in the form the information had when it came to the company.

Received electronic accounting information may for technical reasons need to be adapted for the company's system. For example, electronic invoices can be received by an invoice operator who converts the invoices to a format that the company's system can read.

If the information in the invoice does not change or disappear in connection with the conversion, the invoice may be saved in the electronic format from the conversion and in which it will be presented in the company.

If the company cannot ensure that the information is unchanged after the conversion, the accounting information must be saved in the original format. The converted information is then considered a reference verification.

According to section 5.14, the reference verification or the company's system documentation must state where the original information about the business event is stored.

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: paper, portal, PDF, and true e-invoicing. We operate local scan centres to scan and capture data from paper invoices through optical character recognition (OCR) technology. To support electronic invoicing for suppliers that are not suitable for e-Invoicing connections, Basware has established a native PDF service that is not based on OCR.

All methods are also available to send invoices, including delivery using the Peppol network. We can deliver invoices as true invoices, via email with attached PDF, on our portal or printed locally.

We can capture data from Swedish invoices and  we offer both buyer and supplier portals in Swedish.

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

Our advice

High levels of true electronic invoices can be obtained through adequate enablement campaigns. We advise both invoice receivers and invoice senders to reach out to their customer/supplier base and discuss the possibility to deliver invoices electronically. This will drive cost reduction, increased automation and improved collaboration.

The Basware Network provides access to a large existing buyer/supplier base in Sweden. Our experts are here to support you in your e-invoicing transformation.

Want to understand how we can help in your case?

Get in touch with our experts.

Contact us