Electronic invoicing and legal context

Regulation in the electronic invoicing field:

1. Law no. 227/2015for the approval of the new Tax Code (integrally effective from January 1st 2016) - art. 319 Invoicing;
2. G.D. no. 1/2016 for the approval of the Rules of Application of the Law no. 227/2015 concerning the new Tax Code - point 95 - 100;
3. The Law on Accounting 82/1191 with further amendments and completions - art. 25.

The Tax Code effective from January 1st, 2016, at art. 319 regarding the invoicing:

• defines the invoice as being a document on paper support/electronic format message that fulfils the conditions pre-established by art. 319, or any documents/message that modifies and refers specifically and without ambiguities to the initial invoice (par. 1 and 2);
• defines the electronic invoice = an invoice containing the information required in art. 319 and that has been issued and received in electronic format (par. 4);
• allows the invoice issuing by a third party in the name and on the account of the provider, with the fulfilment of certain conditions established by the rules of applications (par. 19);
• establishes the elements required in an invoice (par.20);
• establishes the compulsoriness of guaranteeing the authenticity of the origin, of the content integrity and of the invoice legibility from the issuing and until the end of the retention period, regardless of the fact that it is on paper support or electronic format (par. 25);
• allows the invoices conversion from paper format into electronic format (par. 35), the converted version of the invoice being considered an original copy (point 99 (2) of the rules of application).

The Law on accounting 82/1191 with further amendments and additions establishes at art.25 the 10-year term for the retention in the archive of the supporting documents laying at the basis of the registrations in the financial accounting.

The invoice is one of the main supporting documents and the 10-year archiving term is compulsory for the invoices issued or received by legal persons that have a double-entry accounting.