Electronic Invoice (NF-e) in Salvador

The Electronic Invoice (NF-e) is issued and stored digitally, meant to document goods transactions or services rendered; its legal validity is guaranteed by the digital signature of the issuer and recipient, and by tax authorities, before the taxable event occurs.

One of the requirements for issuing the Electronic Invoice is that the business hold a corporate digital certificate, per the ICP-Brasil standard. This digital certificate serves two functions:

• Digitally signing Electronic Invoices;
• Identifying the business's server the moment it connects to the SEFAZ system to transmit Electronic Invoices;

The Electronic Invoice was rolled out in Brazil following Constitutional Amendment No. 42, item XXII, Article 37.

To meet this constitutional provision, Tax Administration held several National Meetings of Tax Administrators (ENAT), bringing together heads of tax administration across the 3 levels of Government.

ENAT's SPECIFIC GOALS:

CAT-06, of 02/27/2012: Clarifies on the denial, by the São Paulo State Treasury Department, of authorization to use the NF-e due to the recipient's registration irregularity.

• Set guidelines for integrated action across Tax Administration agencies in applying the National Tax System;
• Propose various strategies for interagency information sharing;
• Define and support interagency projects, as well as shared systems, to improve work processes through interconnections between tax matters across the three levels of government;
• Provide input for improving the management of Brazilian Tax Administration;

At the start of this project, only businesses that volunteered began issuing Electronic Invoices.

In the meantime, the government created a strategy to make electronic invoice issuance mandatory, rolling it out in phases by economic segment.

So, the first group was required starting 04/01/2008, the second group starting 12/01/2008, the third starting 04/01/2009, and the fourth group starting 09/01/2009.

On 07/15/09, ICMS Protocol 42/2009 was published, setting the schedule of requirements for 2010. By the end of 2010, all manufacturers and wholesale trade were required to issue NF-e.

Starting 12/01/2010, it was determined that Electronic Invoices would cover all interstate transactions, foreign trade transactions, and all sales to government, across all three levels (Federal, State, and Municipal).

The first step to issuing the Electronic Invoice (NF-e) in Salvador is registering on the SEFAZ-BA website.

After registering, you can issue NF-e using your digital certificate — in a fraction of a second, SEFAZ-BA's computers verify the document's authenticity.

If there are no errors, the issuer receives an authentication number in their software, and from that moment the Electronic Invoice is valid.

We've listed below some software alternatives for issuing the Electronic Invoice (NF-e) in Salvador:

• A system developed by SEFAZ/SP, which only issues NF-e and is available for download via the NF-e Issuer link;
• Building your own software;
• Using a complete business management tool like TagPlus;