Unlike in Europe, in Latin America, e-invoicing has served to provide state monitoring of the financial flows of companies for a long time. The requirements for the countries vary significantly from those in Europe, and they also change frequently.
Since 2014, companies in Mexico have been required to use the CFDI (Comprobante Fiscal Digital a través de Internet) electronic invoicing system. The invoicing procedure itself is not performed by the state but rather by certified third-party companies, the PACs (Proveedor Autorizo da Certificación). Since late 2017 the Complementos-de-Pagos document has further required all received payments to be declared to the fiscal authority SAT (Servicio de Administración Tributaria) and the accounts to be lodged there electronically. Invoices must now be stored for up to 10 years.
Accountability and digital certificates
The invoice must be registered in a system that records the exact time at which it was generated. The issuer of the invoice requires a digital certificate authorised by the Mexican fiscal authority in order to generate the CFDI in its current version.
CFD certification
An e-invoicing provider (PAC) recognised by the Mexican government verifies the legality of the invoice in respect of SAT, which attaches a 32-digit certification number (UUID – universally unique identifier) to the invoice for authorisation. Using the UUID, SAT can track all relevant CFDI documents and payments linked to them. If the invoice is not approved, SAT attaches a declination code to the XML file instead of the UUID. PAC must forward the invoice to the Mexican government within 72 hours.
The idea behind the punctuality of the invoice and payment tracking is to ensure payment of the VAT, which has to be done within a specific time period and does not occur, as in Brazil, for example, only after the goods are physically delivered. Before this regulation was introduced, the Mexican fiscal authority SAT (Servicio de Administración Tributaria) was unable to track any partial payments, or was unable to determine whether they constituted an invoice or an actual payment. The result of this was that companies paid their invoices without VAT, or alternatively that invoices were cancelled after having been paid so that the customer could avoid paying the VAT.
The creation of Pagos documents is mandatory for the following constellations:
To prevent further forms of tax evasion, SAT has also introduced a real-time electronic auditing system. This gives SAT an exact overview of the sales, prices and actual profits of a company. SAT can even perform re-audits of circumstances that have already been investigated.
In most Latin American countries, invoices must be sent directly or via certified providers to the relevant fiscal authority. As volumes increase, the risk of violations when legislative changes are made grows greater. We implement suitable technical solutions for SAP users.
The ortevo Connector is our low-cost, flexible solution for your business-to-government (B2G) e-invoicing needs. Based on the SAP eDocument Framework, it links the systems of specialised e-invoicing providers to your SAP system.
Your SAP application can be consolidated for e-invoicing in two ways: by using the SAP solutions or by integrating a specialised provider. Both methods can implement the requirements of the individual countries on the four major points.
Normally, Latin American fiscal authorities prescribe an XML format for invoices. The exact specifications are particular to each country, however.
In Latin America, invoices can only be sent to customers with the signature of the relevant authorities. Different methods of doing this are used in each country.
Tracking of invoices by the fiscal authorities is normally made possible by the use of individual codes. These codes must be integrated into the invoice.
Although e-invoicing is widely used in Latin America, in some countries the printed invoice must also meet exact government specifications.
Our solutions adapt flexibly to new statutory requirements when these change
Even with multiple e-invoicing partners in multiple countries, your system gives a clear overview
Even with large volumes, our solutions comply with all regulations and thereby avoid violations.
Your IT department no longer has to keep up with the frequent regulatory changes in Latin America.
If your IT landscape is consolidated for e-invoicing, you are spared regular modifications.
Regardless of the approach you prefer, we will support you in your selection and the implementation.
We show you the advantages and disadvantages of the various possibilities and help you both to select and to implement the solution that is best for you. We can also present our ortevo Connector live.
