Who must e-invoice, and what goes into the file

A joiner in Trento emails a hotel a neat PDF invoice for 2,440 €, as he has done for years. The hotel pays, yet its accountant will not deduct the VAT on it. For the tax authority the invoice was never issued: it did not travel through the Sistema di Interscambio, and a PDF is not the document that counts.

Who is obliged, who is exempt

The Agenzia delle Entrate's guide puts the rule plainly. Every VAT-number holder resident or established in Italy who makes transactions with parties resident or established in Italy must issue electronic invoices. The test concerns both ends of the transaction: an Italian supplier and an Italian customer.

The customer's status does not matter within that test. A business, a professional or a private consumer all receive the invoice through the same system. What changes with a consumer is the address the file goes to and a copy handed over, as the section on the recipient code shows.

Exemption follows an earlier dispensation rather than creating a new one. Those already released by law from issuing invoices, even on paper, are also released from e-invoicing. The guide names two examples: small farmers under article 34, paragraph 6, of Presidential Decree 633/1972, and those who asked to be dispensed under article 36-bis for exempt transactions.

One case is not an exemption but a ban. Health professionals may not send through the SdI invoices for health services to final consumers, because of the particularly sensitive data those invoices contain. Here the rule runs the other way: the electronic channel is closed, not optional.

Flat-rate taxpayers, the forfettari, are not listed among the exempt. The guide devotes a page of its own to them, which describes how they fill in the invoice in the web procedure. Their invoice differs in content, not in channel: it travels through the SdI like any other.

What changes compared with paper

According to the guide, an electronic invoice differs from a paper one in only two respects. It must be drawn up on a computer, a tablet or a smartphone, in a structured format called XML. And it must be transmitted electronically, through the Sistema di Interscambio, to the address at which the customer wants to receive it.

Everything else about the invoice stays what it was: the parties, the goods or services, the amounts, the tax. The change is in the medium and the route. That is why a business that knows how to invoice on paper already knows most of what the file must say; what it has to learn is how the file travels.

The rules on deferred invoicing survive the change. The guide recalls that a deferred electronic invoice may still be prepared by the 15th of the month following the transaction, under article 21, paragraph 4, letter a), of the decree. At the moment of the transaction a transport document or equivalent, even on paper, must still be given.

The price of ignoring the route is set out in the guide in one sentence. An invoice prepared and sent in a form other than XML, or by a channel other than the SdI, is considered not issued. The supplier faces the penalties of article 6 of Legislative Decree 471/1997, and the customer cannot deduct the VAT.

That is the joiner's situation from the opening lines. His PDF was an image of an invoice, not the invoice itself. The hotel could not deduct the VAT because, legally, no invoice had reached it. Sending the XML through the SdI afterwards is the only way to put things right.

The guide also lists advantages, which explain why the system is built as it is. The date of issue and of delivery is certain, because every invoice passes through the SdI. And for operators within the scope of the measure of 8 July 2021, the Agenzia provides drafts of VAT registers, periodic settlements and the annual VAT return.

The tools and the web procedure

To prepare an e-invoice you need a device and a program that writes the XML format set by the measure of the Director of the Agenzia of 24 November 2022. The Agenzia offers three free programs: a web procedure on the Fatture e Corrispettivi portal, software to download onto a PC, and an app called FatturAE.

The web procedure and the app need an internet connection; the PC software can work offline. The guide says these tools are meant above all for businesses issuing a limited number of invoices. Private software from specialised providers, or built into accounting programs, is the alternative for larger volumes.

Access to the web procedure requires SPID, the electronic identity card CIE, the national services card CNS, or Fisconline or Entratel credentials issued by the Agenzia. The first time, the procedure shows the supplier's data under I miei dati, retrieved from the tax register. Everything there can be changed except the VAT number.

The customer section is checked as you type. The procedure verifies at once that the customer's VAT number or tax code exists in the tax register. If it does not, a message says so and you cannot go on. This is deliberate: an invoice carrying a non-existent tax identifier would be rejected by the SdI anyway.

