Regulatory updates - New Zealand

Peppol released updates to its specifications and validation documents, including A-NZ Invoice and Self-Billing specifications v. 1.0.12, PINT A-NZ v1.1.0, and Peppol BIS Billing v3.0.18.

The changes include alignment with the latest Peppol BIS Billing version, updates to code lists and validation artefacts, and new compliance rules for sender/receiver identifiers in the Peppol Business Message Envelope (SBDH).

Updated guidance documents are available to facilitate the implementation of these changes, particularly in Australia and New Zealand.

Learn more about the recent updates here.

On November 18, 2024, the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) released rules on “Improving government payment times for domestic trade invoices and uptake of e-Invoicing”. These new Government Procurement Rules include payment deadlines such as 5 business days for e-invoices and 10 business days for invoices.

Currently, the MBIE’s e-invoicing team is conducting an ongoing consultation with government suppliers and the business community on potentially requiring e-invoices for billing government agencies. Reporting on this is due back to Cabinet by February 2025, and any additional requirements would be proposed as part of the wider review of the Government Procurement Rules that are underway.

What is more, there has been an increase in the interest of businesses in New Zealand in issuing and receiving e-invoices. The number of businesses registered to receive e-invoices has doubled, increasing from 23,000 businesses in October to over 50,000 in November. In addition, the number of large businesses sending e-invoices has increased.

Some of the benefits of e-invoicing exchange include reducing administrative work and costs and improving record accuracy.

The New Zealand government introduced a measure to enhance payment timelines for small businesses and increase the adoption of the eInvoicing framework (invoice digital exchange via Peppol) among government organizations and enterprises.

The new rules mandate that government agencies implement the following by 1 January 2026.

• eInvoicing sending capabilities: government agencies issue over 2 000 domestic trade invoices each year;
• eInvoicing receiving capabilities: government agencies receive more than 2 000 domestic trade invoices annually;
• Ensure that 95% of domestic trade e-invoices are paid within 5 business days, and report payment times to MBIE (Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, also New Zealand Peppol Authority). Additionally, agencies are required to pay other invoices within 10 business days as of 1 January 2025.

Businesses that engage with government organizations can anticipate that eInvoicing will soon become a standard practice. These new rules also offer an additional cash flow incentive for sending e-invoices to the government.

Furthermore, the government will consult businesses about a new rule mandating certain suppliers to submit e-invoices. The results of this consultation will be reported to the Cabinet in February 2025.

Pagero has been listed as an eInvoicing Access Point provider in New Zealand. Businesses can already exchange invoices with the public entities with Pagero.

Both countries already have a close working relationship, but this agreement officially marks a significant step in their bilateral cooperation. It underscores both nations' commitment to shaping and promoting e-invoicing adoption by businesses.

Under the MoA, both parties pledge to collaborate on initiatives aimed at fostering e-invoicing adoption, including promoting supportive infrastructure, standardization and raising awareness of its benefits.

Both countries’ existing requirements already show this commitment to using Peppol standards in the public sector. Moreover, Singapore recently announced implementation timelines for adapting the Peppol-5-corner model (Peppol CTC) for business transactions.

This MoA mirrors an existing agreement between Australia and Singapore and can be seen as a standardization effort in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

32 Central Government agencies are already required to pay 95% of their invoices within 10 days. This rule shall now be extended to Crown entities. More than 100 government organizations will then be required to send and receive e-invoices.

At the same time, the Government of New Zealand will repeal the Business Payment Practices Act 2023 because it has shown to be ineffective in reducing the long payment terms of large market players. Long payment times have been a particular burden on small businesses.

E-invoicing facilitates faster payment times and is estimated to provide an annual productivity benefit to the country`s economy of NZD 400 million (ca. EUR 284 million).

The changes include an updated timeline for the migration, with mandatory requirements for PINT A-NZ invoice and credit note, starting from 15 November 2024. Optional features like self-billing will also be introduced. By 15 May 2025, the old A-NZ specifications will be phased out.

Learn more about how to prepare your operations here.

Both countries will adopt the new document format specification after migrating from the previous one, ANZ Peppol BIS 3.0.

Learn more about the implementation timelines and which other countries have adopted the PINT component as mandatory here.

The Inland Revenue Authority (IRD) posted additional clarifications on 12 September 2022 to help taxpayers to comply with the new GST Rules.

The new GST changes introduce new terminology as well as a more flexible ruleset. From 1 April 2023, taxpayers no longer need to keep a single document, such as a tax invoice or credit note, with all the required information. Instead, a combination of transaction records, accounting systems and contractual documents can be used to supply the information needed for the GST return. Another change is that taxpayers no longer need to include the words ‘tax invoice’ in a prominent place to make it valid.

New terms:

Taxable supply information is the minimum amount of information buyers and sellers need to store as evidence. The information that taxpayers need to supply or keep is determined by the type of supply and the value of the transaction.

A benefit of the new ruleset is that sellers can provide taxable supply information to a customer using an automated direct exchange between the buyer's and seller's software, for example through Peppol.

Supply correction information is required to be submitted in circumstances when the taxable supply information included incorrect information, such as when an invoice included an incorrect amount of GST.

Taxpayers no longer need to seek approval from the IRD to issue buyer-created tax invoices. Under the new ruleset, any GST-registered buyer purchasing from a GST-registered seller can enter into an agreement to use buyer-created taxable supply information.

Pagero has obtained accreditation from the New Zealand Peppol Authority and has been catering to B2B and B2G trading requirements through Peppol.

Since becoming members of OpenPeppol in 2019, both of these countries have been taking part in a global framework and have an advantage over competitors still exchanging paper invoices.

Learn more about Australia and New Zealand's journey towards digitalization, and what this step means for businesses operating in the Trans-Tasman region here.