By: Sandra Soriano
On August 30, 2022, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador approved the update and creation of 14 articles to the Tax Code, with the main objective of establishing a regulation on the issuance, transmission, reception, and invalidation of Tax Documents.
What does electronic invoicing consist of?
The new system mainly replaces the issuance of a physical invoice with a digital one. Initially the documents implemented in this process include:
- Tax credit voucher
- Final consumer invoice
- Export invoice
- Credit note
- Tax debit note
- Retention and liquidation voucher
- Remittance notes and settlement accounting document
Which are the benefits of issuing electronic invoicing?
- Simplification of processes for taxpayers and errors reduction.
- Strengthening controls for compliance with tax obligations.
- Tax revenue collection increase.
- Cost reduction.
What is the Electronic Invoice legal basis for the issuance?
The new model implementation is in accordance with the provisions of Article 113, first paragraph of the Tax Code, which establishes that the tax administration may provide or authorize the replacement of the physical document by electronic ones, providing the safeguard of the security, compliance and accuracy of the taxes incurred and that the information corresponding to each operation is online transmitted to the tax administration.
The electronic documents transmitted that do not comply with the control specifications to be carried out by the Tax Administration, must be corrected or rectified within three days after the reason for rejection or observation has been communicated, therefore, if they are not corrected in a proper time, they will not be considered as received by the Tax Administration. The DGII will provide an induction on the program and will send technological and functional information to initiate the computer development.
Electronic billing is already a reality in El Salvador, so it is recommended to all taxpayers to be informed about the process and evaluate if it could be beneficial for their operations to carry out a voluntary implementation or wait for the mandatory implementation period.