eInvoicing surge gets Kiwi businesses paid faster

Kiwi businesses are on track for up to $800 million a year in productivity gains once eInvoicing is fully adopted, with uptake already more than doubling in the past year as businesses get paid faster and spend less time on paperwork, Small Business and Manufacturing Minister Cameron Brewer says.

Around 113,000 businesses are now registered to receive eInvoices, up from 52,000 earlier this year. eInvoicing lets businesses send and receive invoices directly between their accounting systems, with no printing, emailing, or manually keying in numbers.

"For small businesses, cash is king. Late payments choke cashflow, and that's exactly what this fixes. eInvoicing helps you get paid faster, cuts the admin, and reduces invoice fraud and scams," Mr Brewer says.

The $800 million figure comes from new research by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER), which finds businesses can save at least 16 minutes on every invoice, or around $11 each, just by making the switch.

"It's one of the simplest, proven productivity wins going. If you've got cloud accounting, you've already got eInvoicing sitting there ready to switch on," Mr Brewer says.

"Our Government is leading the charge with its own prompt payments, which we initiated and continue to closely monitor. The results speak for themselves and mean more cash into our local communities, faster," Mr Brewer says.

Government agencies are set a target of paying 95 percent of invoices within 10 working days, and last quarter they beat it, paying 95.9 percent on time across more than 1.6 million invoices.

"We're not just asking businesses to make the switch, we're doing it ourselves. When government pays on time, that money flows straight through to the small businesses and subcontractors down the chain," Mr Brewer says.

To lock in that lead, from 1 January 2027 large businesses will be required to send eInvoices when billing government agencies, with subcontractors paid on terms no less favourable than large firms receive.

"This is about making it easier to do business in New Zealand. It's fixing the basics and building the future, so Kiwi businesses have the incentives and the tools to get paid faster and lift productivity," Mr Brewer says. ...