Electronic Invoicing Will Be Mandatory for e-Procurement Processes In Portugal

Portugal will require public administrations to engage in e-Invoicing with their suppliers and service providers. The Public Administration Shared Services Entity, eSPAP, will be the coordinating body for the rollout of e-invoicing in Portugal.

The Decree-law that governs the e-Invoicing system was passed on 31 August 2017. This decree was modified by Decree 123/2018, published on December 28, 2018, in which the characteristics of the model and the new terms of obligation are defined.

e-Invoicing specifications in Portugal

Deadlines to consider

• Mandatory adaptation of public administrations: By 18/04/2019, Portuguese public administrations and institutions should have their information systems adapted to the e-Invoicing model. This deadline extends until 04/18/2020 in the case of local public administrations.
• As of January 1, 2021, large companies will be required to send invoices electronically.
• As of January 1, 2022, small, medium, and micro companies will also be required to send invoices electronically.

Billing platform

eSPAP will provide a platform for implementation of the electronic model in Portugal. However, not all public agencies are obliged to use it:

• Public Entities required to go with eSPAP
  • Direct Government Administration
  • Public Institutions
• Voluntary Public Entities that can work with eSPAP
  • Presidency of the Republic;
  • Assembly of the Republic;
  • Attorney-General of the Republic;
  • Tribunals;
  • Independent administrative entities;
  • Public Business Sector Entities (Hospitals);

Platform connection

Connection will be made through the AS2 protocol or via Web Services.

Invoice format

The format will be UBL 2.1, approved European standard.

Archiving

Invoices must be kept for 10 years by both issuer and recipient.

Elements the structured file must contain

• Identifiers of the process and the invoice;
• Billing period;
• Information about the contractor;
• Information about the public contractor;
• Information about the beneficiary entity, if different from the previous one;
• Information about the tax representative of the co-contractor;
• Contract reference;
• Delivery conditions;
• Payment instructions;
• Information about adjustments and charges;
• Information about the invoice items;
• Total bill.

EDICOM has a multi-standard and multiprotocol platform able to transform the invoices to the required format and forward the files through the communication protocol set by each billing platform.

Get in touch with our team of experts who can offer you the most efficient solution for your company.

EDICOM participates in GOV2EU Project (2016-EU-IA-0096).
Supporting public entities to adopt EU Standard on electronic invoice for cross-border transactions.