Behold Buloke: Australia’s first council to adopt e-invoicing

Buloke Shire Council in Victoria has become Australia’s first local council to become Peppol e-invoicing enabled via Xero.

The council will now start onboarding its suppliers to this new channel to enjoy the benefits of e-invoicing. 

The Australian Tax Office says it is good news for the local government sector because e-invoicing adoption by government entities and businesses is increasing. Xero and MYOB have released their e-invoicing features and councils will start hearing about e-invoicing more and more.

The ATO will have an e-invoicing booth at next week’s National General Assembly so that elected officials and senior council staff can learn more about Peppol e-invoicing.

E-invoicing is gaining momentum with the Commonwealth making a further investment in e‑invoicing in the 2021-22 Federal Budget.

This year’s focus is on accelerating adoption of Peppol e-invoicing across the economy by increasing awareness of the value of e-invoicing for businesses and continuing to expand public sector adoption.

The NSW government has also recently announced a mandate for Peppol e-invoicing for NSW government agencies from 1 January 2022. The mandate will apply to the delivery of goods and services up to the value of $1 million.

These measures will continue to have a positive impact on the take-up of e-invoicing.

Councils will need to engage an e-invoicing service provider called an “access point” to send and receive Peppol e-invoices. The ATO has made it easy to procure these services. Email the Peppol Panel team at the ATO (PeppolPanel@ato.gov.au) to request panel documentation.

For more information and other questions get in touch with the ATO project team at e-invoicing@ato.gov.au