Characteristics of the electronic invoice in Portugal

Electronic invoicing in Portugal is regulated for public administrations by Decree Law 111-B/2017, which is a transposition of the Directive 2014/55/EU. The eSPAP, Entidade de Serviços Partilhados da Administração Pública, acts as the coordinating entity for the implementation of electronic invoicing in Portugal. This entity has provided an electronic invoicing portal (Portal FE-AP) for sending invoices to various public administrations and public agencies.

Obligation

Obligation

The use of electronic invoicing is mandatory in commercial relations between suppliers and public administrations. However, in regards to private companies, its use is optional, allowing private entities to decide whether to adopt this electronic invoicing method.

Administrative procedures

Administrative procedures

If the public entity is linked to the eSPAP platform, its suppliers must register beforehand and carry out the relevant connection tests. The suppliers of the rest of the public entities must connect to their respective individual platforms.

Tax Authority

Tax Authority

AT - Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira

Format

Format

The formats accepted by the public administration are UBL 2.1 "CIUS-PT" and CEFACT "CIUS-PT", both schemes based on XML-language.

Archiving

Archiving

Invoices must be archived for ten years, for both the issuer and the recipient.

Portuguese Tax System

Portuguese Tax System

The Portuguese tax system establishes the electronic declaration of invoices, transport documents and accounting operations through the SAF-T. Through this system, companies must declare tax and accounting information.

Electronic Signature

Electronic Signature

Mandatory. An electronic signature must be applied to invoices addressed to the public administration.

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How Does Electronic Invoicing with Public Administration Work in Portugal?

The following outlines the process of issuing and sending electronic invoices to any public entity in Portugal.
1

Issuance and Electronic Signature

Extraction of the necessary data from the supplier's ERP to transform the data into the required invoice format UBL 2.1 "CIUS-PT" or CEFACT "CIUS-PT," and apply data validation mechanisms to ensure it contains the necessary information. After this process, the mandatory electronic signature is applied.

2

Invoice Delivery

EDICOM implements secure communication protocols, including Web Services and AS2, to send electronic documents to public administration's FE-AP portal. Specific web services are enabled for other local entities.

3

Receipt of ACKs

Receiving response messages from public administrations, whether acceptance, rejection, or other status, and integrating these into the issuer's ERP for proper processing.

4

Electronic Archive

Electronically archive the documents with full security and accessibility guarantees during the ten year period, as established by the Portuguese legislation.

Frequently Asked Questions about Electronic Invoicing in Portugal

As companies adopt electronic invoicing as the only invoicing system, it is natural that questions and doubts arise about its implementation. In this context, we aim to address some of the most common questions related to B2G electronic invoicing in Portugal.

Currently, electronic invoicing is mandatory for all companies that need to invoice public sector administrations in Portugal. The electronic invoicing regulations came into effect in April 2020 and have gradually expanded to encompass all Portuguese companies, also impacting suppliers from other countries.

Public administrations and institutions had until April 18, 2020, to adapt their information systems to the electronic invoicing model. Since then, the Portuguese public administration is prepared to receive electronic invoices in accordance with the B2G electronic invoicing project.

The electronic invoicing system in Portugal is decentralized. This means that, unlike other countries, public administrations in Portugal can choose the electronic invoicing solution that best suits their needs, as long as they comply with the electronic invoice formats and standards established by local regulations.

eSPAP - Entidade de Serviços Partilhados da Administração Pública (Shared Services Entity of Public Administration) coordinates the implementation of the Electronic Invoice in the Public Administration. The Decree 123/2018, dated December 20, grants eSPAP all the power to regulate the technical and functional requirements for the implementation of electronic invoicing with public administrations in Portugal.

eSPAP provides a solution (Portal FE-AP) for the implementation of the electronic model in Portugal, enabling a communication channel for sending invoices to public administrations and government agencies. Public institutes and the direct government administration will use this platform as a channel to receive invoices from their suppliers. Other public entities will be able to join the eSPAP service on a voluntary basis, although they can decide to implement their own communication channels based on their specific needs.

The organizations obligated to connect to eSPAP to receive electronic invoices are those managed by the government and public institutes. Other local public entities, such as hospitals, municipalities, courts, etc., may choose to develop their platform.

It is the portal for electronic invoicing the Public Administration developed by eSPAP with the aim of becoming the entry point for receiving electronic invoices from the Public Administration.

In the case of public administrations and public institutes, which are mandated to use the eSPAP platform, there are two options. The first is to automatically send invoices to this platform via the Web Service protocol. Alternatively, there is the option to manually submit invoices through a portal provided by eSPAP, which is often more commonly used by taxpayers with lower invoice volumes. The other administrations can decide which platform to use, whether eSPAP or any other system.

It offers public administrations connected to the eSPAP platform the ability to receive electronic invoices from their suppliers through the eSPAP platform and provides mechanisms for monitoring, validation, and processing in their own accounting systems.

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Portugal: Electronic Invoice with the Public Administration

Learn the keys to the B2G electronic invoice in Portugal
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EDICOM Group will use the personal data collected to answer questions/or manage the services requested. You may exercise your rights of access, rectification, opposition, restriction and portability of your data in accordance with the provisions in the Privacy Policy.

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