Take you to interpret Italian electronic invoices

Italy has implemented a series of VAT compliance measures from June 28, including:

Electronic invoices can be submitted to the SdI portal 12 days after creation, extending from 10 to 12 days.

      Earlier this year, the obligation to submit real-time invoices on the Italian SdI portal was extended to B2B and B2C invoices for all resident taxpayers. During the first six months, businesses can choose to send invoices by the 16th of the following month at the latest to match the monthly VAT payment date/return.

Invoices for the supply of goods or services between Italy and San Marino must be issued in electronic format. 

The VAT return for the fourth quarter can be submitted at the same time as the annual VAT return at the end of February of the following year. ( for quarterly reports )

Back to the question of electronic invoices, how will electronic invoices work?

      According to reports, if the electronic invoice system starts to be used, all private and corporate invoices will be required to use, sign, transmit, and store electronic invoices. These documents are processed through the Interchange System (SdI) managed by the Tax Office. Different from paper invoices, electronic invoices must be used with electronic devices such as computers and smartphones, combined with the software or portal provided by the tax bureau.

      The Italian government and relevant agencies vigorously promote electronic invoices, hoping to reduce tax evasion, underreporting of income and issuing false invoices through the implementation of the electronic invoice system. In addition, the use of electronic invoices can simplify tax procedures to a certain extent. For example, when filling out a series of documents such as tax statements, year-end statements, annual income forms, and 770 forms, tax information only needs to be filled out once, and then company and personal information can be permanently Save it, you don't need to fill it out again.

Let's follow the editor to learn about the little knowledge about electronic invoices! !

1. What is an electronic invoice

      From January 1, 2019, all Italian invoicing can not use paper invoices in the old way, but electronic invoices (Fattura Elettronica). There is one more thing SDI compared to old-fashioned invoices. The full name of SDI is Sistema di Interscambio, which can be translated into data exchange system in Chinese and is under the jurisdiction of the Italian Tax Agency. The entire electronic invoice process mainly includes four links: generation, sending, receiving and saving.

2. How to issue an electronic invoice

      According to the relevant Italian laws, the only legal electronic invoice file is XML (others such as PDF and XLS are invalid). The format and content of the XML file must meet the technical requirements of the tax bureau, otherwise it will be returned after sending.

At present, the most common solution to issue electronic invoices and generate XML files is to entrust accountants or other service providers to issue electronic invoices: the only thing you have to do is to send them paper invoices, which saves you worry and effort, but most of them need to be charged . This method is suitable for users with a small number of invoices, of course, please feel free to local tyrants!

      Relevant laws stipulate that invoices need to be issued and sent before 24:00 on the same day, but in order to ensure the smooth implementation of electronic invoices, until June 2019, you only need to ensure that you send the IVA value-added tax every month or every quarter. E-invoice, you will not be fined. Beginning in July 2019, the time for invoicing will be extended to 10 days.

3. How should the electronic invoice XML file be sent to the customer after it is generated?

      Electronic invoices must be sent to customers through the data interchange system (SDI) of the tax bureau, in order to comply with relevant Italian laws and regulations, and electronic invoices sent by any other means are invalid (such as directly sent to the customer's e-mail address). ). Sending an e-invoice to SDI is not complete. XML files with incorrect format or content will be returned. Only after receiving the confirmation notice from SDI, the electronic invoice is truly sent successfully. If you do not receive a reply from SDI immediately after the electronic invoice is sent, please wait patiently. It is still a lot of pressure for SDI to process invoices sent by all Italian companies. Generally, there will be results within a few hours, but not at the latest. more than 5 days.

      There are three main channels for sending and receiving electronic invoices in compliance with the law:

A. PEC mailbox (Posta Elettronica Certificata): This is an e-mail that has passed the real-name authentication of the enterprise. Each enterprise needs to open it when registering.

Open the browser and log in to the PEC mailbox to send the electronic invoice. If it is the first time to send the electronic invoice, the default address provided by the tax bureau should be filled in the recipient's email address: sdi01@pec.fatturapa.it, and then the XML Files are sent as attachments (allegato).

Note: This address can only be used when sending an electronic invoice for the first time. After receiving the first electronic invoice, the tax bureau will assign another email address to the company, and subsequent electronic invoices will be sent to this new email address. Similarly, it is also possible to receive electronic invoices through it, just send the PEC email address to your supplier.

B. The website of the tax bureau: you need to register before you can use it. You can open an account online, or go directly to the local tax bureau to apply for opening.

C. Third-party service providers: These service providers need to pass the qualification certification of the tax bureau, and the functions of the electronic invoice platform provided are relatively standardized, which are suitable for users who are good in Italian and are familiar with computer operations. After purchasing their service you can get the so-called SDI number, in fact the correct name is CODICE DESTINATARIO, the recipient number, which consists of 7 digits + letters. Give this number to your supplier to receive electronic invoices.

Note: This number is shared by all customers of the service provider, not the company's unique number as rumored.

No matter which channel is used to receive electronic invoices, our suggestion is to specify the default electronic invoice receiving method (Registrazione dell'indirizzo telematico) on the website of the tax bureau to avoid the occurrence of PEC mailboxes or SDI numbers, but due to forgetting In cases where suppliers have to go to the Tax Office website to download invoices.

Note: Only the electronic invoices received through the above channels are valid. The paper invoices given by the supplier can be used for goods at most, without any legal benefits!