Compliance Category: Información de la normativa

Procedure for registering with RO e-invoice Register & Core invoice usage specifications for the Romanian e-invoicing system

The Romanian government has introduced Government Emergency Ordinance no. 120/2021 which regulates B2G e-invoicing. Taxpayers in the B2B sphere can also now choose to issue and send invoices through the RO e-invoicing system, but it is not yet mandatory to do so.

Tungsten is monitoring developments in the Romania B2B landscape and will keep you updated.

The Minister of Finance Order no. 1366/2021 has also approved the core invoice usage specifications (RO_CIUS) for e-invoicing. These specific operational rules are compliant with the SR EN 16931-1 European standard for e-invoicing. This Order contains the core invoice usage specifications for e-invoices and how to use them.

Complemento Carta Porte 2.0 – updated version

We have provided some guidance around the Carta Porte – the new transportation notes that forms part of the CFDI. An updated version of the Complemento Carta Porte version 2.0 was published on the Mexican Tax Administration (SAT) website. This is mandatory from 1 January 2022. The updated version can be found here.

Tungsten has processed all the updated changes in our system, including the updated error codes, and we can process the updated Carta Complemento version.

Introduction of the new CFDI version 4.0 in January 2022

While the Mexican Government was still making changes through December 2021, we were working urgently to analyse what this means for Tungsten customers. As a reminder, a testing period began on 1 January 2022, up until 1 May 2022, at which point it will be mandatory to use the CFDI 4.0. It is still possible that the timelines will change. During the testing phase, both CFDI versions (3.3 and 4.0) can be used.

The new CFDI 4.0 version can be found on the Mexican government website.

Further intentions to implement mandatory B2B e-invoicing

We recently published an update relating to Belgium’s intention to mandate B2B e-invoicing- and it looks like this is increasingly gaining more impetus. The Belgian Minister of Finance has reinforced Belgium’s intention to make e-invoicing mandatory in his policy note. This intention is mainly triggered by the need to reduce the VAT gap. Belgium’s VAT gap is high- amounting to 3.6 billion Euros, or 10.4% of the total VAT revenue, and mandatory e-invoicing is seen as a means to overcome this deficit.

This is still at early stages- no timeframes have yet been announced, and there are not yet any suggested working models for a potential e-invoicing mandate. However, it is difficult to ignore the increasing popularity of PEPPOL in Belgium in recent years- and so it seems likely that Belgium will rely on a similar model for its own e-invoicing mandate, drawing on its own experiences with PEPPOL to help build an e-invoicing model.

The full policy note can be found here.

EU Commission approval to extend B2B e-invoicing mandate until end of 2024

The derogation from Articles 218 and 232 of the VAT Directive meant Italy could continue to mandate e-invoicing until 31 December 2021. Italy has requested to apply for an extension to apply the B2B e-invoicing mandate until 2024.
On 13 December 2021, the European Commission approved the authorisation for Italy to continue to apply the B2B mandate until the end of 2024.

VAT electronic cash register reporting changes

There are new VAT obligations applicable to certain retailers in Italy from 1 January 2022. These new obligations were originally scheduled for 1 October 2021 but delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

All retailers who are affected need to update their electronic registers for the transmission of daily transactions and VAT liabilities, resulting in greater visibility for tax authorities. Cash machine producers can carry out the required adjustments.

Retailers affected are:

  • All retailers subject to the 2019 internet-linked cash register transaction reporting* (see below);
  • Both residents and non-residents;
  • With a turnover of more than 400K Euros per year.

*In 2019, Italy introduced new regulations which meant certain retailers were required to transmit their daily takings to the Italian Internal Revenue Agency via the internet for goods and services sales with VAT applied. For businesses with a turnover of over 400K Euros per year, this requirement was introduced from July 2019; it was extended to other businesses on 1 January 2020.

ZATCA develops the Software Development Kit (SDK) Toolkit

The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) has developed the “SDK (Software Development Kit) Toolkit”, which enables taxpayers and developers of e-invoicing solutions to verify the compliance of generated e-invoices, credit, and debit notes, as well as the respective QR codes generated, against the e invoicing standards, specifications and regulations published by ZATCA.

A user manual is also available to guide users through the technical and functional aspects of the Compliance and Enablement Toolbox SDK such as what is the SDK, how to use it, and how to install it. To download the user manual and the SDK Toolkit, please access this page.

ZATCA publishes guide to develop a FATOORA compliant QR code

The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) published the guidelines for generating and printing QR codes on electronic tax invoices on 18 November 2021. The guide provides some further information on the QR code specification, Tag-Length-Value (TLV), how to create a TLV, code snippets as well as some details on the representation of QR code data.

