More than twenty years have passed since it has existed in the commercial world an electronic file which is accepted both by companies and tax administrations and can record information about commercial transactions. Despite the time passed since that, and the certainties that many have on the subject, in my opinion the problem of defining not only the meaning, but, especially, the scope of the expression “electronic invoice” (EI) remains. 

This is the first in a series of posts in which I will bring different views on the subject, without the intention of reaching a definitive answer, to be generally accepted, to the question “What does the expression ‘Electronic Invoice’ (EI) mean?”. 

And for what purpose? Well, for more practical than academic reasons, it may be interesting to establish foundations that can be the basis for deeper discussions on the subject and that involve sensitive topics such as interoperability or tax secrecy. 

I start with the word “Invoice” itself: in most countries this word defines an instrument that records information that describes a commercial operation, and here some languages ​​set a trap for us. For example, in Portuguese: in Brazil the word to which “Invoice” is usually translated to has a different legal meaning than in other countries where this language is spoken, such as Portugal or Angola. 

In this reflection we will adopt the convention that the word “Invoice” can be defined how we started: a way of recording information about commercial transactions, even though we are aware that there are countries where the word is restricted either to the billing instrument, or to some types of operations. 

We will use this word as a gender, with many species, without worrying about pointing out countries where the definition is more restricted or more comprehensive. 

Continuing with the delimitation of the problem, let’s point out another fundamental difference between regions of the world: when we think about the electronic version of an instrument called invoice, we see that in many countries this word is restricted to transactions involving the sale of goods or provision of services in a restricted sense (by professionals such as doctors or lawyers, or vehicle rentals, for example). 

In other countries, the same word is also used for the document that records any type of commercial transaction, such as cargo or passenger transport services, for services that are generally granted by the public authorities for exploitation by private sector companies, such as the supply of electricity, or communication services, or even for the document that supports the right to enter an artistic show. 

In this series we will use the word “Invoice” interchangeably for any ways of recording information about commercial transactions such as, in a non-exhaustive list: sales of goods or services, any types of services, any types of goods, debit notes and credit notes, between VAT taxpayers, for final consumers, for public administration, for operations subject to single-phase taxation, for rural or extractive production operations. 

Let’s move on to the second word of the expression: “electronic”. The dictionary tells us that this word describes something belonging to or relating to a specific subatomic particle, the electron; however, the meaning of the expression EI is broader, as it evidently also encompasses different forms of energy that are independent of that particle, such as transmission by electromagnetic waves or – probably in the near future – quantum technologies. 

It seems to me that the word “immaterial” would be more appropriate to describe the idea we are dealing with: immaterial invoice. On the other hand, it also seems to me inappropriate to want to change an expression that, without exaggeration, the world understands, due only to a puristic definition. 

Thus, we arrive at a first candidate definition: EI is an intangible record of information about a commercial transaction. 

[continues] 

18 total views, 18 views today