Latvian comedian and entrepreneur Echarts Kupls published an emotional post on social media criticizing the current electronic invoice system for government and municipal institutions.
According to him, instead of the usual invoicing procedure, entrepreneurs now have to issue electronic documents through the government services portal. Kupls ironically describes this process as "technological magic," noting the difficulties in filling out forms, system failures, and the need to re-enter data.
So, ladies and gentlemen, my latest personal "blood pressure raiser" — E-INVOICES! For those who are still blissfully unaware, let me explain this epic saga. The government has enacted a brilliant, Nobel Prize-worthy law: entrepreneurs can no longer simply issue a regular invoice to a government institution for work done, as was the case in the "good old days." No, now we have to issue electronic invoices!" the author writes.
The technological magic lies in the following: you need to log onto the Latvija.lv portal (which itself is already like a thriller with elements of action) and fill out the official invoice form with such detailed information as if you are selling not a service, but nuclear warheads. Then you need to send it to the municipality's email address, and a copy to the State Revenue Service!
Theoretically, everything seems simple, but in practice...
I try to send the completed invoice, but Latvija.lv freezes and gives an error. Alright, I start creating the invoice from scratch. It turns out I filled something out incorrectly, which prevents the invoice from being sent — and I have to dig through everything again to find my mistake!
And under no circumstances should you go to the bathroom, even if you really need to, because your session may end, and you will be "kicked out" of the portal, after which you will have to start all over again.
In the end, while simultaneously taking calming pills, repeating mantras, praying to all known gods, and meditating to avoid breaking my computer in anger, the electronic invoice was finally completed and sent!
The author's particular dissatisfaction arose from interactions with various municipalities. In the publication, he provides examples where invoices were returned due to formal remarks, were sent to the wrong email address, or, according to the institutions, were not received at all, despite delivery confirmation in the system. The entrepreneur also recounted instances where payment was delayed due to discrepancies between the contracting party and the actual payer.
But here begins the second act of the show — the municipal accounting spectacle.
Municipal accountants, as true guardians of bureaucracy should, love to make life more colorful. They accept these electronic invoices with as much joy as a cat goes to the bath.
The first municipality claims that somewhere in some unclear place a period is missing. Where exactly? They don’t know either, but a period must be there!
The second municipality is offended because the invoice was sent to the main email address of the institution, but it should have been sent to the "not quite main" one.
The third municipality, two weeks after the payment deadline, states: "We haven’t received anything!" although the system clearly states in green letters that the invoice was successfully delivered.
The fourth municipality claims it cannot pay the invoice because the contract is with the municipality, but payment will be made by their substructure. Therefore, everything needs to be redone. Where is the logic?
At the same time, the author emphasizes that his publication is satirical in nature and aims to humorously view bureaucratic processes. He called for understanding towards all participants in the system — from accountants and officials to entrepreneurs and utility workers.
"This is humorous satire, the goal of which is to look at various bureaucratic processes with ease and understanding that we are all connected, so let’s respect each other: both the municipal accountants and those who came up with these electronic invoices, and the janitors, and the entrepreneurs!" wrote Echarts.
The post sparked active discussion on social media, where many users shared their own experiences with electronic invoices and government digital services.
Sanita Matule: I encountered that on weekends it is impossible to send an electronic invoice — the loading circle just spins and that’s it… They say some "optimization" or something similar is being carried out at that time. Has anyone else experienced this? I am also self-employed, so I handle work matters even on weekends. And it’s very inconvenient that if you miss one period or make another minor mistake, the document is simply annulled — and you have to fill everything out again, rather than just correct it. And the e-Rīga system is just absurd. If you write a long text in the payment purpose field, you cannot use spaces or line breaks (officials explain it differently each time), otherwise it gives an error that "invalid characters" have been used...
Uldis Kalkis: A period, like a comma, is always important‼️😂 To execute or not to execute. To execute. Cannot pardon. P.S. No one in the state and municipalities wants to take responsibility because of this one period… unfortunately, but that’s a fact...
Kalvis Kronbergs: I agree, I was only able to issue the invoice on the third try… I’ll also add about the mandatory sending of emails through Latvija.lv… and this is despite the fact that all institutions already have your email, and all correspondence worked fine before, but now… everything comes in duplicate — both to the existing email and through Latvija.lv… Why is that? Why?..
