Angolan’s Republic Gazette of 1 October 2013 has been recently released thus publishing Presidential Decree no. 149/13, which introduces a new set of rules applicable to invoices and equivalent documents to be issued by Angolan taxpayers carrying out commercial or industrial activities.
According to this new regime, which enters into force on 30 November 2013, all onerous transfer of tangible1 and intangible goods and provision of services shall give rise to the issuance of invoices or equivalent documents. Pursuant to the legal definitions, invoice is a commercial document which contains the following information, in Portuguese language:
(i) Name and address of the supplier and of the acquirer, as well as their tax identification numbers;
(ii) Sequential numbering;
(iii) Detailed information about the goods or services supplied, with quantities;
(iv) Final price, in local currency, except for invoices regarding imports and exports, where specific requirements apply;
(v) Tax rates and the amount of taxes due; and
(vi) Date of the invoice and of delivery of goods or services to the acquirer if such date differs from the one on the invoice.
Equivalent documents are, on other hand, receipts, debit notes, customs clearance documents and other documents which fulfil the requirements set forth in this regime.
Even though it is generally mandatory to issue invoices in all transactions, until the 5th working day after the delivery of the goods or services, and through electronic means, the taxpayer is exempted from such obligation in the following situations:
(i) Transfer of goods completed through vending machines or through electronic means;
(ii) Provision of services subject to the issuance of tickets or alike, where the information required for invoices is present; or
(iii) Supplies of goods or services with a value, per item, equal or below 1,000 Kwanzas (roughly USD 10).
Moreover, the National Tax Director may grant a particular exemption of the obligation to issue invoices to special types of activities which involve a great number of transactions, thus making it very hard and onerous to comply with such obligation.
Non-compliance with the obligations foreseen in this regime gives rise to penalties amounting to 20% of the tax due, or 40% of the tax due in case of recurrent non-compliance.
Moreover, whenever the taxpayer issues an invoice that does not meet the mandatory requirements, it becomes subject to a fine of 30,000 Kwanzas (roughly USD 300), when the missing elements are the price, the supplier’s name or the tax number, or when those elements are incorrectly mentioned, or of 10,000 Kwanzas (roughly USD 100) when the omission relates to any other of the remaining mandatory elements.
Footnotes
1 Electric energy, gas and water are considered to be tangible goods for the purposes of this regime.