Manual E-bill 499.41

1.2 E-bill process in brief
1. To enable a bill recipient to receive electronic bills via PostFinance, he
must register with the biller, i. e. he provides his subscriber number as for
an address change. For this purpose, PostFinance offers the billers the
necessary tools which can be used via e-finance or business interface.
2. As soon as the biller has stored the subscriber number in his customer
database he can send the electronic bill to PostFinance.
3. The bill details can be presented either directly by PostFinance, by the
biller or by a biller service provider.
4. Provision of data for the bill recipient
Via e-finance: The bill recipient can view the bills via e-finance and issue
the corresponding payment instructions or reject the bill. On the due
date, PostFinance makes the payment or notifies the biller that the bill
was rejected.
Via data transmission: The bill recipient downloads the bill data
from a defined communication channel. After processing them, he issues
a payment order using his finance software, e. g. via EPO.
Via network partners (see section 1.7)
5. The ISR credits are booked according to the process defined by the biller.
1.3 Delimitations
The functions of the PostFinance e-bill solution begin when bill data are sent
from a biller’s billing solution or accounts receivable system to PostFinance
and end when a bill recipient issues a payment instruction in e-finance or if
the data are included in an accounts payable solution. The main functions
of the e-bill solution of PostFinance are:
• Conversion of the data into the format requested by the recipient
• Data processing to conform with legal requirements
• Data transport.
The PostFinance e-bill solution is not:
• a billing solution
• a print system
• an accounts receivable management system
• an accounts payable management system
• a payment transaction system.
1.4 Legal basis
In the spring of 2002 the Swiss tax authorities laid the foundations for the
complete electronic exchange of bills between companies by implementing
the ordinance on electronically transmitted data and information (EIDI-V).
Thus, electronic invoices are just as authoritative as paper documents, as
long as they have not been changed and their origin and the non-contestability
of the data and information are guaranteed. These requirements
can be met in technical terms, for instance by applying a digital signature
process.
Manual E-bill Version October 2010 8/64