See what is currently changing in e-invoicing regulations in Serbia and Egypt!
Serbia – Adoption of Law on Electronic Invoicing
The Law on Electronic Invoicing was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia and came into force in 7th May 2021. Adopted law regulates issuance, receiving, processing and storage of electronic invoices, in both – B2G and B2B transactions. Electronic invoice is defined as issued and received in accordance with Serbian e-invoicing standards and to be considered a credible document it has to be processed by national e-invoicing system.
E-invoicing implementation process for public and private entities was divided into three phases. As of January 1st, 2022 electronic invoicing will become mandatory for businesses in B2G transactions. At the same time public sector entities will be obligated to receive and keep e-invoices, as well as to issue them to another public sector entity strictly in electronic format. Second phase, effective as of July 1st, 2022, covers invoices issued by public entities to private sector entities and mandates businesses to receive and store invoices electronically. Final phase of mandatory e-invoicing introduces an obligation for issuing e-invoices between private sector entities as of January 1st, 2023.
Serbian e-invoicing system will be free of charge to avoid additional costs for the businesses. The Ministry of Finance expect that new regulation will speed up the invoicing process, contribute to providing greater legal certainly and lead to time and money savings.
Egypt – Extension of mandatory B2B e-invoicing
Implementation of mandatory B2B e-invoicing in Egypt began in November 2020, when the Ministry of Finance issued first resolution mandating 134 companies to comply with e-invoicing requirements. Second phase covered additional group of 347 companies as of February, 15th 2021. Currently Egyptian Authorities extends e-invoicing to cover all large businesses from July 2021. At the same time taxpayers doing business with public sector entities will be required, regardless of their size, to issue e-invoices in such transactions. Recently the Ministry of Finance announced, that from January 2022 businesses will no longer be able to process VAT refunds or deduction based on a paper invoice – mandating electronic invoicing for all Egyptian taxpayers.
E-invoicing system in Egypt is similar to the Italian clearance model, which requires every invoice to be reported and approved by the tax authority before its delivery to the final recipient. Tax registrants must be able to generate e-invoices in XML or JSON format and electronically sign them using HSM or USB token. Furthermore each invoice contains dedicated UUID number, required in case of amending documents e.g. credit or debit notes, which is assigned by the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA). Once approved a notification will be sent to the issuer and recipient who, after integration with Egyptian system, are able to download the e-invoices and securely archive the data in case of any tax audit.
ETA brags about implementation of e-invoicing system, as an important step to achieve development strategy called Egypt Vision 2030, which among the others assumes digital transformation of Egyptian tax system.
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