Electronic Invoice (NF-e) in Porto Alegre

We can define the Electronic Invoice as an electronic document, issued and stored digitally.

Its purpose is to record, for tax purposes, purchase or sale transactions of goods or services rendered between interested parties.

This document's validity is guaranteed by its digital signature, generated when it is issued by the sender and received by tax authorities before the taxable event occurs, as you can verify in paragraph one — § 1 of the first clause of SINIEF Adjustment 07/05, which states:

§ 1 The Electronic Invoice — NF-e is considered to be a document issued and stored electronically, existing only in digital form, meant to document transactions and services rendered, whose legal validity is guaranteed by the issuer's digital signature and use authorization by the tax administration of the taxpayer's federal unit, before the taxable event occurs.

Establishing the Electronic Invoice (NF-e) in Porto Alegre guaranteed several advantages to everyone involved in a business transaction. They are:

• With the tax document now issued electronically, there was a reduction in costs for purchasing, printing, and storing paper;
• Better management of tax documents: since they are now electronic, this enabled effective organization, filing, and management of electronic tax documents, making it possible to retrieve these documents when needed, and gains from exchanging information between the parties involved in the transaction;
• Faster processes with tax authorities, since information is passed to tax authorities the moment the Electronic Invoice is issued, reducing the time cargo spends stopped at border checkpoints;
• Less need to manually enter this tax document when receiving goods;
• Since businesses have advance knowledge of the Electronic Invoice, they can better plan their activities and resources;
• Lower paper use benefited society and the environment;
• This model also encouraged the introduction of new technologies in the country, as well as the creation of businesses and jobs in this segment;
• For accounting, there were gains from simpler tax bookkeeping (standardization) and the creation of more business opportunities in consulting related to the Electronic Invoice;
• With these gains, the Electronic Invoice in Porto Alegre became more reliable, ensuring higher tax collection for the Government and reducing tax evasion;
• There were also gains in the techniques and processes related to tax control;