Global CTC Updates: July 2022

This blog was last updated on October 3, 2022

Latest Changes

1 July begins the second half of 2022, and in line with that milestone, changes have started to be implemented in the CTC sphere. In this blog, we highlight vital developments that have taken place in and outside Europe that may influence the continuous transaction controls (CTC) landscape globally.

The Philippines: Pilot program

The Philippines has officially implemented its mandatory continuous transaction controls (CTC system, which consists of the near-real-time transmission of electronically issued invoices and receipts. On 1 July 2022, the Philippines tax authority launched the Electronic Receipt, Invoice and Sales Reporting System (EIS) pilot program.

This initiative was first introduced in 2018 by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, known as TRAIN law. 100 selected pilot taxpayers are now obliged to issue and transmit e-invoices/receipts to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) through the EIS platform. (Philippines Advances Towards Mandatory CTC Reporting | Sovos)

Romania: E-Factura system and E-Transport system

Romania has been taking steps toward implementing its continuous transaction controls (CTC system since 2021. As of 1 July 2022, Romanian taxpayers are required to use the CTC e-invoicing system e-Factura for the supply of high-fiscal risk products in B2B transactions and all B2G transactions. Suppliers must transmit structured invoices issued in XML format to the E-Factura system. Subsequently, the seal will be applied by the Ministry of Finance as proof of clearance. Such invoice will be legally valid under the Romanian regulation. (Romania: Questions Remain as Deadline Looms | Sovos)

Alongside the 1 July 2022 go live for the CTC e-invoicing mandate, the e-transport system has been introduced to monitor high-fiscal-risk goods transported domestically. Taxpayers must issue an e-transport document before certain goods are transported. Moreover, taxpayers must send files to the tax authorities in XML format. Based on Act No. 106 issued by the Romanian government on 30 June 2022 and the change of Articles 13 and 14 of GEO, the fines for non-compliance with the e-transport requirements will not be effective until 1 October 2022. Also, starting from 1 July 2022, SAFT began to apply to large taxpayers as the penalty grace period has ended.

Vietnam: CTC Mandate

On the list of countries expanding their e-invoicing requirements is also Vietnam, where the issuance of e-invoices became mandatory for all taxable persons operating in Vietnam as of 1 July 2022. Previously, the expected deadline was 1 November 2020, but the tax authority extended it due to the difficulties encountered by local companies to implement on time a compliant e-invoice solution.

Moreover, enterprises, economic organisations, other organisations, business households and individuals must register with the local tax administration to use e-invoices according to the rules established in Decree 123. (Vietnam: E-invoicing Roll-Out in July 2022 | Sovos).

Portugal – B2G invoicing postponement

Mandatory B2G invoicing has been postponed for small, medium, and microenterprises with the enactment of  Law Decree 42-A/2022. The initial date was 1 July 2022. Now, the B2G e-invoicing is going to be mandatory from 1 January 2023. The reason for this change is that, after extending the deadline for acceptance of electronic invoices in PDF until 31 December 2022, the Portuguese government considered it important to also extend the deadline for receiving and processing B2G electronic invoices for micro, small and medium-sized companies until 31 December 2022 (Portugal: Mandatory B2G invoicing for SME’s postponed again | Sovos)

Turkey, South Korea and Italy: Expansions of existing mandates

In Turkey, the tax authority expanded the scope of taxpayers required to use e-fatura, e-arsiv and e-waybill applications. This expansion was done by either adding new sector-based mandates or decreasing the annual revenue threshold. The new requirements became applicable recently, and the taxpayers in the scope of the changes started using e-documents as of 1 July 2022. (Turkey Expands Scope of E-Documents (sovos.com)

In South Korea, e-invoicing has been mandatory for all corporate businesses since 2011. An issued e-tax invoice must be transmitted to the National Tax Service (NTS) within one day of the invoice being issued. The current change concerns the threshold limit for individual businesses, which from 1 July 2022 has been lowered to KRW 200,000,000.

Italy has also entered another phase of implementing its CTC requirements. Starting with cross-border invoices, the Esterometro (the report of cross-border invoices) has been replaced with the transmission of cross-border invoice data to the SDI in a FatturaPA format from 1 July 2022. Additionally, the recently published Decree n.73 established a threshold for the cross-border invoice reporting mandate. Taxpayers are only required to report transactions that exceed the amount of EUR 5,000 for every single operation. This applies, more specifically, to purchases of goods and services not territorially relevant for VAT purposes in Italy, under Articles 7 to 7-octies of Presidential Decree 633/1972.

Moreover, e-invoicing through the SDI became mandatory from 1 July 2022 for taxpayers applying the flat-rate VAT regime (regime forfettario), as well as amateur sports associations and third sector entities with revenue up to EUR 65,000. Lastly, e-invoicing became mandatory between Italy and San Marino from 1 July 2022. The system for e-invoice exchange between Italy and SM will leverage the SDI as the access point for Italian taxpayers and a new, comparable hub for companies in San Marino.

Many countries around the world are either introducing or expanding their existing CTC Regimes with the active changes taking place globally. Sovos continues to monitor which countries are next on the list to build its local CTC regimes and comply with the international standards.