Under Panama’s invoicing regulations, the local tax authority (DGI) has been allowed to grant a certificate of exemption from the use of fiscal devices to certain taxpayers under the obligation to issue invoices. However, as Panama gradually shifts to mandatory e-invoicing, the DGI has published a Resolution to establish a mandatory deadline for e-invoicing adherence for these exempted taxpayers.

Timeline

To ensure that such taxpayers migrate to mandatory issuance of e-invoices under Panama’s E-invoicing System (SFEP), the resolution establishes the following measures:

• March 1, 2024, is the established expiry date for all fiscal equipment exemption certificates that do not have an expiry date.
• From the certificate expiry date, all taxpayers must start issuing e-invoices via the SFEP. This covers taxpayers who have been granted a certificate of exemption from the use of fiscal devices with or without an expiry date.

Impact

Panama's e-invoicing system is under expansion. E-invoicing is currently an obligation for certain taxpayers, while the use of fiscal devices remains an option for taxpayers outside the system’s mandatory scope. The recently published resolution shows that the DGI is making efforts to include additional taxpayers under the e-invoicing obligation and to make it the standard means of invoice issuance.