FinMin extends e-invoicing registration deadline for the self-employed: Self-employed individuals — including doctors, pharmacists, and lawyers — now have until 30 April 2023 to register with the Tax Authority’s e-invoicing system, after the Finance Ministry extended the deadline from next Thursday, 15 December, according to a ministry statement out Thursday.

REMEMBER- There has been a chorus of opposition to the new system from self-employed professionals including doctors, engineers, lawyers and artists, with dentists the most recent to voice their concerns. Only 150k companies had signed up to the new system ahead of the previous deadline of 15 December, according to a tally from the Tax Authority at the end of November. That’s well below the 1 mn companies that will be required to register.

And we think they need to get with the system, literally. Industry associations for lawyers have pushed back for years against VAT and e-invoicing, while the doctors and pharmacists’ syndicates have resisted anything that would give the taxman clarity about their members’ finances.

BACKGROUND- What e-invoicing system? The Tax Authority has since late 2020 been rolling out a system that will see all B2B and B2C transactions captured via a state-controlled e-invoices portal. A business invoicing another business must use the portal to log its invoice, while retailers are required to integrate their point-of-sale software with the system to give the Tax Authority clarity on their sales. The system aims to clamp down on tax evasion and allow the Tax Authority to focus on undertaking tax audits on non-registered, non-compliant companies. You can check out our primer on the system here.

What’s going on now? Major retailers and just about all businesses are now enrolled in the system. Lawyers, engineers, doctors, pharmacists and artists were to have followed suit by this week.