Electronic invoicing in Portugal, is it this one or will we see it?
Defined in 2014, the European plan that contemplates the country’s obligation to adhere to electronic invoicing in commercial exchanges between companies and Governments has been successively postponed in ours. It is already a warning that this story is not suitable for the faint of heart, so, dear reader, if you are not sitting down, do it.
All August 2017. It was in Portugal, on the part of publishing a Community Directive, the first of legislation that imposed the mandatory adhesion of the electric bill until December 31, 2018, of the various actors in the process of supply to the State, amending the Code of Public Contracting. When the mentioned deadlines were missing to enter into force – days, a difference arises between the mentioned deadlines that came to stratify the two public bodies in force and (2) others – and different bodies are designated to them different from the deadlines of the State came to stratify two -Different bodies and only (2) others interrupted for one year: April 18, 2019 for the first group and April 18, 2020 for the second. There are no longer integrated suppliers to all entities that serve the process until the case obliged companies to enter the electrical invoicing process of April 2020, and December 31, 2020, if they are small or suppliers.
However, it arrives in March 2020 and the first cases of covid-19 are detected in Portugal. The country stops in the face of a global pandemic and, on April 7, a new legislation is decided, which throws more of concrete suppliers on the issuance of electronic invoices for 2021, January 1 (regarding companies), July 1 (SME) and January 1, 2022 (micro-enterprises).
It is natural for this confusion to feel this whirlwind, however, hold on to the chair confused and hold on a little longer because you weren’t here yet! On November 27, 2021, a new postponement arrives, which dictates that SMEs and micro companies assume the obligation of electronic invoicing until July 1, 2022. But on June 28 of this year, the legislator makes the deadline again flexible until December 31 of this year. year .
Faced with so much change, the obligation of dense exchanges to market invoicing between companies and the Government resists time in a fog and more and more doubts and uncertainties throughout the market. Here are some questions: since there is currently a “semi-obligation” in force, in which penalties could be incorrect for public bodies that have not yet been prepared to receive invoices sent electronically? State suppliers considered Large Companies that issue electronic invoices in situations where they are obliged to take risks or in which they cannot be penalized?
In a certain wording of this legislative calendar, compliance with the deadlines that must meet the activities leading to the implementation of the electronic invoice in public contracts, with a view to accelerating the deadlines for conference and payment against public publics, must be met. With all these changes, will the co-contractors be sensitized and motivated for such activities? and payment of conference deadlines and exclusive to us? Shouldn’t it be a concern for everyone involved? Is it a concern only linked to electronic invoicing?
I apologize, because I know that fatigue already weighs heavily on this spiral of certainties. But, unfortunately, we don’t stop here with postponements in electronic invoicing.
In electronic invoicing” – commonly known as the simple pdf with the invoice that arrives by email – we also already have several more “deferral” prints. would be the most advantageous option for the added value that this possibility could bring in terms of simplicity of implementation. However, the legislator wanted to turn what could be simple, in terms of use, into something not very ingenious for reality business: given the need to have a digital certificate issued (I will compare it to the key to enter the office), we are faced with a bureaucratic process for issuing the same. use of the citizen’s card, with a view to signing contracts.
Although it is accepted as an incentive measure to use the electronic signature of contracts through the use of the citizen’s card, let’s look at the situation from the following perspective: it seems feasible that a company has to renew the authorization to use the key to open the , with the landlord every 60 days? This is not for a sole proprietorship. For in this very small case it must be thought of in much smaller storms.
In addition to the aspects of this approach, and in order not to bore you again with more data – I would just like to point out where they were presented and that we are currently, in terms of mandatory electronic invoice: the initial intention date was fixed on January 1, 2020 and extend now until January 1, 2023. Three years.
Meanwhile, electronic invoicing has also spread to other contractual relationships. The new Simplex 2022 was published on the 19th of July, giving an account of the intention to implement 48 measures, one of them related to the theme. Thus, by the end of the year, the “Paperless Invoice” measure will be available, which allows electronic invoices to be sent to citizens and companies from the invoicing program, by electronic mail, at the option of the taxpayer, replacing the physical version of the same.
The goal that every year more transparent has an intention to promote the most transparently so that every year of its more transparent process has been pursued, making the years of a more transparent process clean in environmental terms. But since the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off many times, the question hangs in the air: Electronic Invoicing in Portugal, is it this one or will we see it?