On March 11, 2015, the Tax Authorities (hereinafter “AFIP”) issued General Resolution No. 3749/2015 (“GR”) which obliges contributors registered in the Value-Added Tax (from now on “VAT”) to apply the electronic invoices’ system to support operations within the framework of the internal market, having to comply since July 1st of this year.
In order to intensify the use of technology to fulfil tax obligations and, thereby, prevent tax evasion, the AFIP extended the mandatory regime of emission and electronic storage of original receipts for registered VAT’s contributors (GR, Title I). The new provisions ruling the matter are exposed below:
• The GR applies to invoices, receipts, and credit and debit notes Type “A” and “B”. However, the obligation to issue electronic vouchers does not apply to sales of movable goods or services provided out of the contributor’s workplace when the billing is made while goods or services’ delivery is performed whether in the customer’s domicile or a different place.
• To issue the original invoices, receipts and notes, contributors must request the Electronic Authorization Code (“EAC”) through the institutional AFIP’s website. The EAC may be obtained through: (i) the Conditions of Issue of Electronic Receipts (CIER) at version 4.0; (ii) web services for information sharing; (iii) the service named “Online Invoices” for which applicants must have a Fiscal Code with security level 2).
• Regarding special situations, those taxpayers who have drawbacks in issuing electronic invoices shall expose that situation to the AFIP in order to be exempted from this obligation (GR, Section 6).
In turn, those contributors who will be able to implement the new system only after July 1st have the opportunity to expose their situation to the AFIP by the same procedure referred above. In this case they must specify the date from which they will be able to comply with the new ruling, which must be prior to October 1st, 2015.
Both for one reason or another, the deadline for submitting the appropriate application at AFIP will be from April 1 to May 31, 2015.
• The “Electronic System for Issuing Receipts Online” was repealed, being replaced by the CIER.
Moreover, the GR requires some companies and individuals to adhere to this new system because, regardless their situation before VAT, they must meet a detailed information regime currently (RG, Title III). This group is formed by the following: (i) companies that offer prepaid medicine services; (ii) public education establishments which are privately run; (iii) rural property landlords; (iv) landlords of properties with tourism purposes as well as all those who administer, intermediate or manage issues concerning this kind of matter; and (v) art galleries, art dealers and traders. These sectors are compelled to apply the new billing system as from July 1st, 2015. The aforementioned must request the EAC through an exchange of information through the AFIP’s website or by the service of “Online Invoices”. The purpose for their inclusion to this system lies in the attempt to suppress information regimes. In order to achieve it, the GR provides that after the first month the contributor issues the original electronic vouchers he will be relieved from submitting information regimes before FAPR.
It must be mentioned that the GR allows people exempted from the VAT to voluntarily join this new electronic billing system (GR, Title II) as from April 1st. The regime is applicable to invoices, receipts and credit and debit notes Type “C”. As in the case of VAT’s contributors, they are excluded from the obligation to issue electronic invoices regarding transactions related to final consumers where goods or services are delivered out of the contributor’s office or establishment. However, exempted contributors differ from the ones registered at VAT in the way of requesting the EAC, since they are able to do it only by: (i) exchanging information at the AFIP’s web service and (ii) using the service called “Online Invoices”. Finally, GR states that exempted contributors who adhere to the new electronic invoicing system are not affected by the obligations of the purchases and sales’ reporting regime (General Resolution No 3685).
The provisions established by the General Resolution No. 3749/2015 came into force in March 13, 2015.
