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e-Invoice news, applicable from April: extended grace period and new clarifications on how fines will be given19 April 2024

e-Invoice news, applicable from April: extended grace period and new clarifications on how fines will be given

The grace period for e-Invoicing was extended until the end of May, and the penalty regime for not reporting invoices in the national electronic invoicing system received new application clarifications. There have also been changes to the format of invoices issued by utility providers in B2B relationships, so that they are linked to the e-Invoice format and can also be submitted to the system.

The legislative framework of the e-Invoice was updated again, this time through an emergency ordinance (OG no. 30/2024) which, among other things, extended the grace period for the e-Invoice by two months, so that taxpayers will be able to be fined for not reporting invoices in the national electronic invoicing system only starting from June 1.

The grace period was initially set until March 31, but the business environment requested its extension to allow companies to continue and complete the adaptation of their internal procedures and IT systems for the transmission of invoices in the e-Invoice system.

In addition to extending the grace period until May 31, the normative act also established that, for invoices not reported during this period, ANAF inspectors will not be able to impose fines even after the grace period ends. Basically, for invoices issued until May 31, companies do not risk any kind of fine for not transmitting them in the system.

Also, GEO 30/2024 brings an extremely important clarification related to how fines will be issued after June 1: fines will be applied only once for all invoices related to a month and not reported in the RO e-Invoice system.

In the absence of this express specification, the method of sanctioning was ambiguous, and the provisions could be interpreted including in the sense that the fines could have been applied punctually, i.e. the inspectors should issue a fine for each invoice not reported in the e-Invoice system

However, although useful and long-awaited, the clarifications do not completely resolve companies’ anxieties, as the way in which they were regulated limits their scope of application. More precisely, the Chamber of Fiscal Consultants has recently drawn attention to the fact that the provisions that do not allow fines for each unreported invoice are only valid until the end of June, they were introduced only in the normative act that establishes the e-Invoice rules for the first semester of this year, not and in the one that sets the framework for the period after July 1.

For context, we remind you that, due to the successive legislative changes and the way in which the e-Invoice obligation for all B2B relationships was delayed, the legislative framework for applying the system ended up being segmented into two distinct normative acts: Law 296/2023 – which imposes a temporary e-Invoice regime, strictly for the period January 1 – June 30, 2024 and GEO 120/2021 – which imposes the general rules of the system and which will apply again starting July 1, 2024. Or, the new clarifications related to the way of application of fines (a single fine for all invoices not reported in a calendar month) were introduced by the authorities only in the law, not in the ordinance, so that, in the absence of legislative intervention, they will not be able to be applied even after July 1 , because from this date the legal provisions of GEO 120/2021 will operate which establish only fines for not reporting invoices in the e-invoice system, not the way in which they will actually be applied – a fine per invoice or a fine per contravention , even when there are several unreported invoices

Changes in utility billing in the context of e-Invoicing

Separately, through another recent formalized order (ANRE Order no. 6/2024), the invoicing rules of electricity or natural gas suppliers were modified so as to allow the invoicing process to be adapted to the requirements of the e-Invoice system.

On the one hand, the normative act expressly points out that, starting from April, e-Invoice becomes the only communication channel for electricity or natural gas invoices issued in B2B relationships, with non-domestic customers, and on the other hand, it reorganizes the information from the invoices issued and their annexes, so that their format can be harmonized with the mandatory one that allows reporting in the national electronic invoicing system.

Also, since April, non-domestic customers lose the opportunity to request from suppliers a copy of the invoices issued, this option being available only to domestic customers. In B2B relations, invoice copies will only be available on the e-Invoice platform.

It is worth pointing out that for household customers (individuals), the method of sending invoices remains the same as at present, i.e. in printed or electronic format, depending on the customer’s preferences.

 

Article published in Business-Mark.ro

Cristina Săulescu

Tax & Transfer Pricing Partner

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