Brazil Nota Fiscal – Key Support Costs that Go Undetected

Scott Lewin
July 12, 2013

This blog was last updated on June 27, 2021

The biggest challenge with Nota Fiscal in Brazil is not the selection of a solution for compliance, it is the ongoing support costs.

If you are looking to implement Nota Fiscal in Brazil, ensure you cover the following topics so you don’t create an out of control support process.

  • Breadth of Functionality – your solution needs to be able to handle all of the following.
    • Nota Fiscal for Goods
    • Nota Fiscal for Services (City Level Integration)
    • CTe – Transportation Invoices
    • Nota Fiscal Entrada
    • SPED reporting within SAP ERP
  • Architecture – how many integrations and solutions are you really supporting?
    • You want to have an architecture that doesn’t have a lot of break points
    • Many solutions require SAP PI or a middleware – for an end to end process that can affect your ability to ship product, this is just another potential failure point
    • A solution should manage the SAP configuration issues in a “buffered” approach so that your customizations and customer requirements are not forcing constant changes on your core SAP. I have seen companies that end up with hundreds of hard coded fixes to SAP configuration problems – these lead to nightmares during upgrades regression testing
    • How many integration points are you supporting, how many different solutions are required?
    • Are you only upgrading the core/centralized ERP system every 3 months, 4 months or 6 months — these Center Of Excellence limitations place your Latin America operations at risk for non-compliance as you wait for your needed changes to reach the top of the priority list
  • A Single Monitor – can you look in one monitor to see all issues?
    • You should have one single monitor for all issues including details. It is not good enough to have to look in the ERP system, to look in the NFe stand alone box, to look in the middleware, and then to monitor the printing network for an error that can keep a truck from leaving the warehouse.
    • You solution should have one simple monitor that is part of the SAP system, and this is not standard functionality
  • Support – what are you really paying for?
    • If you pay 18-25% maintenance on a software solution and all you get are patches and updates, you are wasting your money. The process changes too often for a traditional software support model.
    • If your solution doesn’t support the SAP configuration issues with Brazil Nota Fiscal, the middleware processes including the printer management, and the government connections, then you have a lot of internal costs that are wasted
    • You should be able to pick up a phone, call a local Brazil number in Portuguese or a global number in English; speak to someone immediately about your problem regardless of where it is in the process; and have your problem solved as part of your support fees.
    • Too often support stops at a “Service Transfer Point” and you are left holding the money bags for internal resources, outsourced consultants, and T&M projects from the providers that only offer a small portion of the solution
  • Change Management – who is really maintaining the end to end process?
    • In 80% of implementations, the internal SAP COE and Support team is stuck holding the bill for end to end support. This means a good portion of your resources are struggling to fight fires rather than improve processes and create more efficiency.
    • If your solution maintenance doesn’t cover your specific SAP configuration issues, your customer specific requests, all the middleware components from integration, conversion, signing, archiving, printing, contingency, and all the government connections and legislative changes, then your team is responsible for supporting these changes.

As we approach the end of summer, now is the time to understand the true cost of ownership of SAP in Brazil. There is a better way…a much better way.

Sign up for Email Updates

Stay up to date with the latest tax and compliance updates that may impact your business.

Author

Scott Lewin

Gain timely insight and important up to the minute information about the current legislative changes in Latin America, including Brazil Nota Fiscal, Mexico CFDI, Argentina AFIP and Chile DTE. Learn how these changes affect your operations, your finances and also your Information Technology teams.
Share this post

dtc spirits new york
North America ShipCompliant
February 14, 2025
A New Era for DtC Spirits Shipping: How New York’s Market is Taking Shape

This blog was last updated on February 14, 2025 In the fall of 2024, New York became the latest state to open its doors to direct-to-consumer (DtC) spirits shipping, marking a significant milestone for the industry. As one of the most populous states with a thriving market for craft and high-end spirits, the shift was […]

North America Unclaimed Property
February 10, 2025
Delaware Announces 2025 VDA Invitation Dates

This blog was last updated on February 14, 2025 Mark your calendars – April 11, 2025 and August 15, 2025 are this year’s anticipated release dates for the Delaware’s Secretary of State (SOS) VDA program invitations. In the event that an organization receives an invitation to participate in the Voluntary Disclosure Agreement (VDA) program  , […]

North America Sales & Use Tax
February 6, 2025
The Tariff and Sales Tax Mishmash – Untying the Mess

This blog was last updated on February 14, 2025 Talk of tariffs dominates the current news cycle with some commentators suggesting that tariffs will spell disaster for our economy while others say the exact opposite. We’ve seen the stock market sometimes fluctuate as tariffs are announced but later suspended, leaving us to wonder whether an […]

retailer dtc wine shipping
North America ShipCompliant
February 6, 2025
Retailer DtC Wine Shipping: The Time Has Come

This blog was last updated on February 14, 2025 By Tom Wark, Executive Director, National Association of Wine Retailers We are often reminded by the media and those in the wine industry—as well as by wine enthusiasts—that the three-tier system of alcohol distribution in most states hinders consumer access to the expansive number of wines […]

Montana 1099-DA
North America Tax Information Reporting
February 5, 2025
State Filing Alert: Montana’s New 1099-DA Requirements for Crypto Brokers

This blog was last updated on February 5, 2025 Reporting digital asset transactions on Form 1099-DA just got a little more complicated. For 2025 transactions, crypto brokers that file Form 1099-DA with the IRS will be required to file the 1099-DA with the State of Montana. This makes Montana the first state to introduce a […]