Electronic Invoicing in Brazil
Is e-invoicing mandatory in Brazil ?
Brazil was one of the pioneers in e-Invoicing in Latin America after adopting the clearance model in 2005. However, its invoicing system is one of the most complex around the world.
Electronic invoicing (Nota Fiscal Eletrônica or NF-e) is mandatory in Brazil. All invoices flow from the supplier to the government, after they have been cleared by the tax authority. Then they are forwarded to the respective buyer.
The responsible tax authority is the SEFAZ (Secretaria de Fazenda) which cooperates with state institutions in enforcing and monitoring tax regulations. The NF-e is only valid if it carries an electronic signature of the sender as well as the verification of the SEFAZ in terms of an authorization barcode (Documento Auxiliar da NF-e or DANF-e).
All e-invoices in Brazil must be in the SEFAZ (Secretaria de Fazenda - Brazilian Tax Authority) mandated XML format, contain mandatory invoice data, and have a valid digital signature.
E-invoicing aligns with the VAT reform
The government of Brazil has recently released an initial series of modifications pertaining to the electronic invoicing system used by domestic businesses, as outlined in the Technical Notes NT 2024.002 and SE/CGNFS-e nº 001.
More specifically the notes introduce new validation rules and rejection messages which will be used by the tax authorities to ensure compliant reporting by all relevant taxpayers. Whilst discussions are still ongoing for this topic and the following dates are therefore still susceptible to potential change, the currently expected implementation timeline is as follows:
- 1st September 2025 - 30th October 2025 - changes outlined in the Technical Note NT 2024.002 v1 will be available in the e-invoicing portal's testing site;
- 31st October 2025 - 31st December 2025 - changes will be made available in the e-invoicing portal's live production site;
- 1st January 2026 - all relevant fields for different tax types and validation rules will be effective for all relevant taxpayers;
Want to learn more about e-Invoicing compliance?
Download our Global e-invoicing and Tax Compliance fact sheet here for more information.
Archiving
Digital invoice archiving is allowed in Brazil, and all records must be kept for a period of 5 years.
Digital records can be stored outside of Brazil as long as online access and download capabilities can be guaranteed from within Brazil.
Basware provides compliant archiving capabilities.
Want to know more about Basware’s archiving services?
Download our Basware Vault fact sheet here to learn more about our flexible and scalable solution.
Basware Services
Basware services supports receiving Brazilian NF‐e and CT‐e (Conhecimento de Transporte Eletrônico) invoices.
NFS-e (Nota Fiscal de Serviços Eletrônica) invoices and other electronic message types can be supported as an additional service. A separate implementation project is needed due to the complex and location specific requirements. All e-invoices in Brazil must be in the SEFAZ (Secretaria de Fazenda - Brazilian Tax Authority) mandated XML format, contain mandatory invoice data, and have a valid digital signature.
Want to find out how we can help in your specific case?
Speak to a member of our team to learn more.
Interoperability
Basware currently has no connections to any interoperability partners in Brazil.
However, we do have local partners supporting the Basware Network with access to governmental portals.
Our advice
Many Latin American countries, including Brazil, have now adopted an invoice clearance model.
For buyers processing significant invoice volume Basware can provide a solid solution to automate the invoice receiving process. We advise automating the invoice receiving process by connecting to the governmental platform through the Basware Network.
For suppliers, a manual upload to the governmental portal is possible. For large volumes we would advise to establish an automated connection.
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