In the first part of this series, we arrived at a first candidate definition: Electronic Invoice (EI) is an intangible record of information about a commercial transaction. 

In an attempt to improve this answer, we will look for inspiration in the two regions where the matter is more mature from a normative point of view, which are Latin America and the European Union, without forgetting that, especially in this decade that began in 2020, several other regions have already had stable standards on the subject for a considerable time. 

In those two regions in particular, it is observed that there is a fundamental difference: in Latin America, the prevalent practice (in order to not to risk saying that there is uniformity…) is that the invoice, despite being a commercial instrument, is regulated by the Tax Administration. 

In the European Union, there is no general and abstract definition of “invoice”; instead, the legislation adopts a functional definition, establishing which documents must be accepted as invoices for Value Added Tax (VAT) purposes. 

The main standard is Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of VAT. In Article 218 a concept of invoice can be found: “For the purposes of the Directive, Member States shall accept as invoices documents or messages, in paper or electronic format, that satisfy the conditions set out in the chapter on invoicing”. 

Thus, the Directive does not define “invoice” through its conceptual elements (such as, for example, the “document issued by a supplier to demand payment”), but rather through its legal function in the VAT system. 

Based on articles 218 and 220 to 226, it can be stated that, for the purposes of that Directive, an invoice is a document or message, in paper or electronic form, that meets the legal invoicing requirements set out in the Directive and that documents a taxable transaction for VAT purposes. 

This is an implicit definition, built from the legal regime, and not an express definition, but which, in any case, can serve as a basis for the objectives we are seeking. 

The central point of this implicit definition is that an invoice can be either a document and a message, that is, what really matters in the European VAT scenario is the function of the invoice, which is to fulfill the legal requirements to record information about a taxable transaction for VAT purposes. 

In other words, in the European VAT scenario the invoice is a means of exchanging information between two VAT payers, which meets the legal requirements to be considered a valid record of a taxable transaction. 

“Electronic invoice”, on the other hand, has a positive definition in that Directive, in its article 217: “For the purposes of this Directive, «electronic invoice» means an invoice that contains the information required in this Directive and that has been issued and received in electronic format.” 

Council Directive (EU) 2025/516, which is part of the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package, changed the definition of article 217 to adapt it to the European model of structured electronic invoicing. The new wording establishes that: 

An electronic invoice is an invoice that contains the information required by the Directive and that, at least in relation to the data subject to electronic VAT communication, is issued, transmitted and received in a structured electronic format that allows automated and electronic processing. 

The new wording represents an important conceptual change: it is no longer sufficient for the invoice to be only in electronic format (such as a PDF sent by email, or even a simple WhatsApp message with the information that meets those legal requirements) and it is now required, for the cases covered by the new rules, a structured electronic format that allows automatic processing, bringing the concept closer to the model adopted by EN 16931 (European electronic invoicing standard). 

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