SAF-T: What changes in 2020?

Currently, we are witnessing a profound transformation in the format for reporting financial and accounting information to the Tax Authority, which from the financial year 2020 onwards will be carried out through the SAF-T (PT) accounting for pre-filling IES - Annual Statement of Accounting and Tax Information.

The main objective is to simplify the delivery of tax and accounting information, in an easily auditable format.

Thus, companies should be aware of their inconsistencies in the SAF-T (PT) accounting, as well as their management software should be prepared to contemplate this new reality.

New SAF-T obligations in 2020

As we explained in this article, Simplified Business Information (IES) is an electronic declaration that allows to deliver, through a single medium and a single form, the various information on the annual accounts of companies (deposit of accounts, accounting and tax return and annual accounting data) that previously had to be delivered by different means to different entities: Tax Authority, INE and Banco de Portugal. The creation of the IES, in 2007, introduced a major simplification of the contributory obligations of Portuguese companies, allowing to reduce costs and contributing to a more competitive and transparent economy.

But...what has really changed now?

Cut-off date for the 2020 SAF-T delivery

The law implemented in 2019 requires that IES is automatically pre-filled from the financial year 2020 onwards by reporting the SAF-T (PT) accounting file, as a rule until 30 April of the following year (in this case until 30/04/2021). Approximately 2,700 manual input fields are thus eliminated.

This decree-law is intended to make it simpler and easier to declare the data required for IES, allowing the correction of inconsistencies and errors upstream.

However, what advantages does this new law now offer to organizations?

This new requirement allows the Tax Authority to have access to all the information related to the life of the company, such as details of accounting movements, complete invoicing, registration of customers, suppliers, master tables, movement of goods, inventories, conference documents, receipts, among many other information, and consequently enables it to develop analyses in order to identify inconsistencies and obtain indicators of tax evasion, in any instance without the knowledge of the taxpayer.

Obligation to use invoicing programs certified by AT

In this sense, it is therefore essential that the SAF-T (PT) accounting is generated in accordance with the SVAT certification rules and that it follows the logic of taxonomies provided for in the Ordinance on the SAF-T (PT), eliminating in advance file and data repository errors that may unnecessarily raise false issues with the Tax Authority.

It is important to take into account that companies deal with various platforms, from ERPs, to point of sale software, to the automation of processes between companies, invoicing systems, among others, which support their sales and accounting processes and consequently generate data. Thus, during these integration processes, data can actually be lost or, worse, can be inadvertently changed, causing companies to unconsciously create and report with errors, which can lead to management problems, fines from regulators or tax disputes (caused based on incorrect information).

Solutions to ensure the new obligations of SAF-T accounting

There are Business Intelligence solutions that can help companies comply with these new obligations, also enabling the early detection of situations of fraud and tax inconsistencies. In fact, these solutions not only generate a detailed diagnosis regarding the financial, legal and fiscal health of organizations, thus ensuring the integrity of data as well as the quality of information produced by ERPs, billing systems and complementary that are reported to the Tax Authority. Additionally, they can also be used as a management, audit and internal control tool for companies, since they use the same raw data as the information systems in a compiled and independent way.

Thus, through these Business Intelligence solutions, it is possible to provide companies, in an easier and more direct way, with access to their financial status, while ensuring beforehand that there are no inconsistencies in the information they send to TA. In order to guarantee its clients the innovative and excellent service to which they are accustomed, NEWCO has implemented a Business Intelligence tool, NEWCO Analytics, which not only ensures compliance with these new standards, but also guarantees the quality of the information they send to AT.