Decree and Law No. 28/2019 of February 15, 2019 (“DL 28/2019”) consolidates and updates Portuguese obligations for invoices and other tax-relevant documents.
DL 28/2019 came into force on February 16, but its measures with the greatest impact will only apply in a phased manner. DL 28/2019 is applicable to all taxable persons that carry out taxable transactions subject to Portuguese invoicing rules. According to the new article 35-A added to the Portuguese VAT Code, which transposes article 219-A of the VAT Directive, VAT registered non-established companies are responsible for issuing invoices that comply with Portuguese rules (given that certain conditions are met).
Ministerial Order no. 349/2019.XXI of October 30 and Ministerial Order no. 4/2019–XXII, of July 29, have once again determined that some of the measures set out by DL 28/2019 should be postponed.
Exclusive use of certified invoicing programs
Obligation to use only invoicing programs certified by the Portuguese Tax Authority (“PTA”) for issuing invoices and other tax-relevant documents is extended to
- taxable persons with their head office or fixed establishment in the Portuguese territory or
- taxable persons that perform taxable transactions to which Portuguese VAT rules apply, whenever one of the following conditions is met:
- Turnover exceeds EUR 75,000 in 2019 (from 2020: EUR 50,000);
- Use of invoicing software or
- Obligation to have, or having opted for, organised accounting.
This obligation must be met by January 1, 2020 for resident companies which were previously not subject to the use of certified software. The deadline for non-established (VAT registered) companies that perform taxable transactions to which Portuguese invoicing rules apply was postponed to January 1, 2021.
Therefore, non-resident (VAT-registered) companies now have until December 31, 2020 to adopt one of the invoicing programs already certified (which may be consulted on the PTA’s website) or to request certification for their own programs.
Electronic archive
Invoices and other tax-relevant documents issued or received in paper form can be digitised and stored in electronic form. When the documents are in paper form, the archive must be stored in the Portuguese territory, whereas if they are in electronic form, the file may be stored in any EU Member State, subject to the prior authorisation of the PTA.
Taxable persons are obliged to notify the location of the archive to the PTA within 30 days following publication of the ordinance that alters the specimens of the declarations of commencement and of alterations to activity (to be published).
Notification on establishment
Obligation to provide the PTA with the following information:
- Identification and location of the establishments where invoices and other tax-relevant documents are issued;
- Identification of the equipment used for processing invoices and other tax-relevant documents;
- The number of the program’s certificate used in each piece of equipment, where applicable;
- Identification of distributors and installers of billing solutions. The deadline to meet this obligation was October 31, 2019 or within 30 days after the activity of the taxable person begins for taxable persons who initiate activity after September 30, 2019, but was postponed until June 30, 2020, with the specimen form yet to be published. This obligation only applies to resident companies.
QR code and single document code
As of January 1, 2020, invoices and other tax-relevant documents must include a two-dimensional barcode (QR code) and a single document code to be defined by government ordinance. This deadline remains unaltered by Ministerial Orders.
Contact
Conceição Gamito
Email: crg@vda.pt
