July 2023 – threshold reduced on reporting of e-invoices
South Korea’s near real-time e-invoicing regime will be made mandatory for a larger group of companies as it cuts the annual reporting threshold from KRW 200m to KRW 100m (approx €74,000).
South Korea first introduced mandatory real-time electronic tax invoice (e-Tax) requirements in 2011, expanding it to most taxpayers by 2014. This includes pre-clearance of sale invoices with the Korean National Tax Agency (NTA) before issuance to customers.
Check VAT Calc’s global live VAT invoice transaction and e-invoice reporting tracker to see where else real-time submissions of invoices is being implemented. South Korea’s e-Tax model is likely to be copied for 2022 Philippines e-invoicing.
E-invoice requirements
- Any taxpayer with an annual turnover above KRW 100m from July 2023 (approx €150k; USD 1790k) are subject to the obligation to submit e-invoices for clearance
- Korea’s e-invoice regime only applies to domestic transactions; cross-border transactions are excluded.
- Suppliers will require their customers’ tax registration certificate
- E-invoices should be submitted to e-Tax at the time of supply of the goods or provision of the service. Although if payment happens before this, the e-invoice should be created
- E-invoices should contain the following information:
- Tax number and address of the supplier
- Value of the supply, including VAT
- Date
- Customer details
- Description of the goods (optional)
- Date of supply (optional)
- Suppliers must first add a secure digital signature, PKI Public Key Infrastructure, a South Korean public authentication regime to ensure integrity of documents and transactions.
- The supplier then submits to the e-Tax portal their invoices in XML format (see below)
- E-invoices may be submitted by the 10th of the month following the time of supply.
Submitting e-invoices to e-Tax
Taxpayers have a number of choices on how to submit their invoices:
- Free government portal for invoice-by-invoice submissions – eSero
- AVRS telecommunications system
- Using adapted accounting or ERP software with PKI digital signature via an API link
- Engage a licensed third-party e-invoicing agent
Asia Pacific e-invoicing
| Country | Date | Comments (click for details) |
| Australia | Jul 2023 | PEPPOL-based e-invoicing with no govt intervention B2B |
| China | Jan 2023 | Special e-fapiao VAT invoice being piloted with 2023 full implementation |
| India | Oct 2020 | B2B pre-clearance with separate B2C; completed Apr 2021 |
| Indonesia | Jul 2015 | e-Factur Pajak electronic invoicing |
| Japan | Oct 2023 | Tax qualified invoices |
| Kazakhstan | Jan 2017 | e-invoicing IS ESF |
| Kyrgyzstan | Jan 2023 | Mandatory e-invoicing for goods |
| Malaysia | 2024 | e-invoicing pre-clearance |
| Mauritius | 2023 | e-invoicing System with digital transaction reporting |
| New Zealand | Mar 2022 | B2G PEPPOL-based e-invoicing |
| Philippines | Jul 2022 | 2022 pilot of e-invoices; to follow South Korea model |
| Singapore | TBC | Mandatory B2G e-invoicing on InvoiceNow |
| South Korea | 2011 | Near real-time invoice reporting |
| Taiwan | 2017 | Electronic GUI invoices; non-residents since 2020 |
| Thailand | 2018 | E-invoice reporting where adopted |
| Vietnam | Nov 2021 | Pre-clearance B2B verification code e-invoice |
