E-invoicing could consign traditional invoices to the dustbin of history Shutterstock

Polish companies are slow to start using electronic invoices, even thwough more and more consumers are interested in the innovation.

According to research by Itella Information, the Polish branch of a Finnish state-owned invoicing company, only one in 10 Polish companies send out e-invoices, compared to 89 percent in the UK and a 50 percent average among the 16 countries included in the research.

As many as 93 percent of Estonian companies receive e-invoices, but only 18 percent of Polish companies do so, compared to an average of 52 percent.

Meanwhile, 27 percent of Polish consumers receive e-invoices, as compared to 44 percent who would like to do so.

But changes are afoot. “We expect the development [of e-invoicing in Poland] in the next two to three years to be extremely fast,” said Miikka Savolainen, managing director of Itella Information for Central Europe at a conference in mid-June, citing the increasing number of internet users in Poland and companies’ increased efforts at cost-cutting. Polish companies themselves also expect a quick rise in the number of e-invoices.

Itella’s development director, Jarosław Tkaczyk, said that e-invoice costs are as little as half their paper counterparts. According to document manager ArchiDoc, a medium-sized company saves around €1,000 a year after introducing e-invoicing, while a company issuing 20,000 invoices a month can save €3 million.

Mr Tkaczyk also mentioned Polish law as standing in the way of the development of e-invoices, but said that is about to change, as Poland will have to implement new EU legislation on e-invoicing by 2013.