E-Documents Framework / Electronic Invoicing

Description:

We would like to request an enhancement of the current E-Documents functionality regarding the handling of prepayment invoices, especially in PEPPOL scenarios.

The current behavior in Business Central is technically compliant with the Belgian e-invoicing legislation. When a prepayment invoice is posted, it is created as a posted sales invoice and is therefore processed by the E-Documents framework in the same way as a standard sales invoice.

Current process:

Sales Order

     |

     |

Create Prepayment Invoice

     |

     |

Posted Sales Invoice

     |

     |

E-Document Creation

     |

     |

PEPPOL Transmission

From the system perspective, the document is a posted invoice and therefore eligible for electronic transmission.

However, from a business process perspective, many customers expect more flexibility. A prepayment invoice is often considered a preliminary billing document and customers may not want every prepayment document to be automatically transmitted through PEPPOL to their customers.

The current implementation does not provide sufficient control to distinguish between:

·        Standard sales invoices that must be sent through PEPPOL.

·        Prepayment invoices that may require different handling depending on the customer business process.

·        Internal or preliminary documents that should not be transmitted.

Business impact:

Customers with a high volume of prepayment invoices may generate a significant number of electronic documents sent through PEPPOL. This can create unnecessary document traffic and confusion for recipients, especially when the final invoice will be issued later.

The issue is not related to legislative compliance, but rather to business process flexibility and user control.

Comparison with other localization approaches:

The Czech localization of Business Central provides a more flexible approach to prepayment processing, where the prepayment lifecycle is more clearly separated from the final invoicing process.

The current W1 and Belgium localization approach is more dependent on the accounting document type:

Posted Sales Invoice = Electronic Invoice Candidate

This means that prepayment invoices are treated in the same way as final invoices.

Requested enhancement:

We would like Microsoft to consider adding additional control in the E-Documents framework, for example:

Option 1: A configurable sending policy by document type:

Document Type E-Document Processing

Sales Invoice Enabled

Sales Credit Memo Enabled

Prepayment Invoice Configurable

Proforma Invoice Disabled

Option 2: A configurable field on sales documents, for example:

Exclude from E-Document Processing

or

Do not send via PEPPOL

This would allow customers to decide whether specific document types should be transmitted electronically.

Why this should be considered as a global enhancement:

The requirement is not specific only to Belgium. Similar considerations may apply to other countries using E-Documents and PEPPOL-based electronic invoicing.

A global solution in the E-Documents framework would provide consistent behavior across localizations while allowing countries to comply with their specific legislative requirements.

Reference example:

The Czech localization already demonstrates that a more flexible prepayment process is possible within Business Central.

The requested change would improve usability for customers while maintaining full compliance with electronic invoicing regulations.

Expected outcome:

Provide customers with the ability to control which posted documents are transmitted through E-Documents / PEPPOL, especially for prepayment invoices, without requiring custom development.