Source: Gazeta Mercantil, 20/12/2007

The issuance of Electronic Invoice (NF-e) of the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) may be mandatory for eight more sectors. Thus, as of September 2008, paper notes must give way to the electronic document in the emissions made by cement, vehicle, soft drink, alcoholic beverages - with the exception of spirits and artisanal wines -, refrigerators, medicines (distributors also ), electricity and steel companies. The NF-e is the virtual note whose information, seconds after issuance, reaches state farms. And these share the data with the Federal Revenue of Brazil.

These sectors were nominated by the state tax administrators forum and the Electronic Tax Documents Management Committee, composed of tax administrators and businessmen.

As of April, cigarette manufacturers and distributors and liquid fuel producers, importers and distributors will be the first sectors obliged to issue the NF-e, according to protocol 10 and 30/07 of Confaz. Both sectors had been appointed by the tax administrators and the management committee. Currently, according to the NF-e website, 70 Brazilian companies issue the document. With the requirement to issue a virtual note in the cigarette and fuel sectors, the expectation is that this number will exceed the mark of a thousand companies.

“Mandatory action is fundamental for the implementation of the NF-e project in the country,” says Álvaro Antônio da Silva Bahia, national technical coordinator of the NF-e project. The NF-e pilot project started in April last year and started to work for real in September 2006. According to Bahia, today more than 2,17 million notes have already been issued in seven states (São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia, Maranhão, Goiás, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo), corresponding to R $ 17,97 billion. "By January 31, all 27 states in Brazil will be able to receive the NF-e", says the coordinator. "The Rio Grande do Sul finance department has the capacity to attend on behalf of other departments, when they have some kind of eventual problem in the system," explained Bahia.

The coordinator also stated that on December 31 of this year, free software for issuing the NF-e through the website should be available for micro and small business owners. www.nfe.gov.br.

For the executive president of the Brazilian Federation of Corporate Development (Febracorp), Richard Lowenthal, the requirement is positive. "I find it interesting that this occurs by sector and not by size of companies since one of the goals of NF-e is to combat unfair competition", he argues. Lowenthal admits that it is difficult to calculate the financial return of implementing the NF-e. “But in the long run, we know that the greater the number of notes, the greater the return on control, less spent on paper and files, for example. Not to mention the reduction of accessory obligations in the future ”, he says.

The president of Febracorp points out that the investments of the companies that already issue the NF-e range from R $ 30 thousand to more than R $ 3 million. "They are large companies that automatically induce suppliers to issue the NF-e by saying that they only accept the electronic document or do not do business with them", comments Lowenthal. Some of those that implemented the NF-e are Petrobras and Sadia.

According to José Aguinaldo Alcarde, owner of the medium-sized São Paulo drug distributor Farmagudos, the sector's obligation to issue the NF-e is “great”. “Today, if I issue an invoice to an irregular company, I am the one who is harmed and punished. With NF-e, there will be greater control and, consequently, greater security for those who work properly ”, he explains. For the president of the Association of National Pharmaceutical Laboratories (Alanac), Carlos Alexandre Geyer, the mandatory use of NF-e for the sector was predictable and its introduction in other sectors is inexorable.