SAF-T (Standard Audit File for Tax)

SAF-T sits next to e-invoicing rather than overlapping with it. E-invoicing transmits individual invoices through clearance or exchange networks in real time. SAF-T transmits a periodic structured extract of the entire general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and invoicing records to the tax authority, on request or on schedule. The format is XML and follows the OECD's template, with country-specific extensions.

Implementation varies by country. Portugal requires monthly SAF-T submissions of invoicing data plus an annual full SAF-T. Norway requires SAF-T on tax-authority request during an audit. France's FEC (Fichier des Ecritures Comptables) is functionally equivalent. Poland's SAF-T equivalent JPK_VAT is submitted monthly. Each country's exact data schema differs slightly, which makes cross-border compliance non-trivial.

For a small business operating in one SAF-T jurisdiction, the practical answer is that the accounting software generates the file (most major accounting tools in SAF-T countries do). For a multi-jurisdiction business, you may need separate SAF-T-capable systems per country, or a tax-compliance tool that handles the format translation. Manually assembling a SAF-T XML is not realistic.