Definitions and concepts
Definitions and concepts related to Sovos eArchive, including clearance and post-audit countries, document formats, signature types, and the Sovos TrustWeaver Compliance Map.
- Clearance Countries
- Countries where the invoicing process must be cleared by the tax authority. Once cleared, the invoice becomes legally valid.
- Combining Document Formats, Signatures, and Audit Data
- The following table gives an overview of the recommended combinations of document formats, signature type, and audit data when storing an invoice with Sovos eArchive:
ARCHIVING.SIGNATURETYPE ARCHIVING.DOCUMENTFORMAT ARCHIVING.SIGNATUREFORMAT ARCHIVING.AUDITCATEGORY Implicit XML XMLCON, XMLSIGED, XMLSIG XADESA CXML XMLSIG XADESA PDF PDF CADESA, PADESLTV OTHER SMIME, PKCS7 CADESA FATTURAPA FATTURAPA N/A ESLOG ESLOG N/A FACTURAE FACTURAE XADESA Explicit Any (XML, PDF, OTHER, etc.) PKCS7D CADESA Audit EANCOM IDEAL, AECOC, GS1AT EVIDENCE, N/A PDF PDFE EVIDENCE INIDJSON INJWS N/A BRNFE BRNFEP N/A BRCTE BRCTEP N/A MXCFDI MXCFDIT N/A PEINV PEINVP N/A CLDTE CLDTEP N/A - Document Formats
- Sovos allows you to store any document with Sovos eArchive. When storing a document, it's necessary to specify the document format in the Standard Business Document Header via the
Archiving.DocumentFormatScope information. Sovos supports the following document formats:ARCHIVING.DOCUMENTFORMAT DESCRIPTION XML A generic XML document PDF A generic PDF document CXML cXML formatted invoice UBL UBL invoice OTHER The document is in a format not recognized by Sovos eArchive EANCOM EANCOM (EDIFACT) invoice FACTURAE Spanish Factura Electrónica formatted invoice FATTURAPA Document supporting invoicing in Italy FATTURAPAR Provisional form of FATTURAPA document ESLOG Document supporting B2G invoicing in Slovenia CLDTE Chilean DTE Fiscal Document format CLRER Chilean DTE Buyer Goods/Services Response CLRDTEA Chilean DTE Buyer Reception Response CLRDTEC Chilean DTE Buyer Commercial Response MXCFDI Mexican CFDI v3.2 electronic invoice format MXCFD Mexican CFD v2.2 (legacy) electronic invoice format BRNFE Brazilian goods XML invoice BRNFSEC Brazilian canonical services invoice BRCTE Brazilian XML document used for carriage of cargo BRMDFE Brazilian transport XML document PEINV Peruvian UBL XML e-invoice PECRN Peruvian UBL XML credit note PEDEN Peruvian UBL XML debit note INIDJSON Indian Invoice Document JSON ITSBD Italian Standard Business Document FRGS1XML Sovos XML format holding the mandatory PDF and XML components of a GS1 France standard business document GRIDXML Greek Invoice Document XML - Invoicing Party
An invoicing party is an entity registered in Sovos eArchive that sends or receives invoices but doesn't archive them using Sovos eArchive.
Invoices cannot be archived in Sovos eArchive on behalf of an Invoicing Party. However, an Invoicing Party can be registered as a User Organization for which invoices can be archived.
- Post-audit Countries
- Countries where the invoicing process doesn't require any sort of approval from a local tax authority, leaving the issuer responsible for compliance with the applicable law.
- Signature and Audit Data
- Sovos eArchive processes both signed and unsigned documents. To provide long-term validation of a signed document, three components are needed:
Document: The signed data. Example: the "raw" invoice data.
Signature: The electronic signature.
Audit data: Long term audit data.
These components can be bundled together or provided separately. Therefore, when storing a signed document, different parameter sets are needed, depending on the type of signature. To describe these two scenarios, Sovos uses the following terms:Implicit: One component is given, the other is implied, i.e., they are bundled into one chunk of data.
Explicit: The components must be provided explicitly, as two separate chunks of data.
The implicit scenario is the most straightforward, where all components are bundled together, and can be described as "document with implicit signature and audit data". All scenarios supported by Sovos eArchive are described in the subsections below.Note:Even if audit data is not included, the categorization below is still relevant because audit data can be added retroactively. This means that, for a format to be included in the "Implicit Signature and Audit Data" category, it must be possible to add audit data retroactively in the same container as the document and the signature.
- Implicit Signature and Audit Data (Signature Type 1)
- This is a scenario where the document, signature, and optional audit data are bundled into one chunk of data.Example signature formats that use this structure:
Implicit CAdES-A signatures (with audit data)
Implicit CAdES-T signatures (without audit data)
Enveloping/enveloped XAdES-A signatures (with audit data)
Enveloping/enveloped XAdES-T signatures (without audit data)
- Explicit Signature and Audit Data (Signature Type 2)
- This is a scenario where the document is provided in its "raw" format. Signature and optional audit data are provided separately, in a format that supports both.Example signature formats that use this structure:
Explicit (often called detached) CAdES-A signatures (with audit data)
CAdES-T signatures (without audit data)
- Implicit Signature and Explicit Audit Data (Signature Type 3)
- This is a scenario where the signature is bundled with the document, but the audit data is provided separately -- if at all. This is usually due to limitations in the signature format used.An example of a signature format where this structure may be used is the EDIFACT-based signature format. Note that "detached audit data" is called "detached evidence data" in some documents.Note:
It's also possible to store unsigned documents. In those cases, only the
Archiving.Documentformatinformation must be communicated in the SBDH and all the values as shown in the table above can be used. - Sovos TrustWeaver Compliance Map
- An instrument designed to centralize control over localized compliance. It consists of structured information based on the requirements and compliant processes used for e-invoicing purposes.
- User Organization
- An organization registered within Sovos eArchive as a legal entity on whose behalf invoices can be archived using Sovos eArchive.