E-Invoicing In Latin America, Mexico and Beyond: Following Europe’s Compliance Footsteps (Part 1)

The adoption of electronic invoicing and broader P2P programs varies widely between North American and Europe. In a recent Spend Matters Compass paper, E-Invoicing Comes of Age -- Discovering What's Possible From the Latest Electronic Invoicing/ Invoice Automation Capabilities, we highlight some of the reasons why adoption is different across different regions. As an example, "throughout a number of countries in the EU, VAT compliance, collection and reporting has become a central part of the value proposition in electronic invoicing environments and has helped drive aggressive adoption of such programs, especially in the Nordic countries...the majority of organizations in these [geographic] markets have better developed electronic invoicing and invoice automation programs than they do requisition-based search, shopping, approval and buying systems on the transactional procurement side. This is in marked contrast to the US market, where eProcurement adoption dominates relative to electronic invoicing penetration."

However, Europe (especially the Nordic countries) might not be alone in prioritizing compliance as the primary rationale to drive widespread adoption of programs. Latin America is also pursuing a similar model and rationale. A recent post over on EEI Platform's site highlights Mexico's drive to require electronic invoicing for tax compliance. Noting that as of the first of this year, "Mexico began requiring companies to integrate with the Mexico Tax Authority (SAT) for real-time issuance and approval of electronic invoices." From some of the details around compliance in Mexico, it seems that the electronic invoicing requirements for tax payment, audit trails and general compliance are even stricter than Europe.

To this end, "the electronic invoice in Mexico is a digital tax receipt...[that] documents and confirms that a business transaction is in accordance with the standards defined by the Mexican Tax legislation...[and is] generated, transmitted and protected by electronic means." Moreover, "companies issuing electronic invoices must keep track of the invoices issued, by storage or backup of digital vouchers, so as to have on hand any clarification required by SAT in the future." The archiving of invoices is somewhat of a twist, as at least some of the supplier network providers facilitating electronic invoicing and related document exchange over a network do not offer permanent archiving as a standard component of their offering (e.g., Ariba).

If you're interested in learning more about electronic invoicing in the global markeet, check out our latest free research covering the subject:

A Foundational Look at P2P Technologies

E-Invoicing Comes of Age -- Discovering What's Possible From the Latest Electronic Invoicing/ Invoice Automation Capabilities

Jason Busch