By: Carlos Pineda
The Ministry of Finance, through the General Directorate of Internal Taxes, started in April 2021 the pilot plan to implement the electronic invoicing system in El Salvador; said program has as its main objective the issuance of Electronic Tax Documents (DTE’s), which are electronic documents that support tax operations, generated as an electronic file by the issuer, who transmits it to the Tax Administration, the latter receives it, authorizes it and stores it in its database, and subsequently it is sent to the purchaser of goods or services.
Along these lines, we must point out that the implementation of the DTE’s does not imply the creation of new documents, but rather the conversion of paper documents to electronic format.
The DTE’s issued by authorized taxpayers and received by the Tax Administration have the same validity as traditional documents and may support the deductions established in the tax laws. The DTE’s currently implemented by the General Directorate of Internal Taxes in the aforementioned program are the following:
- Tax Credit Vouchers
- Credit Notes
- Debit Notes
- Remittance Notes
- Invoice
- Export Invoice
- Accounting Settlement Document
- Withholding Voucher
Likewise, we must point out that the plan is currently in the voluntary phase, which implies the beginning of the massification phase (massive integration of taxpayers), this phase is prior to the mandatory phase. The steps to be authorized as issuer of DTE’s are as follows:
Request in writing to join the program
Obtain approval from the General Directorate of Internal Taxes.
Make adjustments to the computerized invoicing systems, according to the technical specifications of the General Directorate of Internal Taxes.
Perform and approve the transmission tests between the taxpayer and the General Directorate of Internal Taxes.
Submit an application for authorization to be an issuer of DTE’s.
Obtain approval from the General Directorate
After the issuance, authorization and reception of the DTE’s, end users may consult the DTE’s issued at the following link: https://portaldgii.mh.gob.sv/ssc/consulta/fe.
For any additional questions, please contact Dr. Diego Martín (dmartin@consortiumlegal.com), Mr. William Escobar (wescobar@consortiumlegal.com) or e-mail (taxelsalvador@consortiumlegal.com).