Sovos Docs

Send invoice

This page explains the four-step outbound flow for invoices and credit notes you send from your system through Sovos to buyers and the Federal Tax Authority (FTA).

The outbound flow covers invoices and credit notes you send from your system to your buyers through the Sovos Compliance Network and the Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line (PEPPOL) network. This full flow applies to domestic B2B/B2G transactions where both you (the sender) and the buyer (the receiver) are registered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) PEPPOL network.

Two variations apply in specific cases:

  • Deemed supply or international buyer not on PEPPOL: The invoice doesn't flow to the buyer ASP. Sovos reports the Tax Data Document (TDD) to the (FTA directly without exchange.
  • International buyer registered on PEPPOL: The invoice is delivered to the buyer ASP, but the buyer ASP doesn't validate it against UAE mandate rules.

Key terms

Message Disposition Notification (MDN)
A confirmation message sent over the UAE e-invoicing network to acknowledge receipt of a document. The buyer ASP sends an MDN to the Sovos (supplier) ASP after receiving the invoice. The FTA sends an MDN to the Sovos or buyer ASP after receiving the business document.
Message Level Status (MLS)
A confirmation message sent over the UAE e-invoicing network to acknowledge receipt and validation of a document. The buyer ASP sends an MLS to Sovos (supplier ASP) after validating the invoice. The FTA sends an MLS to Sovos or buyer ASP after validating the business document.
PINT-AE
PEPPOL International Invoice for UAE.

Flow steps

Step 1 - Submit to Sovos

Send your invoice to the Sovos Compliance Network in Sovos Canonical Invoice (SCI) or PINT-AE format. Sovos validates the document and passes it to the ASP.

The following table shows the possible outcomes and the action to take for each one:

OutcomeStatusError codeAction
ValidatedUPLOADED106Proceed. Sovos passes to ASP
Validation failure FAILED401Correct the document and resubmit
Step 2 - Sovos passes to ASP

Sovos converts the document to PINT-AE XML and sends it to the Sovos ASP. The ASP acknowledges the request with a message ID that includes the UUID, then begins processing.

The following table shows the possible outcomes and the action to take for each one:

OutcomeStatusError codeAction
Validation success PROCESSING-Continue
SMP lookup failure FAILEDSMP_LOOKUP_FAILEDRetry
Step 3 - Sovos ASP transmits to buyer ASP

The Sovos ASP transmits the invoice to the buyer ASP over the PEPPOL AS4 protocol.

The following table shows the possible outcomes and the action to take for each one:

OutcomeStatusError codeAction
Positive MDN from buyer ASPDELIVERED-Proceed to TDD reporting
Negative MDNFAILEDTRANSMISSION_FAILEDRetry
Positive MLS from buyer ASP DELIVERED-Complete
Negative MLS, validation failure FAILEDFAILED
  1. Correct the document.
  2. Resubmit to Sovos. This requires a new UUID.

Sovos ASP withdraws the TDD from FTA ASP

Negative MLS, buyer not reachable FAILEDREJECTED_BY_MLSRetry

Sovos ASP withdraws the TDD from FTA ASP

No MLS received DELIVERED-ASP retries

When the ASP receives a positive MLS from the buyer ASP, the PEPPOL transmission is complete.

Step 4 - Sovos ASP reports TDD to FTA

After receiving an MDN from the buyer ASP, Sovos ASP prepares and submits the TDD to the FTA ASP. The FTA confirms the submission against the UAE mandate.

The following table shows the possible outcomes and the action to take for each one:

OutcomeStatusError codeAction
Positive MDN REPORTED--
Positive MLS from FTA ASPDELIVERED-Complete
Negative MDN FAILEDTRANSMISSION_FAILEDRetry
Negative MLS from FTA ASPFAILEDVALIDATION_ERROR
  1. Correct the document.
  2. Resubmit to Sovos. This requires a new UUID.
No MLS from FTA ASP DELIVERED-Retry

When the FTA confirms receipt, Sovos sets the tax authority reporting status is set to successful.