Compliance Updates

Grace period of 4 months granted to taxpayers who didn't implement e-invoicing system yet

The Egyptian Tax Authority kicked off the fourth phase of the electronic tax invoicing system’s implementation. Companies registered at the Medium Taxpayers Center in Cairo and the Large Taxpayers Center of the Free Profession are required to issue electronic invoices after the grace period of 4 months, due date Sep 15th 2021. These businesses will have to adhere to the terms and conditions set out by the Egyptian Tax Authority, which includes the issuance of the electronic signature certificate, the usage of a certain coding system, etc.
The e-invoicing system is fully applied as from mid of May 2021 for all the taxpayers who are relevant to the Large Taxpayer Center Department.
This is in line with the Egyptian goal to have e-invoicing completely implemented as of 1 January 2022, which is part of the government’s digital plans.

Joining Italian e-invoicing

The Italian Ministry of Finance, with the Act no. 103 published on May 26, 2021 has laid the foundations for the introduction of the e-invoicing regime between Italy and San Marino. Italy and San Marino have agreed a transitional period (from 1 October 2021 until June 30, 2022) during which San Marino and Italian taxpayers could opt for the e-invoicing system instead of traditional “paper” invoicing. In particular, the taxpayers of the two countries will be able to issue e-invoices on a single cross-border system. The system will become fully operational starting from July 1, 2022.

Panama to implement e-invoicing clearance model

On June 1st 2021, the Tax Authorities have opened a voluntary process for e-invoicing in Panama, paving the path to a general mandate. To date no official specific date for this general mandate has been published, however the Tax Authorities are making reference to FY22 as the implementation date.

Revenue Authority announces e-invoicing systems for various categories of taxpayers

On 24 December 2020, the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) announced that effective 1 January 2021, all taxpayers must secure invoices/receipts generated by the Electronic Invoicing System (EIS) as documentary evidence to support tax deductions associated with expenses for the years of income from 2021 onwards. The RRA has since clarified some further questions this raised.

The RRA published an announcement on 14 May 2021 regarding the available Electronic Invoicing Systems (EBM) for the different categories of taxpayers. Five Systems are being defined.

1. • EBM Software
   • EBM Mobile System
   • Online EBM solution
   • Online Sales Data Controller
   • Virtual Sales Data Controller

Government departments and local authorities exempt from e-invoicing

On 1st June 2021, the Indian Government released a notification stating that government departments and local authorities are exempt from the e-invoicing mandate being implemented.

Click here to learn more about the Indian mandate.

Update on pilot project

Philippines is moving towards an e-invoicing system by 2023.
According to recent reports, the pilot project will be launched in January 2022 in preparation for its phased roll-out of their e-invoicing system in 2023. At this stage, corporations falling under the large taxpayers classification and exporters are selected for the pilot project as they have a computerised accounting system which is needed for e-invoicing and e-receipts.

Further details of new 'Qualified Invoice Retention System'

Japan will introduce a new qualified invoice regime for Japanese Consumption Tax (JCT) with effect from 1 October 2023. This will bring the JCT regime more closely in line with European-style VAT regimes, and in order to claim input tax credit, the purchaser will be required to retain ‘qualified invoices’ issued by ‘qualified invoice issuers’. Only taxable persons are eligible to register as qualified invoice issuers, and cannot be JCT exempt enterprises (i.e. they cannot be exempt from the obligation to file a JCT return and remit JCT). Unlike the current system, this requirement applies even if the enterprise’s taxable sales for the base period are JPY 10 million or less. Registration to become a qualified invoice issuer opens on 1 October 2021.

E-orders and e-catalogs by 1 January 2023

As from 2023 new legal e-ordering requirements for public authorities and institutions will become applicable.

As a consequence suppliers will be required to be able to receive e-orders and have e-catalogs (which will comply with the new Peppol standard) on the covered purchasing categories. A report regarding these requirements is scheduled to be sent out for consultation before the Summer holidays.

New VAT return as of 1 January 2022

The Tax Authorities have announced that a new VAT return will be introduced that will replace the current, manual VAT return, effective 1^st January 2022. The new VAT return will be based on the SAF-T codes and will include approximately 30 boxes as opposed to the 19 boxes in the current VAT return. The Norwegian Tax authorities aim for a direct transfer from the company’s accounting system to altinn. It will however still be possible to fill out and submit the VAT return manually as per the current process.

Greek government mandate delayed for THIRD time

The Greek government have delayed mandatory invoice registration for ALL businesses through their myDATA platform. The new date floated for mandatory invoice registration through the myDATA platform is Autumn (anticipated October).

Limitation VAT input tax credit on paper invoices

Decree No.125 of 2021 was published by the Egyptian Ministry of Finance. As a result of this decree, businesses will not be able to deduct VAT on a paper invoice, unless the supplier is not yet required to apply e-invoicing at the time of supply as from January 2022.

Extension of deadline for use of PDF invoices

The introduction of Order 72/2021-XII of the State Secretary of Tax Affairs (SEAAF) dated 10 March 2021, has extended from 31 March to 30 June 2021 the term for acceptance for tax purposes of invoices in PDF format as electronic invoices.

Introduction of VAT

Oman has introduced VAT from 16^th April 2021. VAT has been set at 5% on goods and services. Certain services will be taxed at zero-rated VAT, and others exempted.

The requirement for businesses to register for VAT will depend on business turnover, which has been outlined by the Sultanate of Oman.

Non-resident billing software certification from 1 July 2021

To combat tax evasion and fraud, the Portuguese Tax Authorities have defined some rules that billing systems must fulfil to ensure the non-violation of billing data once it is registered.

This means that only billing systems that fulfil the requirements defined in law and which are certified by the PTA can be used.

This will be effective from 1^st July 2021. These new measures will also apply to non-resident businesses that are registered for VAT in Portugal with a turnover exceeding 50,000 Euros in the calendar year 2020. This means that these entities are required to use exclusively billing systems certified by the PTA for issuing invoices and other relevant tax documents.

There are a few options to business how to go about this- including choosing to have their own software certified, using third-party pre-certified software or outsourcing the process.