Electronic Invoicing Italian Mandate: a practical how to guide

[CristinaBerardo]

Introduction: The Digital Mandate

Companies operating in Italy face a significant challenge complying with the Italian electronic invoicing mandate. This article serves as a practical guide, breaking down the SAP Public Cloud solution into three core pillars: XML file creation, Italian tax authority (SDI) connection, and digital signature activation.

1.  Creating the XML file

With the introduction of the electronic invoicing, the only invoice format legally recognized is the XML . The paper format can be added as attachment but its content is not considered by the Italian Tax Authority.  

SAP's solution covers the main business processes required to generate these XML files, including FI invoices, SD invoices, convergent invoices, and settlement documents. All of these are managed through the E-document cockpit. The crucial step in this stage is the XML file mapping, which involves translating a company's internal SAP data into the official tags required by the tax authority's XML format. SAP provides standard logic to handle many of these mandatory data points automatically. These standard logical are based on SAP Best Practices, documented in SAP Help Portal at process detail.

2. Establishing the SDI Connection (Italian Tax Authority)

Establishing the connection to the Italian tax authority's platform, the Sistema di Interscambio (SDI), is the most crucial step of the implementation. This phase requires attention and precision to avoid issues that often require a lot of time to be solved. For S/4HANA Cloud solutions (both public and private), SAP provides a direct, individual connection to the SDI, without any third-party providers. Successfully completing this process results in the company receiving its own official SDI recipient code from the tax authority, which must then be shared with all suppliers.  To facilitate this complex process, SAP provides a a step-by-step guide from planning to final configuration within SAP  Discovery Center Mission where customers can have access to the end to end detailed and documented process (including all OSS Notes and SAP official guides linked) . After the creation of Certificates (both client and server) and Custom Domain (to ensure a safer connection between your private system and the public tax authority platform) that are fundamental for the connection set up,  the SDI requires to pass Interoperability Test to confirm the registration and officially test the connection and switch the channel from test to production. Interoperability Test are done via FatturaPa portal (the official portal of the Italian Tax Authority) and practically consists of creating some invoicing respecting he scenarios required by SDI and using the list of "Codici Destinatario" provided by SDI in the FatturaPA Portal. An expert tip for ensuring these tests are accepted is to use the external document type TD20 (self-invoices). Because the sender and receiver VAT numbers are the same during this test, using the self-invoice type prevents rejections and helps secure the "green light" needed to proceed.

3. Activating  the Digital Signature

The last mile of the SDI connection is the activation of the digital signature. This requirements is mandatory for all B2G invoices even though can be used for all invoices regardless the recipient. 

SAP's standard solution includes an integrated digital signature service provided by Aruba, an official Italian provider. Once configured, the process is fully automated. When the system detects a B2G invoice, it is submitted for digital signature before being sent to the SDI.  Activating this service requires filling out a form with customer details and sending it to a dedicated SAP email address, which then forwards the request to Aruba to initiate the process.

All details, updated forms, procedure and addresses are available in SAP  Discovery Center Mission within the dedicated step.

To get more and detailed information about this core process, a dedicated enablement session has been recorded, both in Italian and English language.  You can find all in SAP Workzone.

I kindly suggest all customers and partner to have a look on that to check the end to end process and. download the documentation that is essential to complete this journey and activate the mandate.