Quick start
The CFDI 4.0 came into effect as of January 1, 2022, and its mandatory use began on April 1, 2023. Which should be filled according to the validation rules stipulated by the tax administration system in it’s documentation ‘Anexo 20 de la Resolución Miscelánea Fiscal vigente‘.
The electronic invoice (CFDI) will continue to keep its XML format with UTF-8 encoding, just as it is handled nowadays. The main difference will be the data structure that is going to be used to validate the electronic invoice through the XML Schema Definition (XSD), in addition to the extra validations that are going to be applied according to Annex 20 of the current Miscellaneous Tax Resolution.
New catalogs were added to the CFDI 4.0 which will be used to differents fields that are going to be available inside the electronic invoice.
The electronic invoice or Comprobante Fiscal Digital por Internet (CFDI) in Mexico is a digital receipt implemented by the tax authority of our country, adhering to the standards defined by the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT).
The SAT specifies which guidelines are suitable for issuing these types of documents according to the needs they believe are essential for the proper handling of taxes
The electronic invoice or Comprobante Fiscal Digital por Internet (CFDI) serves as a document that describes a specific good or service purchased, the transaction date, its cost, and breaks down the taxes related to the payment of that transaction.
They also serve to support all income and expense movements of taxpayers before the tax authority
Currently, there are six types of CFDIs:
- CFDI de Ingreso (Income CFDI): Mainly issued for the provision of services, sale of goods or merchandise, leasing, or receipt of fees. Its purpose is to demonstrate the income of taxpayers.
- CFDI de Egreso (Expense CFDI): Issued when there is a return of goods or the cancellation of an Income CFDI. Its purpose is to cover the outflows of money for a taxpayer.
- CFDI de Traslado (Transfer CFDI): This CFDI supports goods that will be transferred from one point to another to verify the legality of the possession of these goods.
- CFDI de Nómina (Payroll CFDI): It is the document that contains information on withholdings and payments to workers.
- CFDI de Recepción de Pagos (Payment Reception CFDI): Generated when a payment is received, applicable when the payment method is applied in installments.
- CFDI de Retención e Información de Pagos (Withholding and Payment Information CFDI): Supports tax withholdings made or payments performed.
The technical structure of a CFDI
The CFDI is a digital document generated in a file with XML or Extensible Markup Language format. For a receipt to be valid, it must meet the following characteristics:
- The technical guidelines for form and syntax for generating XML files specified by the W3C consortium, established at www.w3.org
- Additional validation rules established in ‘Formato de factura Anexo 20 de la Resolución Miscelánea Fiscal‘
- Additional validation rules established in each addendum integrated into the XML file
- Particular validation rules published in ‘Formato de factura Anexo 20 de la Resolución Miscelánea Fiscal‘
We remind you that we have a Examples section where you can find the structure of different types of CFDIs, as well as our Libraries section where you can interact with different programming languages for creating your receipts.
CFDI is composed of
Both the invoices you issue and those you receive must meet certain requirements and include specific data to be valid:
- The Registro Federal de Contribuyentes (RFC) of the entity issuing the CFDI.
- The tax regime under which it is registered with SAT.
- Address (if the taxpayer has more than one location, the address where the invoice is being issued is specified).
- Folio number assigned by SAT.
- Sello digital.
- Place and date of issuance.
- RFC of the person requesting the fiscal document.
- Description of the goods, products, or services for which the CFDI is being issued, including quantity, unit of measure, or type of goods.
- Unit value of each of them; it must be specified in numbers.
- The total amount of the invoice, which can be indicated in numbers or in words.
- It should also be noted whether the payment was made in a single installment or in installments.
- If applicable, the amount of transferred taxes must be indicated, broken down by tax rate, in addition to any withheld taxes.
- Details of the payment method, such as cash, debit or credit card, electronic transfer, check, or through an electronic wallet authorized by SAT.
- If it was a first-hand sale of imported goods, the number and date of the customs document must also be indicated.
- Date and time of certification.
- Serial number of the digital certificate used for sign.
These requirements are published in the current “Formato de factura Anexo 20 de la Resolución Miscelánea Fiscal“.