Glossary
The acronym soup, decoded.
CTC, IRP, KSeF, PINT, ZATCA, XAdES — the words you'll need to read any country's legislation.
- ASP
- Accredited Service Provider — an authorised partner that exchanges e-invoices on behalf of a taxpayer (UAE, Oman PINT models).
- ATCUD
- Portuguese unique document code printed alongside the QR on every invoice — assigned by AT.
- B2B
- Business-to-Business invoicing.
- B2C
- Business-to-Consumer invoicing.
- B2G
- Business-to-Government invoicing.
- BIS
- Business Interoperability Specification — the Peppol delivery profile (e.g., Peppol BIS Billing 3.0).
- CFDI
- Comprobante Fiscal Digital por Internet — Mexico's clearance e-invoice format (currently 4.0).
- CIUS
- Core Invoice Usage Specification — a country-specific profile of EN 16931 (e.g., XRechnung CIUS, NLCIUS, RO_CIUS).
- Clearance model
- Tax authority must validate / approve the invoice before it is legally issued (India, Italy SDI, KSA Phase 2, Mexico, Brazil, Türkiye, Hungary).
- CTC
- Continuous Transaction Controls — broad family of regimes where data is reported in real or near-real time to tax authorities.
- CUFE
- Código Único de Facturación Electrónica — Colombia's unique invoice identifier returned by DIAN.
- DBNAlliance
- Digital Business Networks Alliance — non-profit running the US Open Exchange Network (Peppol-style 4-corner model).
- DCTCE
- Decentralised Continuous Transaction Control & Exchange — UAE's 5-corner Peppol-based model.
- DRC
- SAP Document and Reporting Compliance — SAP's umbrella product for statutory documents and reports.
- DRR
- Digital Reporting Requirements — EU ViDA cross-border reporting obligation (effective 1 July 2030).
- EN 16931
- European semantic standard for the core invoice; mandatory baseline under Directive 2014/55/EU. Updated EN 16931-1:2026 aligns with ViDA.
- FA(3)
- Polish KSeF 2.0 invoice schema replacing FA(2) from February 2026.
- Factur-X
- French/German hybrid PDF/A-3 + embedded UN/CEFACT CII XML format. Compatible with German ZUGFeRD.
- FatturaPA
- Italian XML invoice format used by SDI; current version 1.9 since April 2025.
- GSP
- GST Suvidha Provider — authorised technology intermediary in India's GST and IRP ecosystem.
- IRN
- Invoice Reference Number — unique 64-character hash returned by Indian IRP after successful clearance.
- IRP
- Invoice Registration Portal — government-authorised endpoint that signs and registers Indian e-invoices.
- KSeF
- Krajowy System e-Faktur — Poland's national e-invoice clearance system (KSeF 2.0 from 2026).
- myDATA
- Greece's near-real-time bookkeeping reporting platform (since 2020).
- MyInvois
- Malaysia's CTC clearance platform run by LHDN (Inland Revenue Board).
- NF-e
- Nota Fiscal Eletrônica — Brazilian e-invoice for goods, signed with ICP-Brasil certificate.
- NFS-e
- Nota Fiscal de Serviços Eletrônica — Brazilian municipal services e-invoice; national standard mandatory January 2026.
- PA / PDP
- Plateforme Agréée (formerly Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire) — accredited private platform in France's Y-model.
- Peppol
- Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine — standardised 4-corner network for B2G/B2B e-invoicing; now widely adopted globally.
- PINT
- Peppol International Invoice — global model with country profiles (PINT-AE, PINT-SG, JP-PINT, MY PINT, PINT A-NZ).
- Post-audit model
- Tax authority audits invoices after the fact rather than clearing them in real time (most EU countries pre-ViDA; Germany).
- PPF
- Portail Public de Facturation — French public platform (directory + e-reporting only, no invoice exchange).
- QR (TLV)
- Tag-Length-Value Base64-encoded QR code mandated on Saudi ZATCA invoices.
- RO_CIUS
- Romanian CIUS profile of EN 16931 used by RO e-Factura.
- SAF-T
- Standard Audit File for Tax — OECD-derived XML structure for audit data (used in Portugal, Norway, Lithuania, France for audit, etc.).
- SDI
- Sistema di Interscambio — Italian Tax Authority platform that clears every B2B and B2G invoice.
- Sello digital
- Mexican digital seal applied to CFDI XML using FIEL or CSD certificate.
- SII
- (1) Suministro Inmediato de Información — Spain's near-real-time VAT books reporting; (2) Servicio de Impuestos Internos — Chile's tax authority.
- TLV
- Tag-Length-Value encoding used in ZATCA QR codes; nine fields including seller name, VAT number, timestamp, totals, and digital signature components.
- UBL
- Universal Business Language — OASIS XML standard underlying Peppol BIS, ZATCA UBL 2.1 KSA, MyInvois, PINT family.
- Verifactu
- Spanish AEAT regime for certified billing software with optional voluntary direct reporting (RD 1007/2023).
- ViDA
- VAT in the Digital Age — EU Directive 2025/516 (in force 14 April 2025) modernising EU VAT for the digital economy.
- XAdES
- XML Advanced Electronic Signature — used in ZATCA, Spain Facturae, etc.
- XRechnung
- German CIUS of EN 16931 mandatory for B2G; current version 4.0.
- ZATCA
- Saudi Arabia's Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority — operator of the Fatoora e-invoicing platform.
- ZUGFeRD
- German hybrid PDF/A-3 + CII XML format, fully compatible with Factur-X from version 2.1.