What is an e-Archive invoice?

In Turkey, businesses registered for e-Invoice (e-Fatura) with the Turkish Revenue Administration (GİB) send each other invoices through GİB’s e-Invoice system. Even if your business is an e-Invoice user, some of your customers may not be registered. For these buyers, General Communiqué No. 509 on the Tax Procedure Law defines the e-Archive invoice: an invoice created electronically that falls outside the e-Invoice system.

It has the same legal standing as a paper invoice. The copy handed to the buyer on paper or sent electronically is the original, and the copy the issuer stores electronically counts as the second copy.

How is it different from an e-Invoice?

The difference lies in the buyer, not in the content of the document. A taxpayer registered for e-Archive issues an e-Invoice to buyers who use e-Invoice, and an e-Archive invoice to taxpayers who don’t and to individuals who aren’t taxpayers. If both seller and buyer are e-Invoice users, every invoice between them must be an e-Invoice.

An e-Invoice reaches the buyer through GİB’s e-Invoice system. An e-Archive invoice is sent electronically, including over the internet, or handed over as a printout, depending on what the buyer asks for; when it’s sent electronically, it doesn’t also have to be printed. It shows the hour and minute of issue as well as the date.

For online sales, the invoice is delivered electronically and carries the statement “Bu satış internet üzerinden yapılmıştır.” (“This sale was made over the internet.”). To join the e-Archive system, a business must first join e-Invoice.

Who has to issue e-Archive invoices?

Taxpayers registered for e-Invoice must also adopt e-Archive invoicing. Under the current text of the Communiqué, as amended by Communiqués No. 573 and 589, taxpayers outside the e-Archive system must issue their invoices as e-Archive invoices from January 1, 2026, regardless of the amount, except where the Communiqué provides an exemption.

For taxpayers whose business income is determined under the simplified method, and for those keeping single-entry books on the business account basis (işletme hesabı esası), the date is January 1, 2027. These invoices are issued through GİB’s e-Document portal or through the systems of GİB-licensed e-invoicing integrators (özel entegratör).

Cancellation and reporting

According to GİB’s e-Archive cancellation and objection guide, the 8-day period for canceling an e-Archive invoice starts on the date it’s delivered to the buyer, and cancellation must always be made within that period. Objections can also be raised through external channels, in which case they must be reported through the system.

Because an e-Archive invoice doesn’t reach the buyer through GİB, its details reach GİB in a report. The Communiqué requires authorized taxpayers and integrators to sign the e-document report for e-documents that GİB doesn’t transmit, and to upload it to GİB’s system.

e-Archive invoices in IWB

When you issue a sales invoice, IWB asks your integrator, at the time of sending, whether the buyer is an e-Invoice user. If the buyer isn’t registered, the document joins the send queue as an e-Archive invoice. IWB numbers these invoices from their own series, separate from e-Invoices.

You choose electronic or paper delivery in e-Document settings. With electronic delivery, the buyer receives an automatic email, and the e-Archive line in the outgoing e-documents list shows when the email was sent. The printed copy uses your company’s own invoice design, with a QR code that follows GİB’s QR code standard and the amount written out in words.

Cancellation requests go to the integrator within the 8-day period. Once the period has passed, IWB doesn’t send the request and directs you to issue a return invoice instead.

Your integrator or your company sends the e-Archive report; IWB doesn’t prepare it. You record which of the two sends it in e-Document settings. If that isn’t recorded, or if your company sends the report itself, the setup checklist shows a clear reminder.