[dpnmn]

That's something else, thats for directly connecting to Peppol, which few business will do (mostly very large businesses, or financial companies).

Most businesses will use a accounting system anyway, and most of those will support Peppol out-of-the-box. So instead (or in addition) to sending an e-mail, the invoice will be sent directly into their accounting system (and their bank, if they choose).

Really, it simplifies things a lot! No more punching/copying of stuff from PDFs into your online bank. The cost is not really high, just a bit annoying (typically some euros a month + a few euros pr invoice).

(I probably could have found a cheaper provider but I don't send many invoices so it is ok).

[itake]

Sending an email is free. Paying for accounting software (sharing the license) is not free.

Can you share what the cost is? This [0] provider says each invoice costs $10-30. NET14 means you'd pay $260 - $780/yr!

https://www.valtatech.com/thought-leadership/einvoicing/how-...

[B1zz3y_]

That isn't right. I would expect your invoices to cost around 5 to 10 cents. We offer them for free in our subscription at https://www.bizzey.com

[itake]

Your product costs 24,99 euro / mo or 300 euro / yr. Hardly 5-10 cents.

[elric]

A few euros per invoice? That seems pretty expensive. More expensive than the postal service.

[dpnmn]

Like I said, I did not check the alternatives (or even the price I'm paying today).

I pay approx €80 a month for a complete accounting/payment system, including Peppol-access, payrolls, expenses etc etc .

I actually think Peppol-invoices are free. I just choose that instead of e-mail (assuming my customer is an official company).

It is automatically transferring the invoice-data to my bank which is expensive (and that too I can fix by changing bank...)

So, all in all, Peppol is a good thing. Making it mandatory is perhaps a bit over the top, but hey.

[magicalhippo]

On the upside, PEPPOL guarantees delivery if you successfully submit a message. So the recipient can't claim they didn't get the invoice if you managed to deliver.

[Muromec]

Just wait till somebody on a poor side of the continent makes a service that does the same for a flat fee of few euros per year

[elric]

That's not happening. Because they too will need to pay for access to the PEPPOL network. And it seems like there might be some KYC requirements in addition to the money and the audits.

[itake]

This exists already. But its still confusing to me why they would need to pay any euros per year?

Imagine if you're a full time worker (like a freelancer!) and you have to pay a transaction tax to get your wages.

[Muromec]

Transactional costs exist. Paper costs money, phone calls cost money, bank accounts cost money too and exchange rates have markup in them. Then the actual taxes exist. This is how everything works. Than there is electronic signature thingy which may or may not cost money.

It’s also not a tax, as there is no entrenched monopoly that collects is. If anything, something like AWS or for my sensibilities azure is more outrageous.

[itake]

My understanding is PEPPOL (charging 1,800 euro/yr!) is the only provider of this service.

Can Freelancers choose to another service (like email) instead of PEPPOL? According to the post, this service is the monopoly service provider per-law.

In the USA, a client can send me money for free via ACH or as a check (which are mostly free depending on your bank and account level).

[Muromec]

I imagine being part of SWIFT alliance or any other payment network costs some serious moneys, yet a current account costs a few euros a months. Same things with being a CA -- being included in the list of root certs requires an audit and obviously costs money, yet you can have free https certs from letsencrypt.

Nobody stops you from running something similar to letsencrypt but for this PEPPOL thingy if you don't want to pay for invoicing software as service.

I for once, spent 10 years of my life maintaining an opensource library so people can cryptographically sign tax documents for Ukrainian government, including e-receipts on point of sale terminals.