Malaysia: The National E-Invoicing Initiative (NEI)

The National E-invoicing Initiative (NEI) is a national digitalisation agenda to improve business efficiency and productivity. E-invoicing is the exchange of electronic invoices (e-invoices) in an integrated and structured data format.

NEI aims to drive interoperable e-invoicing by digitalising how businesses send invoices to other businesses, allowing different accounting software and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to send and receive e-invoices in a system-to-system manner.

When a business sends an e-invoice, it is securely transferred to their customer via an interoperable e-invoicing network. To access an e-invoicing network, both the business and the customer need an Access Point. The e-invoice is delivered with invoice data prepopulated in the receiver’s accounting software/ERP ready to be approved for payment.

Manual data entry and physical paper handling processes can be eliminated with the implementation of e-invoicing and as a result helps businesses transact invoices more efficiently and seamlessly with accurate traceability. With e-invoicing, billing and calculation errors can be reduced significantly, thus accelerate payments and minimize disputes in irregularities. The implementation of a compliant interoperable e-invoicing framework will ensure an organised work process and facilitate effective tax reporting.

On 25 October 2022, a Memorandum of Understanding for strategic cooperation in the implementation of the NEI was entered between the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) of Malaysia and the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).

In a recent media release dated 22 May 2023, the IRB announced that the proposed implementation of e-invoicing will be held in stages as follows:

Businesses should plan ahead on the implementation of e-invoicing in year 2027, while waiting for further announcement on technical details.

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Reference/ Citation

1. Official Portal of Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia www.hasil.gov.my

2. Official Portal of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) https://mdec.my/national-einvoicing