PANAMA

On December 29, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) published a decree establishing the rules for electronic invoicing. The measure applies to people requesting the use of electronic invoices from the General Directorate of Revenues (DGI, in Spanish), or those exempt from using a Tax Device who must use these invoices to document the sales of goods and services. The regulation is already in force, except for Section IV which will become effective on June 1, 2021. On the other hand, the MEF also issued a decree with the rules concerning the adoption of tax teams for the issuance of tax receipts and other documents. The regulation is already in force.

The first text indicates that the Electronic Invoice will have the same evidentiary weight as those issued by Tax Device. The validity of the electronic signature will be provided by an electronic certificate issued by a certified service provider registered with the National Directorate of Electronic Signature of the Public Registry of Panama. Likewise, the decree clarifies that Electronic Invoice users must be authorized by a Qualified Authorization Provider (PAC, in Spanish), with the exception of electronic documents created using the Free Invoicer of the Electronic Invoice System of Panama (SFEP, in Spanish). 

If an amendment needs to be made to an Electronic Invoice, an Electronic Credit Note or an Electronic Debit Note shall be issued through the Electronic Invoice System of Panama web services. Only those documents duly authorized by a PAC or created on the SFEP will be considered Electronic Invoices, Electronic Debit Notes or Electronic Credit Notes. Additionally, the text establishes that these e-documents must be referenced with a Single Electronic Invoicing Code for their correct identification. 

On the other hand, the second document issued by the MEF applies to all of those who, by law, are obliged to adopt tax devices to document the sales of goods and services by issuing an invoice. The text outlines the requirements that authorized tax devices must follow, along with the data that needs to be saved. Additionally, the text indicates that tax devices may only print one original copy of the tax receipt, which has to be handed over to the customer, and no other copies of such documents shall be printed -with the exception of those contained in the Audit Report-.