Turkey’s Digital Tax Transformation: What is E-Arşiv Invoice?

This blog was last updated on November 25, 2020

Companies have begun to transfer financial processes to the digital environment as a result of technological developments in recent years. Business efficiency has increased through the financial processes regulated via e-transformation applications. The e-transformation system in Turkey covers applications such as e-invoice, e-ledger, e-arşiv, e-ticket, e-reconciliation, and e-delivery note.

Mandate scope of e-arşiv invoice

According to the latest communique, taxpayers with a gross sales revenue of TRY 5 million or above in fiscal years 2018 or 2019 completed their mandatory transition to the e-invoice and e-arşiv invoices applications as of 1 July 2020.

Taxpayers who meet these requirements in 2020 or later, should switch to the e-invoice system at the beginning of the seventh month of the following accounting year.

Differences between e-arşiv invoice and e-invoice

The most important features differentiating e-invoice from e-arşiv invoice are as follows:

• E-invoice is exchanged between (sent, received and replied to) registered e-invoice users. While e-arşiv invoice is sent to taxpayers not registered to e-invoice (an end user or a company) by the supplier who is registered to e-invoice
• UBL-TR format is mandatory in the e-invoice application since the invoice is sent to the Turkish Revenue Administration (TRA) for approval. However, the format is not mandatory in the e-arşiv invoice application because the invoice isn’t sent to the TRA; using UBL-TR is optional
• There is no further reporting in the e-invoice system as invoices are forwarded to the receiver via the TRA. In the e-arşiv invoice system, it’s mandatory to report to the TRA until 24:00 the following day

Benefits of e-arşiv invoice

Now more prominent through Turkey’s digital transformation, e-arşiv invoice has other benefits while reducing the issue of paper invoices, as well as cutting printing and shipping costs to a large extent:

• Shipping and approval processes accelerate since invoices are sent online
• Prevents losses during the invoice shipping
• Easy and fast access to previous invoices
• More secure since invoices are sent and stored digitally

The e-arşiv invoice system enables firms to keep up with the digital age through a policy in line with international standards.

Sovos has more than a decade of experience keeping clients up to date with e-invoicing mandates all over the world.