e-Invoicing in Italy: Fattura vs Scontrino

Overview

The electronic invoicing system in Italy is called the Sdi, Sistema di Interscambio (exchange system), and it’s a platform on which invoices can be validated and transmitted to their recipients.

From January 1st, 2019, all invoices issued following the sale of goods or provision of services carried out between entities resident or established in Italy must be electronically invoiced. The electronic invoice requirements in Italy, introduced by the 2018 Budget Law, apply to all transaction categories (B2B/C/G).

The rules for preparing, transmitting, receiving, and storing electronic invoices are defined in provision no. 89757 of 30 April 2018 published on the website of the Revenue Agency. To support VAT operators, the Revenue Agency provides various free services to easily prepare electronic invoices, transmit and receive them, to keep them over time in a safe and unalterable manner as well as to consult and acquire the original copy of the electronic invoices correctly issued and received.

Fattura Elettronica

B2B and B2C transactions are reported to the SdI in a different format, and the key requirement to be able to report these transactions to SdI electronically is that the supplier has all relevant customer data.

These mandatory data points are the Company name, address, and Tax ID (P.IVA) for businesses, and full name, address, and Codice Fiscale for individuals.

If these data points are available, then Fattura Elettronica can be reported to SdI.

Further, in case the customer provided their certified email address and this was communicated to the SdI, the Italian government will automatically generate an invoice for each reported transaction and send it to the customer. If this certified email address was not provided, then the supplier needs to issue an invoice to the customer.

Fonoa allows for Reporting of Fatturas in Italy, as well as the issuance of locally compliant invoices / credit notes for such transactions.

Scontrino

However, in the cases where customer data is not available to the supplier - which happens frequently with B2C transactions - a Fattura cannot be reported to the SdI, and a Scontrino must be issued / reported instead.

These electronic receipts (Scontrino Elettronico) are not reported to the TAs via API, but manually via a web portal. The history behind this approach is that it was intended for cafes and restaurants that would have a cash register linked to the government portal.

However, for internet-first businesses, this approach is burdensome, as they need to repeat a very manual process for each of their transactions.

Our solution

Fonoa automates this cumbersome process and allows users to have the same API experience as they have with Fatturas, and automates transaction reporting in the government portal in the background.

The prerequisite to issuing Scontrinos for suppliers is to have access to their tax authorities portal, which is then also shared with Fonoa.

There are different ways taxpayer / supplier can access the portal, and the route Fonoa supports and automates is when suppliers get access through their Fisconline credentials (PIN and password on top of their Codice fiscale / Codice Entratel).