How to Issue an e-Invoice in Turkey: Steps and e-Archive
A Turkish e-Invoice takes five steps: check the buyer, pick scenario and type, enter lines, verify the preview, send. Unregistered buyer? Use e-Archive.
Unlike a paper invoice, issuing an e-Invoice (e-Fatura, Turkey's electronic invoice) is not a printing job but a sending job: the document is created in the standard format of GİB (the Turkish Revenue Administration), UBL-TR, signed and delivered to the buyer's e-Invoice mailbox. The steps below are the same whichever software you use; menu names are taken from the ELPO e-Belge screen.
First: e-Invoice or e-Archive?
The decision depends on the buyer. If the buyer is an e-Invoice user registered with GİB, you issue an e-Invoice; if not (a final consumer or a company that has not switched to e-Invoice), you issue an e-Archive invoice (e-Arşiv). Whether the buyer is registered is checked by tax number in GİB's list of registered users.
How to issue an e-Invoice: five steps
- Open a new document. New Document / Create Document (Yeni Belge / Belge Oluştur) > E-Fatura.
- Select the scenario and the invoice type. The scenario determines the kind of invoice (see the table below). The invoice type states the tax status of the sale: sale, return, VAT withholding (tevkifat), exemption, special tax base, export-registered sale, accommodation tax. If you select return, the number of the invoice being returned is mandatory.
- Enter the buyer. As you type the tax number, registered buyers are suggested; once you select one, the address and tax office are filled in.
- Enter the lines and the currency. Goods/service, quantity, unit price, VAT (KDV) rate. If the document is in a currency other than TL, an exchange rate field opens. For withholding or exemption, the code is selected per line from GİB's list.
- Preview and send. In the Preview step the document goes through three separate checks: business rules, GİB's XML schema (XSD) and the schematron rules. Nothing is sent until all three pass; if there is an error, the screen shows which field it is in. Then Save and Send.
After sending, the processing result of the document at the integrator is tracked. If the document is rejected, the reason appears on screen; no document is reported as "sent" and then silently lost. A half-finished document is kept with Save as Draft and reopened from Drafts where you left off.
Which scenario should I choose?
| Scenario | When |
|---|---|
| Basic (Temel) | Standard sale; the buyer does not reply with acceptance or rejection |
| Commercial (Ticari) | Sales where the buyer must be able to accept or reject the invoice |
| Export (İhracat) | The buyer is the Ministry of Customs and Trade; delivery terms, customs declaration and origin details on the line |
| Public (Kamu) | The buyer is a public institution; IBAN is mandatory |
| HKS | Sales with a Wholesale Market Registration System (Hal Kayıt Sistemi) tag and commission agent invoices |
| Investment Incentive (Yatırım Teşvik) | Sales under an investment incentive certificate; certificate no./date and machine ID on the line |
| Pharmaceutical (İlaç) | Sales reported to the Drug Tracking System (İlaç Takip Sistemi) |
| Energy (Enerji) | Charging station sales; licence plate, charging period and socket serial number |
| Special invoice (Özel fatura) | Suitcase trade with a regime code |
How to issue an e-Archive invoice
The steps are the same; the difference lies in two fields. You select the delivery type (whether the buyer gets it electronically or as a paper printout). For sales made over the internet, the web address, payment method and shipping details are also entered.
If the goods leave before the invoice, a separate waybill is needed for the shipment: how to issue an e-Waybill (e-İrsaliye).
From the GİB portal or through an integrator?
GİB's portal is free and enough for businesses that issue few invoices; invoices are issued one by one, by hand, in the browser. A private integrator connects to your ERP or accounting software and provides bulk issuing, archiving, reporting and support. As the number of invoices grows, the time spent on the portal exceeds the integrator's fee. For the full list of authorised companies: GİB private integrator list.
ELPO has been on GİB's private integrator list since 2015. To try the screen yourself: e-Invoice software