A customer can make this step faster by showing a QR code that contains their VAT number, their details and their registered address for invoices. The procedure reads it and fills in the data. Customer details can also be saved in an address book for the next invoice to the same customer.

The recipient code in three cases

One field decides where the invoice goes: the Codice destinatario. The guide calls it indispensable for sending an invoice correctly and gives three ways of filling it in. Choosing the right one depends on what the customer has told you, not on who the customer is.

• The customer has given you an alphanumeric code of 7 characters: enter it
• The customer has given you a certified e-mail address (PEC): enter 0000000 and write the PEC in the field PEC Destinatario
• The customer is a final consumer, or a VAT-registered party who gave neither code nor PEC: enter 0000000 alone

The third case carries an extra duty. When you enter 0000000 alone, you must give the customer an electronic or paper copy of the invoice, and remind them that the original is the electronic one. They can view and download it in their reserved area on the Agenzia's website, where the SdI makes it available.

A private customer therefore receives two things: a copy from you, and access to the original in their reserved area. The copy is a courtesy with a legal reminder attached; it is not the invoice. The guide insists on the wording because a consumer holding a PDF may otherwise think the PDF is the document.

Invoice data, lines and total

Under Dati della fattura you fill in the mandatory fields: document type, number, date and currency. Under Beni e servizi you describe the nature, quantity and quality of what was supplied, with the taxable amount, the VAT rate and the tax. For exempt or non-taxable transactions, a nature code takes the place of the rate.

An invoice may contain several lines when one document covers several goods or services, including at different VAT rates. The Aggiungi button adds a line. The total is computed automatically and must be confirmed in the field Importo totale documento, which is a check on your side rather than a formality.

Other fields are available when needed: withholding tax and the pension fund contribution for a professional's invoice, discounts, surcharges. Under Verifica dati you review everything and save the file in the mandatory XML format. The file can also be displayed and saved as a PDF, but the file sent to the SdI is the XML.

The same screen offers a Sigilla button, which seals the XML file to guarantee its integrity, and an Invia button that transmits it. Once sent, the procedure shows a unique number that the SdI has assigned to the file, the IdSdI. Keep it: it is the key under which the invoice and its receipt can be found later.

Two functions save typing. Riprendi ultimo file reopens the last invoice prepared so that it can be changed into a new one. Importa da file XML loads an existing invoice, even incomplete, for editing and sending. A file prepared earlier and saved on the PC can also be sent later with the Trasmissione function.

None of this changes what the invoice must say for VAT purposes: the procedure is a form laid over the same content. A business that later moves to private software finds the same fields and the same recipient code, because the XML format is the one set by the measure of 24 November 2022, whatever tool writes it.

The flat-rate taxpayer's invoice

A flat-rate taxpayer uses the same procedure, with a few fields filled in differently. Under Dati della fattura, the tax regime field for the invoice is set to Regime forfettario, with the reference to article 1, paragraphs 54 to 89, of Law 190/2014. This tells the customer and the SdI why no VAT appears.

Because flat-rate taxpayers show no VAT on domestic transactions, each line carries a VAT rate of 0 % and the nature Non soggette - altri casi. The invoice must also state the legal ground for not showing VAT, through the Causale field, with the wording the guide provides, citing the same paragraphs of Law 190/2014.

A flat-rate professional adds two things. A second Causale states that the transaction is not subject to withholding tax under article 1, paragraph 67, of Law 190/2014. And the pension fund data go into the Dati cassa previdenziale box. Both are reached from the Altri dati menu on the right.

When a flat-rate invoice is subject to stamp duty, the Dati bollo section is activated and the field Bollo virtuale set to Sì. The 2 euros of stamp duty must then be included in the total amount of the document. The guide does not say here when an invoice is subject to stamp duty; that rule is found elsewhere.

To avoid filling these fields every time, the portal offers a template for flat-rate taxpayers with the fields already completed, for ordinary invoices and for invoices to the public administration. It is under Fatturazione elettronica e Conservazione, in the Generazione da template box.