In 2014, Italy announced mandatory eInvoicing for certain business-to-government transactions, and the country has since progressed towards a full eInvoicing requirement.
Now, the biggest deadline in Italy’s tax modernization is quickly approaching. On Jan. 1, 2019, all B2B and B2C Italian taxpayers with electronic invoices will be affected. Businesses must plan now to ensure
a multitude of processes are in place for compliance – from certified digital signatures to 10 years of archived transactions. For SAP customers, this transition likely comes in the midst of S/4HANA planning, making the process exponentially more complex.
Considerations for SAP customers
With the impending migration to HANA, companies doing business in Italy should consider an intelligent solution that maintains SAP as the central source of truth while having the flexibility to adapt to the EU’s frequent pace of change.
eInvoicing implementation is not a simple on/off switch. In order to have a continuous compliance solution, multinational SAP customers will need to address the following to comply with Italy’s new eInvoicing mandate:
- Single System of Record within SAP: Companies need SAP master data to remain the unaltered source of truth. They should be able to run their businesses as they do today and not have to worry about compliance.
- Nimble Response in an Ever-Changing Environment: SAP customers will need a solution that will keep them compliant as the Agenzia Entrate (Italian tax administration) evolves its eInvoicing mandate and makes it more complex.
- Local Knowledge with Global Reach: SAP customers need a native SAP eInvoicing framework that follows Italy’s FacturaPA eInvoicing specifications and keep business compliant.
- Holistic Compliance: Italy’s eInvoicing mandate is interconnected. Companies need a solution that will keep their keep businesses compliant with all four corners of the mandate: billing, purchasing, archiving, and reporting.
The right approach
Here are some factors that differentiate the right eInvoicing solutions from the wrong ones:
- Experience: continuous eInvoicing compliance for SAP multinationals in Latin America, the most complex landscape for eInvoicing, for more than a decade.
- A Complete eInvoicing Solution: For both accounts receivables, accounts payable, and reporting.
- Embedded (65 + OEMs): Leading EDI, Accounts Payable & Procure-to-Pay Networks embedded.
- Global Reach: Full Europe support for Spain SII, Hungary KOBAK, Portugal SAF-T and more.
Companies doing business in Italy that don’t prepare put themselves at risk of penalties for inaccurate or undocumented invoices that range anywhere from 90 percent to 180 percent of the VAT inaccuracy – as well as costly disruption to their most important SAP initiatives.
