27 Jun Revenue Agency: Circular 14/E

With the press release of 17 June, the Revenue Agency issued Circular 14/E with object “Clarifications regarding documentation of transactions relevant for VAT purposes, in the light of recent regulatory changes regarding electronic invoicing”.

The Circular offers clarifications on the following topics:

• areas of application of the e-invoice
• health care
• issue and registration methods (including the date theme)
• sanctions
• stamp duty
• criteria for completing the self-invoices
• VAT news

We highlight the following points of attention:

• From 1 July 2019 whoever issues the immediate invoice will have 12 days to send it to the SDI (instead of the current 24 hours). The amendment to the growth decree was approved by the House last Friday 21 June and confirmed the 12 days to transmit FE and telematics fees; the transition to the Senate is only a formality, which will take place by June 29th.
• All invoices that do not contain the Transport Document reference are considered immediate. The deferred invoice is distinguished from the immediate one in that it reports the reference to the Transport Document, even if unfortunately the Circular has not specifically detailed it, but we believe it is the only way to effectively distinguish the two types of invoice.
• The date of the Invoice document can be later than the date of the last Transport Document, as long as it reports the same month as the date of the last Transport Document entered.
• The date of issue of the electronic invoice is the date reported in the “Data” field of the “General Data” section of the electronic invoice file; the date shown in the “General Data” field is the invoice date and the transaction date. Therefore it is confirmed that no additional fields should be implemented.
• For the purpose of counting the 12 days required by the ES to send, the circular states: “the invoice can be issued (ie generated and sent to the SDI) on the same day [of the sale of the good / service], so that” ‘transaction’ and ‘Issue date’ are the same and the “Data” field of the “General Data” section is filled in with the same value “. In principle, when it “transmits” (it is sent to the SDI), the requirements of art. 21 Presidential Decree 633/72: “… the invoice is considered issued when it is transmitted …”.
• Currently the technical rules provide that, in case of rejection by the SDI, the invoice is considered not issued and therefore it is necessary to provide for retransmission within 5 days. Regarding the counting of 12 days, in case of invoice (immediate or deferred) with a negative outcome by the SDI, there will be an additional 5 days (from the date of the “KO” of the ES) to correct and return the same document to the SDI; this 5-day “extension” is repeated for each negative result received by the SDI.
• It will therefore be necessary to keep all the communication receipts with the SDI, to better protect its end customers (TESISQUARE provides this service).
• Until 2 September 2019, the Inland Revenue will temporarily store invoices, thus allowing them to be consulted in their own reserved area. It is possible to adhere to a specific service agreement, to be signed directly with the Revenue Agency, through which it is possible to consult or download the XML files of the invoices issued and received through the SDI in its own reserved area of the website of the ‘Revenue Agency, essentially keeping the current process unchanged. In this context, the Inland Revenue will take on the role of data processor, archiving the invoices in a dedicated database (for the sole purpose of consultation: it is not a case of conservation according to law). It is also possible to join through delegated intermediaries. “In the event of failure to comply with the Agreement referred to above with the SDI on time, the Agency will proceed with the cancellation of electronic invoices stored during the transitional period within 30 days from the end of the same and invoice data only will be maintained for the planned activities institutional assistance and automated control, until the deadlines for any investigations have expired – ie by 31 December of the eighth year following the presentation of the reference declaration – or any judgments defined ”. We therefore advise you to join this service of the Revenue Agency, since, in the case of invoices not received for any reason whatsoever, to the provider, it is the only means of finding the invoice.