This blog was last updated on March 11, 2019

Mexico’s planned process change for cancellations of electronic invoices will take effect Sept. 1 rather than in July as previously announced.

The Mexican tax authority, the SAT, will require senders of electronic invoices, a document called a CDFI in Mexico, to get permission for cancellation from the party that received the invoice before the sender can cancel it. The change was supposed to take effect July 1 but will now kick in on Sept. 1, according to a recent press release from the Mexican government.

Approval of electronic invoice cancellation needed

Companies doing business in Mexico must generate an electronic invoice in the standard format with information such as a tax ID number, description of goods, total amount of the invoice, taxes due and much more. The shipper has to submit that invoice and then receive unique a number back from the government called a UUID. Once the government generates the UUID, the company can send the invoice to the client and ship its goods.

Currently, the sender can cancel the invoice using a government website without informing the receiver of the cancellation. Beginning on Sept. 1, a sender that wants to cancel an invoice will have to notify the receiver via the buzon tributario, or tax mailbox. When the receiver approves of the cancellation by buzon tributario, the sender can cancel the invoice.

Another wrinkle in the electronic invoicing process

For companies doing business in Mexico, the policy will add a manual step to the process of cancelling invoices, further complicating the already complex process of eInvoicing. Sovos, a global pioneer in eInvoicing solutions, helps companies avoid risk by empowering them to take control of eInvoicing, and create and automate repeatable processes.