Finnish government agencies have the capacity to send electronic invoices to their customers. Electronic invoicing is a prerequisite for financial administration automation.
The State Treasury maintains guidance on how to act when you want to receive your invoices from government agencies electronic. You can find instructions for the companies and the consumer customers below.
NB! For individual invoice matters, you will receive instructions from the organization whose invoice you want to pay.
-
Corporate customers
If you receive invoices from the Finnish government and want to replace paper invoices with electronic invoices, please contact the invoicing agency.
Invoices sent to companies are mainly delivered as electronic invoices, but companies can also receive invoices via the Suomi.fi Messages service.
You can also ask the invoicing agency to send you an invoice with attachments. If you are using a bank as the intermediator and your company has a valid contract with the bank on forwarding attachments, notify the invoicing agency of the readiness to receive attachments. Otherwise, you will receive the invoice with attachments by post.
NB! The Finnish government does not send invoices as e-mail attachments.
-
Consumer customer / Personal customer
Electronic invoice is an easy and flawless way to pay an invoice, regardless of time and place. It is also a more climate-friendly method of sending invoices than the use of paper versions.
The Finnish government offers consumers a number of ways to receive electronic invoices. Consumers can receive invoices as e-invoices in their online bank, to their Suomi.fi Messages mailbox, via the OmaPosti service of Posti, or via Kivra digital mailbox. Some government agencies’ invoices can also be paid by phone using the MobilePay app.
If an individual customer uses multiple electronic services, the priority order for delivering invoices is as follows:
- e-invoice
- MobilePay (only applicable to the billing of the National Land Survey of Finland)
- OmaPosti
- Kivra digital mailbox service
- Suomi.fi Messages
- Paper invoice
NB! The Finnish government does not send invoices as e-mail attachments.
E-invoices
You can start receiving e-invoices by ordering them via your online bank. Your online bank has a list of invoicing agencies who have the capacity to send electronic invoices. When you order an e-invoice, the government uses your personal identity code to identify you.
When you order an e-invoice instead of a paper invoice, the information included in the invoice is automatically sent to your online bank. You can choose to receive an email or text message notification of any received invoices in addition to the notification you get in your online bank. You can check the invoice details and confirm them in your online bank when necessary.
You can also choose, for example, regular invoices to be paid automatically. You can receive e-invoices from, for example, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom on vehicle taxes and frequency fees, and from the Finnish Tax Administration in relation to your taxation. Electronic invoicing is also offered by other government agencies.
Suomi.fi Messages
When you activate Suomi.fi Messages, you will receive your invoices electronically from the services that use Suomi.fi Messages. As a result, you will no longer receive paper documents at home.
The invoice you received through Suomi.fi messages is not an actual electronic invoice but a picture of the invoice. Some of the invoices received in Suomi.fi messages can be paid by copying the number-format barcode to your online bank. For more information on activating the Suomi.fi Messages service, visit the Suomi.fi website of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
OmaPosti
You can also receive your invoices electronically in the OmaPosti service offered by the Finnish postal service Posti. You can start using OmaPosti by registering as a customer of Posti’s consumer services.
Kivra digital mailbox
You can also receive your invoices electronically at Kivra by registering into the service or by downloading the app to your phone.
MobilePay
Some government agencies’ invoices can also be paid by phone using the MobilePay app. The invoice has a MobilePay payment button or a QR code if paying with the mobile app is possible.
