Self-employed people and companies that invoice the Public Administration must use electronic invoices. In the near future, electronic invoicing will become mandatory for transactions between businesses (in 2024 for companies with a turnover exceeding 8 million euros, and in 2025 for all companies). Electronic invoicing, as opposed to traditional invoicing, involves the issuance of invoices and other documents through electronic means. If the invoicing is conducted between businesses or professionals and individuals, electronic invoicing will not be mandatory.
What is an electronic invoice?
Characteristics of an electronic invoice
These e-invoices include the characteristics and requirements of traditional invoices but, as they are electronic, they authenticate both the issuer and the content of the invoice and make it authentic.
In order to create and send electronic invoices, they must have a digital signature.
Invoice formats
Electronic invoicing formats vary considerably from country to country.
These formats or coded guides are extracted from the Electronic Data Interchange.
The EDIFACT format, created by the United Nations, is used when the invoice is sent from a computer to a computer, and the receiver intends or wants to be able to modify the information and process it.
On the other hand, when the receiver of the invoice only wants to save it without modifying data, the most commonly used format is PDF.