For the full guideline, please visit: QRCodeCreation.pdf (zatca.gov.sa). Note that the use of QR codes on Tax Invoices will become mandatory from 01/01/23. QR codes are required on Simplified Invoices from 04/12/2021.

Postponement of e-invoicing pilot project

According to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the go-live of the pilot project for the e-invoicing system (EIS) has been postponed from 1 January 2022 to 1 July 2022. From 1 July 2022, the selected 100 large taxpayers must transmit invoice data to BIR in production. The EIS system supports the Comprehensive Tax reform Programme (CTRP), which was established by the Ministry of Finance. CTRP aims to digitise the tax and administrative systems in the country.

The EIS is a so-called Continuous Transaction Control (CTC); invoices need to be reported to the Government Platform after these have been shared with buyers. This centralised government platform was developed with the support of the South Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and it is therefore not surprising that the EIS platform strongly resembles the South Korean e-Tax system. The scope of the requirements includes sales invoices, debit- and credit notes, receipts and other accounting documents.

Italy delays SDI cross-border invoice reporting to July 2022

It is very likely that Italy will delay the introduction of the mandatory e-reporting of cross-border transactions to the SDI to July 2022 (from January 1, 2022).
The delay was proposed in a very recent draft amendment to the tax law that arranges the withdrawal of the Esterometro Reporting and the transition to cross-border invoice reporting to the SDI. The amendment has been passed by the Italian Senate and is now in the hands of the Tax Chamber for final approval. This is generally seen as a formality as the amendment needs to pass into law by December 20.
Tungsten Network is investigating how the delay impacts customers that seek to go live with the cross-border invoice reporting ahead of July 2022 and we invite you to check regularly for the latest updates here.

CFDI version 4.0.

The tax authorities in Mexico are in the process of releasing new requirements for a new version of the legal invoice in Mexico, known as the CFDI. This will be updated to version 4.0.
The new version of the CFDI will become enforceable from 1 April 2022, with a testing phase from 1st January 2022. Suppliers will be able to send over CFDIs in the new format prior to 1st April 2022.
Tungsten Network is aware of these changes and is analysing the requirements.
Final technical specifications are yet to be published but we expect these soon from the tax authorities.

Introduction of mandatory e-invoicing

The Ministry of Finance prepared an informational report on “Adopting a System of Electronic Flow of Supporting Documents and Waybills”, debated and endorsed on 12 October 2021, which mandates the use of electronic supporting documents and e-invoices by 2025. It is expected that E-invoicing will be mandatory for B2B and B2G transactions.
The Ministry of Finance in Latvia has been seeing the benefits in other countries in following a total or partial flow of e-invoices, and is hoping to incorporate similar benefits as a result of a more digital society.

New legal provisions for e-invoicing published

Recently, Government Emergency Ordinance (“GEO”) no. 120/2021, regulating the structure of the electronic invoice and creating the framework for achieving the basic technical specifications of the electronic invoice in Romania, was published in the Official Gazette. This includes detailed instructions regarding the Electronic Invoice RO e-factura.
The RO e-factura will become operational within 30 days of the GEO (so by 6 November 2021).
Economic operators can opt to use the national e-invoicing system and issue RO e-factura in both a B2G and B2B context.
The Ministry of Finance plans to issue a further order in the future to approve details around the use and operation of the RO e-factura system for B2B or B2G transactions and technical specifications.

Study on ways to reduce the VAT Gap

The European Parliament has been looking into ways of reducing the VAT gap- and has published a study to this effect. There was a particular focus on cross-border VAT fraud, which amounts to a colossal 50 billion Euros per year. The total VAT gap in Europe is estimated to be 165 billion Euros.
There have been a few measures which are seen as generally promising in reducing the VAT gap, including:

  • Accelerating the adoption of EU mandatory electronic invoice ‘Generalised EU VAT number’; and
  • Accelerating the move towards a central electronic system

A binding EU-wide mandate for electronic invoicing is part of one of two proposed scenarios.

E-invoicing with larger taxpayers

Resolution RND 10210000012 cites 171 large taxpayers (known also as PRICOS) which are required to adhere to the new e-invoicing mandate in Bolivia. The 171 larger taxpayers who must adapt their Billing Implementation Systems can now issue Digital Tax Documents through the assigned online billing modality as of 1st December 2021.
They will be required to issues e-invoices from this date.
Resolution 102100000019 contains a second group of taxpayers that must start abiding by the new e-invoicing rules by 1 April 2022, showing Bolivia is intending to implement its e-invoicing regime in a phased approach.