💡 Important to know:
To comply with national regulations, Italian properties must download reservation invoices as .xml files structured in the Fattura PA format, sign them, send them to the Sistema di Interscambio (SdI), and once cleared, archive them.
If you are located in Italy, you can use the desktop version of Little Hotelier to download e-invoices in both the proper format and structure (.xml and Fattura PA).
Aimed at Italian properties, this article explains how to manually prepare, download, and submit e-invoices through Little Hotelier, and in doing so, comply with national regulations.
What is an e-invoice?
An e-invoice is an electronic version of an invoice.
Processing e-invoices is known as e-invoicing — in other words, digitally drafting, signing, issuing, transmitting, receiving, processing, clearing, and archiving invoices in formats such as .xml.
Italian e-invoicing regulations
In January 2019, Italy became the first European country to implement mandatory business-to-business (B2B) e-invoicing for VAT-registered businesses via the country’s online exchange system, Sistema di Interscambio (SdI), in an effort to combat tax evasion.
Timeline:
2014 — e-invoicing rolled out for business-to-government (B2G) transactions.
2019 — e-invoicing extended to domestic B2B and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions.
2022 — e-invoicing extended to cross-border B2B transactions.
⚠️ Failure to comply with these e-invoicing regulations may result in major financial penalties.
How Little Hotelier generates e-invoices
All Italian properties on Little Hotelier can prepare their latest reservation invoice — featuring data sourced directly from the platform — as an .xml file structured in the Fattura PA format, as required by the SdI.
All of the line items on the viewable/printable/e-mailable versions of an invoice are also present on the Fattura PA .xml e-invoice, including the VAT and invoice summary lines.
⚠️ Note:
This article explains how to prepare, upload, and submit e-invoices manually. If, however, you want to do this automatically, read Invoice compliance in Italy: subscribe to automatic e-invoice clearance with Little Hotelier.
If a property is registered with the Repertorio Economico Amministrativo (REA), its REA data is sourced from Setup > Update company details.
Prepare an e-invoice as a Fattura PA .xml file
⚠️ Before generating and preparing your e-invoice, ensure that the necessary fields have been filled in for the corresponding reservation.
Go to Little Hotelier > Reservations.
Locate a reservation with a generated invoice and click on it.
Go to the Invoices tab.
On the latest invoice, click on Fattura PA.
💡 Consider the following when downloading Fattura PA .xml e-invoices:
They cannot be used for B2G transactions.
They also cannot be used for transactions in which either the property or buyer uses a tax representative or is a non-resident of Italy.
They do not take the following into account: tax retention, stamp duty, and contributions to professional funds.
Any fixed taxes configured for the property will be presented as 0% VAT line items, with exemption reason N1 (VAT exemption).
They always have the VAT payable set to ‘immediate payment’
They do NOT include any kind of payments made on the reservation — partial and full payments, deposits and refunds, etc. — even if they were processed or recorded.
Issuing services
The Italian Revenue Agency — also known as the Agenzia delle Entrate — provides the following free services for preparing and issuing e-invoices to the SdI:
Web service — Fatture e Corrispettivi or Home
💡 There are several other free and paid third-party service providers that help Italian merchants prepare and submit invoices to the SdI — for example, fattureincloud.it
Issuing a Fattura PA .xml e-invoice to the SdI
Review the prepared e-invoice, make changes (if necessary), and ensure that all of the mandatory information for the SdI has been provided. (If any information is missing, check Invoice compliance in Italy: mandatory e-invoice fields, complete the fields, save, then prepare the invoice again.)
If required, obtain the services of a tax accountant/advisor to ensure that the e-invoice has been prepared correctly.
Once prepared, issue the e-invoice to the SdI, either by using a third-party application/software of their choice or an issuing service provided by the Italian authorities (as detailed in the previous section).
Once your e-invoice has been cleared by the SdI, do not forget to archive it, as explained here.
💡It is every property’s responsibility to consult or liaise with a tax advisor, accountant, or third-party vendor to:
understand the requirements of the SdI;
ensure that the information required by the SdI has been entered into Little Hotelier before downloading the Fattura PA .xml e-invoice;
make sure that the unsigned downloaded .xml e-invoice gets signed, as explained here;
make timely e-invoice submissions to the SdI, in accordance with Italy’s regulatory requirements.