Latin America E-Invoicing and Tax ID Reference
A Latin American rollout is really a series of separate country projects, each with its own tax ID, e-invoice document and authority. This table gives the orientation view to scope an ERP localization before reading the detailed rules of each country.
| Country | Tax ID name | Format | Electronic invoice | Tax authority | VAT or sales tax name and general rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mexico | RFC | 12 characters for companies, 13 for individuals | CFDI 4.0 stamped by a PAC | SAT | IVA 16 percent (8 percent in the border region program) |
Brazil | CNPJ (companies), CPF (individuals) | CNPJ 14 digits, CPF 11 digits | NF-e (goods), NFS-e (services), CT-e (transport) | SEFAZ per state, Receita Federal | ICMS (state, varies), IPI, PIS, COFINS, ISS on services |
Argentina | CUIT | 11 digits | Factura electronica with CAE | ARCA (formerly AFIP) | IVA 21 percent general |
Chile | RUT | Number plus check digit, for example 12345678-9 | DTE (documento tributario electronico) | SII | IVA 19 percent |
Colombia | NIT | 9 digits plus check digit | Factura electronica de venta | DIAN | IVA 19 percent general |
Peru | RUC | 11 digits | CPE (comprobante de pago electronico) | SUNAT | IGV 18 percent including municipal promotion tax |
Uruguay | RUT | 12 digits | CFE (comprobante fiscal electronico) | DGI | IVA 22 percent general |
Ecuador | RUC | 13 digits | Factura electronica | SRI | IVA rate set by law and changed in recent years, confirm current rate |
Costa Rica | Cedula juridica (companies) | 10 digits | Factura electronica | Ministerio de Hacienda | IVA 13 percent general |
Guatemala | NIT | Numeric with check digit | FEL (factura electronica en linea) | SAT | IVA 12 percent |
Panama | RUC | Variable by taxpayer type | Factura electronica via authorised provider | DGI | ITBMS 7 percent general |
Dominican Republic | RNC | 9 digits for companies | e-CF (comprobante fiscal electronico) | DGII | ITBIS 18 percent |
Rates, formats and rollout dates change. Use this as an orientation table and verify against the tax authority's current rules before configuring tax codes or certificates in an ERP.
Checks for tax IDs across your partner master
We can talk through a read-only data quality check of tax IDs and e-invoice fields across your entities.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use the table
Filter by country or by acronym when a consultant or auditor throws one at you. Use the table to build the first slide of a localization scope: which authority each legal entity reports to, which document types must be issued electronically, and which tax ID field must be mandatory on the business partner master. Export it to Excel and add columns for your own entities, ERP add-on and certificate expiry.
- One row per legal entity, not per country
- Record the certificate owner and expiry date
- Note which entities issue goods, service and transport documents
- Track the PAC or authorised provider contract
Clearance versus post-audit models
Several countries, including Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, require the invoice to be validated or authorised by the tax authority or an authorised provider as part of issue. That makes invoicing a real-time integration with a failure mode: if the authority is down, you need a contingency process. The ERP design must handle rejection messages, resend logic and cancellation rules, which differ widely between countries.
Common mistakes
Teams often validate only the length of a tax ID and not its check digit, or they store IDs with dots and dashes that break the e-invoice payload. Another recurring mistake is assuming one VAT code per country: Brazil alone has state-level ICMS, federal taxes and municipal service tax. Keep the tax determination rules in a table owned by finance, not in code, so a rate change is an update and not a project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do all Latin American countries require electronic invoicing?
Most of the large economies do, but the model, scope and rollout date differ, and some countries phase in by taxpayer size. Check the authority's current calendar for each entity rather than assuming that a neighbour's rules apply.
What is a PAC?
In Mexico a PAC (proveedor autorizado de certificacion) is a company authorised by the SAT to validate and stamp CFDI invoices. Your ERP or add-on sends the XML to the PAC, which returns the stamped document with a UUID.
Why is the Ecuador VAT rate not stated as a number?
The rate has been changed by law in recent years and may change again. For fast-moving rates the safe approach is to confirm with the tax authority and keep the rate in a maintained tax table instead of a hard-coded value.
Can one ERP handle all these countries?
The major ERPs offer localizations for many of them, but depth varies by country and release. Some entities need a local add-on or a certified provider. Ask the vendor for the localization status per country and per document type.
If you manage ERP data for several Latin American entities, we can help build read-only checks for tax ID formats and missing e-invoice fields across your business partner master.
Related Tools
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