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Manage electronic invoices for free
According to Italian law, each invoice must be filled in in a standard format called FatturaPA, written in XML language, sent to the public administration with the digital company and through the so-called Interchange System (SDI) of the Revenue Agency (which checks the correctness of the format and completeness of the data) and stored. Below we will show you the best tools we can use to manage your electronic invoices completely free of charge.
Very famous companies like Aruba provide a paid online platform, while the public administration provides a basic free electronic invoice software, very ugly to see, without advanced functions and which requires the installation of the environment Java JRE.
Anyone wishing, however, a free electronic invoice program, comprehensive and easy to use for manage all billing, which is also advanced and with the possibility of having all the billing management functions that are included in services such as that of Aruba or LegalInvoice, can instead download and install on the PC a free program called SDiPEC.
What are the advantages of a program over the cloud?
The advantage of using a program rather than relying on a cloud service is that of being able to keep all documents, billing data on your PC and also be able to manage offline, without necessarily being connected to the internet. The program basically acts as an e-mail client linked to the certified e-mail (certified e-mail), to send and receive e-mails from the certified mailbox. Furthermore, it can be configured to communicate with the SDI Exchange System, which manages all electronic invoices.
Free electronic invoice programs
One of the best programs for managing invoices is SDiPEC, which we can free download from the official website of the program.
The software allows you to create and fill in electronic invoices in a simplified and correct way from the point of view of the Revenue Agency, including electronic signature, and to manage the invoicing at every stage. You can therefore send and receive invoices to the PA (Public administration) e between private B2B (Business to Business) e B2C (Business To Consumer), without limitations.
The system is also able to confirm the correctness of the sending of invoices and allows you to put the electronic signature in a simple way. There is also a registry section for the management of customers, suppliers, and products, so you can fill out your invoices as quickly as possible. Each invoice can be exported to XML format or you can import XML files of electronic invoices saved with other software. It is also possible to share management with your accountant.
All activities are free and unlimited, there is no premium program and there are no functions to unlock for a fee, so even if it is not open-source software, you can still use it freely without having to give up data and without advertising deceptions. According to what is written on the site, the company that released this software had developed it for itself, then sharing it with everyone at no cost of any kind. The program is also updated regularly with new features and additions. The site also provides a complete guide to the SDiPEC electronic invoicing program, with detailed instructions in Italian that lead to the correct configuration of the management account, compilation, transmission, and receipt of invoices.
If we are looking for a valid alternative to SDiPEC we can try the program Assoinvoice, available as a free download from the official website.
With this program, we will have a convenient multiplatform electronic invoice manager (i.e. available on Windows, Mac, and Linux) with which we can send the XML invoices we already have, create new ones and catalog them based on the billing period or on the basis of other parameters (for example the largest invoices or the most recent invoices uploaded). Obviously, the possibility is offered to print one or more invoices in bulk and to create additional save files (to be saved on the cloud, so as to never lose the invoices.
Free invoice cloud services
If we are afraid of losing bills due to hardware damage or a sudden power surge, we can always use a cloud solution, so as to manage bills without installing programs, from any PC used.
In this case, we advise you to try a free electronic invoice service all online come CloudFinance, available from the official website.
This site requires the registration of a free account (the company guarantees that it will be free and unlimited forever), then just proceed with the configuration of the PEC and the import of data from the revenue agency. For all these activities, there is a very detailed guide to the service, which you can follow step by step.
Being a consultancy company, you can easily call for assistance (at that point, paid solutions will be offered which can be safely refused). The functions of the application are the same as any advanced electronic invoicing software: invoice wizard, invoice management and storage, supplier, customer and product management, valid electronic signature, XML file import and export and then also notification service email to customers and suppliers and also integration with accounting programs.
Another e-invoicing service that we can use for free online is Libero SiFattura Basic, available from the official website.
With this free service, we will be able to send invoices from the Internet, download those already uploaded to the Revenue Agency website and keep all the material, so that we can catalog at any time all the invoices generated over the years, with the possibility of downloading them or to print them in bulk (for example a whole year on file or on paper).
Conclusions
While there is no shortage of programs and paid sites for electronic invoicing (and in many cases, they are better, as they offer additional support and features), focusing on free solutions could be a good choice for beginners or for those who own a small business. and manages everything personally. Obviously, if we are accountants we will most likely have advanced programs to manage the invoices of all customers, who will only have to upload the invoices when required.
Still, on the subject of electronic invoices and programs to manage them, we invite you to read our guides on how to open XML or XML.P7M file (electronic invoice) and how to print an electronic invoice in PDF.
If, on the other hand, we are looking for other products similar to those seen above, we can learn more in our guides 10 free billing and accounting programs for self-employed and small businesses.