Italy requires electronic invoices for state bodies
- Mar 26, 2014 | Richard Asquith
The Italian Ministry of Finance last week issued a decree which will require taxable entrepreneurs providing services to Italian state bodies with electronic-only invoices.
E-invoices to conform with EU VAT Directive
Electronic Italian VAT invoices served to public bodies will have to be in the normal .xml-type format with secure electronic signature and time stamps, with full Italian VAT invoice disclosure. But they will also have to include additional information, including a fiscal reference for the customer.
The new requirement will come into force from 6 June 2014, with the first round of state authorities. Within three months of this date, no accounts will be settled based on only paper invoices. A second round of government bodies will stop taking paper invoices from the same time in 2015.
Like all of the 28 EU member states, Italy introduced the EU Directive on electronic invoices at the start of 2013. The VAT Directive obliges all companies to accept electronic invoices under careful safeguards, and issue them too. Paper invoices remain valid.
