Unlike in Europe, in Colombia, e-invoicing has served to provide state monitoring of the financial flows of companies for a long time. The requirements involved vary significantly between the countries, and they also change frequently.
Since 1 January 2019 all companies that wish to pay VAT or consumer import tax (Impoconsumo) must use the electronic invoicing system to do so. This change affects some 800,000 companies and is monitored by the national fiscal authority DIAN (Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales) . The objective of this reform is to fight tax evasion, plus enhanced tax compliance and savings for both private and public sectors.
In the year of the change alone, 2018, some 50,000 companies were asked to use the new electronic invoicing system, while in the course of the year, DIAN issued further lists of companies that it considered particularly risky. According to this, these are in particular major manufacturing companies and those involved in the financial or tax sector. Following the request from DIAN, a company has only three months in which to implement the system. Since a further three months are granted for testing in the event of a voluntary changeover to e-invoicing, this option can be advantageous for an error-free implementation.
DIAN offers a ‘choice’ between two e-invoicing options
Micro and small businesses can use a free-of-charge IT service that allows invoices to be manually created and downloaded. Medium-sized and large companies can use a provider authorised by DIAN that automates the entire invoice creation process.
To comply with DIAN’s specifications and to protect oneself against audits, mechanisms should be developed that prevent the manipulation of systems and that verify data reliability. Additionally, transaction logs should be maintained and archived. This can be ensured by means of an appropriate provider.
In addition, the e-invoicing system must be certified either independently or by a government accredited third-party provider. For large companies, however, the second option is not recommended since the volume of sensitive data that would be made available to a third party would be a security risk in itself.
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.
