In recent years, Bolivia has undergone a significant transformation of its taxation system. In this article, we delve into the key aspects of the online billing system in Bolivia, where the Servicio de Impuestos Nacionales (SIN) plays a central role as the responsible tax authority.
Bolivia’s electronic invoicing system is known as the Virtual Invoicing System (SFV). SIN has introduced new invoicing methods to replace the older computerized invoicing models, such as the virtual office and the electronic web portal.
The new available invoicing methods are:
- Electronic Invoicing Online: Mostly for businesses that require a high volume of invoices and need agility in their operations.
- Computerized Invoicing Online: Similar to Online Electronic Billing but designed for companies with smaller billing volume. In addition, a digital signature is not required in this option.
- Web Portal Invoicing Online: Mostly for small businesses with a low turnover or sales volume.
Timeline of implementation
The responsible Bolivian authority has published a regular list of taxpayers that have to comply with the taxation system in progress. Until now, there are six groups that have been named and been given a timeline by the SIN:
- The first group: 1 December 2021
- The second group: 1 August 2022
- The third group: 1 February 2023
- The fourth group: 1 February 2024
- The fifth group: 1 March 2024
- The sixth group: 1 April 2024
On the Bolivian Tax Authority’s website, obligated taxpayers are listed by their tax number (Numero de Identificacion Tributari, or NIT).
Technical Details of Online Billing System
SIN mandates that all e-invoices must adhere to the XML 1.0 UTF-8 standard. Each document type is specific to the economic sector it belongs to, and its structure can be approved through validation using XSD schema files supplied by SIN. There are 27 types of invoices, covering different services and sectors.
This standardized format ensures that invoices are structured in a way that is compatible with the tax authority’s systems. Proper XML formatting is crucial to ensuring the acceptance and recognition of your invoices.
The prerequisites for generating electronic invoices in Bolivia are as follows:
- Possession of an Electronic Invoice Certificate (in the online modality).
- Authorization from the tax authority (SIN) for issuing computerized and web portal-based electronic invoices.
- Utilization of an information technology system that has received authorization from the tax authority.
It is important to note that to utilize invoices, taxpayers are required to acquire a digital signature or certificate, which is obtained through the Agency for the Development of the Information Society (ADSIB). In addition to that, Billing Systems Providers are only allowed to sign generated invoices and communicate with the tax authority’s portal and must be authorized by the SIN.
How can SNI help you?
SNI’s Bolivia e-Invoicing SAP add-on solution will enable you to generate invoices in the desired format and send them through Certified Billing Systems Providers. The invoice generation, XML conversion, and sending to the system provider are done by SNI. Data extraction, mapping, and processing, and receiving validated e-Invoice are also done through SNI’s end-to-end SAP add-on solutions.
