Southern Cone Compliance Roadmap 2021
Despite the COVID-19 health crisis and a complex political situation southern cone countries continue to expand their digital government project. With the electronic invoice completely consolidated, 2021 is the year where all other administrative and management processes will begin to be digitalized.
Out of all the countries in the region Uruguay is the most advanced in e-government. In 2008 the Digital Agenda Uruguay with the motto “Transformation with equality” made its main objectives to build a competitive digital economy, to modernize public management, and to reduce the digital access gap. Uruguay’s 10 years of work to digitally modernize are clearly reflected in the E-Government Development Index - (EGDI) of the United Nations which places Uruguay in 26th place on the global ranking.
Chile also finds itself at the vanguard of government e-procurement. Besides all the Electronic tax Documents (DTE’s) in 2021 emission of electronic sales tickets (boletas electronicas) will become mandatory. The government has also launched the CENABAST API to enable public sector suppliers to send all transactional data electronically, completing the already automate purchasing cycle with the public market.
The fact that the Southern Cone is home to two digital economy pioneers favors its development in the whole region. “Chile and Uruguay are regional pioneers and are commonly used as examples for fiscal transparency projects around the world. This helps the regional promotion digitalization through International collaborations promoted through transnational organizations like Mercosur, BID and others that encourage the use of advanced technologies”. States Rodrigo Ordeix Aguzzi | LinkedIn.
Argentina is also progressing in the digitalization of its fiscal system. “Argentina has achieved an electronic government foundation that allows organizations to consider new digital technologies that will improve their business management with the help of a present government accompanying them along the way” comments Rodrigo Ordeix.
With the new rules pertaining to the issuance of credit notes introduced in 2020 it is foreseen that during 2021 the AFIP will improve the current electronic invoicing system. The AFIP has already began to do this this by including the QR code on invoices, the digital VAT book, or the use of new invoice audit validations (RG 4292)
In Paraguay and Bolivia digital compliance processes and e-government are less extensive. However, both countries will be experimenting with major changes in 2021 as they will be commencing their e-invoicing system implementations. “the largest changes in the region are expected in Paraguay and Bolivia, where the electronic invoice implementation is in its first steps. These initial stages tend to be complicated for businesses since they must not only communicate with the tax authority in real time but must also completely change their business practices as demonstrated by the switch from paper to digital invoicing. According to our experience accounts payable departments tend to receive the most benefits from the implementation of the electronic invoice, since they no longer must manually input invoices from suppliers to management systems. In many countries there is also no need to validate received invoices since they have been certified by the tax authority making it very unlikely to receive a false invoice. Therefore, we always recommend that companies that adopt electronic invoicing must always conduct an analysis of their whole business-accounting cycle so they can extract the most benefits from their obligations.”
2021 is full of challenges for the region. “Companies must continue to adapt themselves to the new business environment created by the pandemic. In this new environment electronic commerce has emerged as a lifesaver for many businesses. “Companies in the región must adapt to the “new normal” with new automated sales channels in countries with economic recessions and without the ability to foresee consumer trends. All of these challenges will be faced by companies in the region as well as the automations in tax reporting currently being implemented that were proposed during 2020.” Asserts Rodrigo Ordeix
2021 will be full of challenges and opportunities brought on by this forceful acceleration in the digital transformation of companies. The efficient use of these new technologies will allow companies to be a part of a more sustainable and efficient economy.
