e-Invoice or e-Archive: which one, and when?
Both are electronic, both are reported to the tax authority. The difference lies in how the document reaches the recipient.
A Turkish e-invoice is issued to recipients who are themselves registered for e-invoicing, and reaches them through the tax authority's system. An e-archive invoice is issued to unregistered recipients — sole traders, consumers and foreign customers — and is reported to the authority but delivered to the recipient by e-mail or PDF instead.
Both documents are electronic and both are reported to the tax authority. The distinction lies in the recipient's registration status and how the document reaches them.
The one-sentence difference
- e-Invoice: issued when the recipient is also registered. The document lands in their inbox inside the authority's system, and they can accept or reject it.
- e-Archive: issued when the recipient is not registered. Reported to the authority but delivered by e-mail or PDF.
That is why an e-archive invoice can never be "rejected by the recipient" — it never travelled through the system to them.
Exports work differently
This is where most mistakes happen. Goods exports are issued as export-profile e-invoices, with the customs administration as the recipient. Service and micro exports are issued as e-archive documents.
One more detail: a foreign buyer's tax identifier may contain letters or differ in length from domestic formats. Under an export profile that is not an error, and a system that forces domestic validation everywhere will jam here.
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