According to the Portuguese Law, in order to issue electronic invoices: “the taxable persons must assure the authenticity of the origin, the integrity of the content and the legibility of an invoice, from the point in time of issue until the end of the period for storage of the invoice, by means of any business control that creates a reliable audit trail between the invoice and the supply of goods or services.
These business controls must be duly documented, updated and be available for the Tax Authorities consultation”. An invoice in pdf format can qualify as an electronic invoice provided that the above-mentioned requirements are met.
Exceptionally, due to the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, it was accepted that invoices were made available to clients in pdf format, despite not complying with the provided requirements (Order no. 129/2020-XXII, of March 27, Order no. 437/2020-XXII, of November 9, Order no. 72/2021-XII, of March 10, Order no. 133/2021-XXII, of April 22, Order no. 260/2021-XXI, of July 27 and Order no. 351/2021-XXI, of Novembro 10), in the following periods:
- April, May and June 2020;
- 9 November 2020 to 31 December 2021;
- 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2022.
Therefore, in practice, up to 30 June no special rules apply to pdf invoices.
Certified billing system
According to Portuguese legislation, the use of a certified billing system is required even when the taxable person is not established in Portugal, when performing operations that are considered to be located in national territory and Portuguese VAT is due by the non-established entity.
The application of the above must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the Portuguese legislation and specificities of interpretation of the rules of subjection and location.
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Michaela Merz 