Italy to introduce B2B real-time invoice reporting from 1 January 2019

28 February 2018

From 1 January 2019, Italy will introduce a new mandatory real time invoice-reporting regime that will apply to all domestic business-to-business (B2B) transactions in the country.

This new regime will require all businesses, both resident and non-resident, that sell to other VAT registered businesses in the country, to declare these sales to the Italian tax authorities via a new e-invoicing platform (Sistema di Interscambio SDI). This is instead of sending these invoices to their customers themselves.

The Italian tax authorities will then check these invoices and if correct, they will approve them by applying a digital stamp. They will then send the invoice directly to the customer on behalf of the supplier via the new SDI system.

It is hoped this new invoice-reporting regime will prevent common errors on these types of invoices and will also help prevent VAT fraud in the country.