The e-archive invoice application ensures that all invoices issued to buyers who do not have an e-invoice obligation are issued electronically in accordance with the e-archive regulation and transmitted to their recipients electronically. As of January 01, 2020, the e-archive invoice, which is reported daily to the Revenue Administration, has become mandatory for all businesses that sell goods or services over the Internet and have a gross sales revenue of more than 5 million TL. It is the practice of electronically issuing invoices, which are required to be issued, stored and submitted in paper form in accordance with the Tax Procedure Law, and two copies of the invoice are stored and submitted electronically in accordance with the provisions of the Tax Law.
Differences Between E-Invoice and E-Archive Invoice
There are some notable differences between the concepts of Electronic Invoice and Electronic Archive Invoice. These specific differences are discussed in detail later in the article.
E-Invoice
Every company can switch to e-invoice whether it is mandatory or not. If you wish, you can start using the e-archive invoice together with the e-invoice, and issue electronic invoices not only to your e-invoice users but to all your customers. The Revenue Administration has a foreign exchange center for e-invoice exchange. Invoices are delivered to the recipients electronically and paper printouts can be obtained if necessary. Every invoice sent to the recipient is first sent to the Revenue Administration. UBL-TR format, ie Universal Business Language adapted to Turkish conditions, is mandatory. The Revenue Administration Portal uses one of the Direct Integration and Special Integration methods.
E-Archive Invoice
E-archive invoice is a type of electronic invoice that allows invoices to be sent electronically to companies or end users that do not use the e-invoice system. Every company can use e-archive invoices, but in order to issue e-archive invoices, it is necessary to be a member of the e-invoice system. At the end of each month, e-archive invoices are reported to the Revenue Administration. This service is provided by our solution partner who provides e-archive invoice service. Both electronic invoices and paper printouts can be sent to interested buyers. There is no mandatory format and the UBL-TR format can be used if desired. One of the Direct Integration and Custom Integration methods is used.
Why Should You Store Invoices Digitally?
As your business grows, you will receive more invoices every day. With the increasing number of invoices, the need to store these invoices in an organized system also increases. In addition, the digital archiving of invoices makes it easier to comply with the record keeping obligation of tax authorities, which requires companies to keep records for a certain period of time. For example, in the Netherlands, companies must keep accounting records and keep them for 7 to 10 years. The main reason for this is that it should be possible to audit the accounts.
Benefits of Storing Invoices Digitally
Digital storage of invoices provides a number of advantages:
- Digital invoices are available 24/7 in the online archive. So you don’t have to wait until you get back to the office when you want to check an invoice.
- All invoices are kept in the cloud for at least 10 years. During these years, invoices also remain available for possible audits, so you always comply with regulations.
- You can export invoices in common formats such as XLSX, UBL, PDF and XSV.
- The digital archiving of invoices provides information on costs incurred per project, person, period, department, and cost center.
3 Tips For Archiving Invoices Digitally
Do you want to start storing invoices digitally yourself? You must then comply with the tax authorities’ obligation to detain. Be sure to guarantee the authenticity, integrity and readability of the invoices.
Choose a System with a Good OCR Solution
Do you want to store invoices digitally? Then it is essential to make documents searchable. But how can you be sure that certain data on invoices can actually be found for years and years to come? Definitely, with a good OCR solution, which stands for Optical Character Recognition. To guarantee receptivity, you choose a system with the best possible OCR.
Make Sure You Store Documents In A Fixed Place
We recommend keeping invoices in one fixed place to avoid confusion and document loss. For example, store invoices in Dropbox, your company’s ERP or accounting system. When you want to start storing invoices digitally, be sure to keep documents related to invoices manageable. If you need to find the invoice again after four years with the accompanying notes, it shouldn’t take much longer than a mouse click. Most ERP systems have options for this, but they are rarely user-friendly.
Store Invoices in the Cloud
Even if your system is well protected against fraud and other threats, any system can crash, causing documents to be lost. Therefore, digital recording of invoices is only possible if you make frequent backups. An alternative to frequent backups is a system in the cloud. This takes care of the backups themselves so you always have the latest version.
What Are Your Data Integrity Capabilities?
The overall goal of data integrity is to ensure that data is recorded exactly as it appears, and when later retrieved, the data is the same as when it was originally recorded.
Here are the questions you should ask any electronic archiving solution provider:
- How can I prove that the invoice data I showed in 2027 is the same as the data I showed in the system today?
- How can I be sure that no one has tampered with or deleted the data from now until then?
Archived documents must be digitally signed and timestamped to ensure data integrity. A reliable digital timestamp gives you reliable confirmation that the content of your documents existed at a particular date and has not changed since.
To further prevent any alteration or deletion of archived records, it is recommended that documents be stored in multiple locations, preferably in non-modifiable WORM storage, for example with a write-once, read-many rule, and redundant online storage.
What Is Your Retention Period Policy?
Retention period defines the period for which billing information should be retained or retained. Periods vary widely between countries, and most countries expect businesses to retain information for five years or more. If you work for a multinational company operating in different countries, keeping up with the ever-changing local rules and regulations can be intimidating. The questions to be asked are:
- Do I need an archiving period for every document I keep?
- Who remembers to remove the documents when the retention period is over?
- How can I keep up with changing regulations?
The solution should automatically support invoice archiving for as long as required by local VAT/MHV laws. If you use the solution in multiple countries, you should be able to predefine applicable per-country retention periods and ensure that invoices automatically flow to the correct folders and locations to meet regulatory demands. After the retention period, your archived documents should be automatically deleted to ensure compliance with applicable privacy laws, such as the upcoming GDPR.
How Do I Access My Invoices After Hiding?
For companies that operate in multiple locations, it can be difficult to keep up with all the paperwork and electronic files that come into the office every day. And before you know it, you have a mountain of paper and no way to find the documents you or the auditors need. Question to ask:
Even if the invoice is stored in another subsidiary/location, how can I make sure that I have instant access to the relevant invoice data when needed?
An electronic, cloud-based archiving solution helps you organize all invoices in one central location where access rights can be set on an individual and folder basis. You can access all billing data at any time, making it faster, more reliable and easier to search and retrieve documents when you need them.
