Four Critical SAP S/4 HANA Considerations for Italy’s eInvoicing Mandate

This blog was last updated on March 11, 2019

In 2014, Italy announced mandatory eInvoicing for certain business-to-government transactions, and the country has since progressed towards a full eInvoicing requirement.

Now, the biggest deadline in Italy’s tax modernization is quickly approaching. On Jan. 1, 2019, all B2B and B2C Italian taxpayers with electronic invoices will be affected. Businesses must plan now to ensure a multitude of processes are in place for compliance – from certified digital signatures to 10 years of archived transactions. For SAP customers, this transition likely comes in the midst of S/4HANA planning, making the process exponentially more complex.

Considerations for SAP customers

With the impending migration to HANA, companies doing business in Italy should consider an intelligent solution that maintains SAP as the central source of truth while having the flexibility to adapt to the EU’s frequent pace of change.

eInvoicing implementation is not a simple on/off switch. In order to have a continuous compliance solution, multinational SAP customers will need to address the following to comply with Italy’s new eInvoicing mandate:

• Single System of Record within SAP: Companies need SAP master data to remain the unaltered source of truth. They should be able to run their businesses as they do today and not have to worry about compliance.
• Nimble Response in an Ever-Changing Environment: SAP customers will need a solution that will keep them compliant as the Agenzia Entrate (Italian tax administration) evolves its eInvoicing mandate and makes it more complex.
• Local Knowledge with Global Reach: SAP customers need a native SAP eInvoicing framework that follows Italy’s FacturaPA eInvoicing specifications and keep business compliant.
• Holistic Compliance: Italy’s eInvoicing mandate is interconnected. Companies need a solution that will keep their keep businesses compliant with all four corners of the mandate: billing, purchasing, archiving, and reporting.

The Sovos approach

Sovos has a long history of developing eInvoicing solutions. Here are some factors that differentiate Sovos SAP eInvoicing solutions:

• Experience: Sovos has been providing continuous eInvoicing compliance for SAP multinationals in Latin America, the most complex landscape for eInvoicing, for more than a decade. Sovos also operates locally in Italy, providing compliance archiving and signatures (eIDAS) for more than a decade.
• Complete eInvoicing Solution: For both accounts receivables, accounts payable, and reporting.
• Embedded (65 + OEMs): Leading EDI, Accounts Payable & Procure-to-Pay Networks embedded with Sovos Italy compliance.
• Global Reach: Largest clearance network in Latin America, with more than 2.6 billion eInvoices processed annually. Full Europe support for Spain SII, Hungary KOBAK, Portugal SAF-T and more.

Companies doing business in Italy that don’t prepare put themselves at risk of penalties for inaccurate or undocumented invoices that range anywhere from 90 percent to 180 percent of the VAT inaccuracy – as well as costly disruption to their most important SAP initiatives.