FatturaPA to PDF

From XML to PDF without software

The XML file is the real invoice, but to print it, send it to someone without accounting software, or file it with your other expenses, you need a PDF. Many suppliers already email a courtesy copy as a PDF; when there is none, this page makes one from the XML file, even when it is signed as a .p7m.

What the PDF looks like

An A4 sheet with supplier and customer at the top, then the document details, the description, the line table, the VAT summary, withholding tax, stamp duty and pension fund if there are any, and the payment with IBAN and due dates. When there are many lines the table carries on over the next pages with its header repeated. At the bottom of every page you get the page number and a note: this is a readable copy made from the XML file, which remains the legal invoice. The labels are in English on this page and in Italian on the Italian one.

The PDF uses a standard font that covers accented letters and common symbols, the euro sign included. Characters from other alphabets, rare on Italian invoices, come out as a question mark; on the page they always show as written.

Private by design

The file is read from your disk, the .p7m envelope opened and the PDF made in memory, all in this tab. To read the invoice on screen, use the Italian e-invoice viewer; to combine a month of PDFs into one file, use Merge PDF.