Argentina e-Invoicing Evolution

Click Image to Enlarge

For those of you familiar with the invoicing process, it is interesting to view the evolution from paper invoices, to e-invoicing, to real-time e-invoicing.  Let's use Argentina as our evolutionary example:

First - Traditional Paper Invoice

•Closes the commercial transaction;

•Describes products and services, including costs for taxes & freight

•Includes accounting codes used for matching, assigning costs within an organization

•Auditable by Tax Authorities for Value Added Tax compliance

Second - Basic Electronic e-Invoice

•Electronic version of paper document - contains the same basic information

•Digitally signed by emitter for non-repudiation and authentication to receiver

•Validated by receiver to prove that the integrity of message remains in tact

•Electronic file is the legal invoice – paper visualizations for human comfort only

Third - Argentina e-Invoicing

•Multiple CFD Document Types (export invoice, credit memo, debit memo, etc.)

•Real-time integration of CFD Summary with Argentina Tax Authority (AFIP)

•Export Invoices - cannot release truck for shipment without CAE number

•All Invoices, CAE Code and Expiration Date required on printed output.

•Mandates for Export Invoices now, Mandates for other CFD Document Types Coming Soon

As you can quickly determine, the involvement by IT jumps as the invoicing process evolves.  First it is digitized, and then integrated with real-time processes and data exchanges.  The image above (click to enlarge), shows a list of Latin American countries and their current e-invoicing status.

If you work in a company that sells products and services in Latin America, the need to support these current and future e-invoicing requirements is obvious.  For SAP customers, SAP has recently announced the acquisition of Crossgate, a leading global e-invoicing service provider.  This acquisition will make it far easier for SAP users to support these requirements now and in the future.

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Kevin R Benedict - EDI and e-Invoicing Veteran, SAP Mentor, Analyst
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*Full Disclosure: I am an independent consultant that has worked with and for many of the companies mentioned.