Source: Correio da Tarde - RN - ECONOMY - 18/08/2009

As of September 2009, 1, more than two thousand companies in Rio Grande do Norte will be obliged to issue an Electronic Invoice – NF-e – in place of the model 1/2008A invoice, totaling around three thousand taxpayers in the RN, since the beginning of the first wave of obligation, in April 300. Currently, more than 5 million NF-e have been issued throughout the country, involving around 2 trillion reais in goods. In RN, there are more than 18 million NF-e moving almost XNUMX billion reais since the beginning of the project.

Since its conception phase, the NF-e project has been conducted by the Treasury Departments across the country, together with the Federal Revenue Service, and had the support and effective participation of several companies in Brazil. According to Marconi Brasil, tax auditor at the RNe and manager of IT projects, the advantages of the NF-e are countless and the project is considered a 'win-win' type, that is, “the tax authorities, companies and society win as a all”.

The auditor explains that “from the point of view of the companies, the main advantages are: reduction of paper acquisition, printing and storage costs, simplification of ancillary obligations and opportunity to reassess organizational processes aiming at greater efficiency and reduction of operating costs. It is not surprising, therefore, the growing demand from companies to voluntarily adhere to the issuance of NF-e”, highlights Brasil.

For the company to issue Electronic Invoice, it must basically fulfill three steps: acquire digital certificate for the company; use an NF-e issuing software and be accredited to SET / RN as an NF-e issuer.

“Regarding the company's digital certificate, the most common models are the A1 and the A3. Digital certificates for companies must be of the e-CNPJ or e-PJ type (also known as NF-e Certificate). The company may use the certificate of one of the establishments to sign the tax documents of any establishments of the same group (same basic CNPJ). For more information about digital certificates, we suggest contacting a Certification Authority (CA) available on the market with experience in providing digital certificates for signing NF-e”, explains the auditor.

As for the issuing software, the taxpayer can choose to use their own or third-party software, or free software developed by SEFAZ/SP. Taxpayers who have software for issuing invoices must ask their system supplier or internal IT team to adapt them for issuing NF-e, in accordance with the information in the Taxpayer Integration Manual, available on the national portal of the NF-e. Those who do not have electronic invoice issuing software can use the free issuing software developed by SEFAZ/SP and available for download on the national NF-e portal.

The last step is to register with SET/RN. Taxpayers who carry out activities classified as required to send NF-es are automatically accredited ex officio. Therefore, they are registered as NF-e issuers for issuance in production from the initial day of the obligation. It is important to point out that taxpayers who have not been accredited ex officio but who actually carry out activities required to issue an NF-e, must request their accreditation from SET/RN. If the company wants to voluntarily adhere to the issuance of the NF-e, anticipating the total obligation that will be required by 2010 or even in search of the advantages that the NF-e will provide them, it may request adherence through the accreditation request available at UVT environment – ​​Virtual Taxation Unit on the SET/RN portal.

For more information on NF-e, visit - www.nfe.fazenda.gov.br - or the SET / RN portal - www.set.rn.gov.br ou www.sindifern.org.br.