- The fiscal document is an XML in UBL format; the printout is only its representation.
- The customer's RUC decides: with a RUC, an electronic invoice; without one, an electronic sales boleta.
- The receipt goes through an OSE or directly to SUNAT, and comes back with a CDR you have to keep.
- Moving parts between locations opens another front: the electronic remission guide.
- Promec doesn't yet issue CPE. Said plainly, below.
A Peruvian shop has a problem a Spanish shop doesn't: two different documents for the same job depending on who's on the other side of the counter. The same clutch job gets invoiced one way if the car belongs to a business with a RUC, and another way if it belongs to an individual. And that decision isn't made at the end, when you're about to collect payment — it's made when you open the work order, because it determines what information you need to have asked for.
What a CPE is, in shop terms
Comprobante de Pago Electrónico (Electronic Payment Receipt) is the umbrella name. Underneath it are several documents — invoice, boleta, credit note, debit note — that share the same mechanics: your system builds an XML using the UBL standard, signs it with your digital certificate, and sends it off to be validated. Validation returns a CDR (Constancia de Recepción, receipt confirmation). Without an accepted CDR, what you have is a file, not a receipt.
The signed XML, the CDR returned by validation, and the printed representation you gave the customer. The first two are what matter if anyone reviews your records. A system that only hands you the PDF is leaving you halfway there.
The customer's RUC calls the shots
| Customer | Document | What it means for the work order |
|---|---|---|
| Business with a RUC | Electronic invoice | You need the exact RUC and legal name. Ask for them when you open the work order. |
| Individual | Electronic sales boleta | Lighter process; handled at the counter. |
| Correction or cancellation | Credit note | You don't "delete" a receipt: you issue the document that corrects it. |
The classic shop mistake: opening the work order with just the customer's first name and license plate, then finding out at checkout that it was a fleet that needs an invoice — and nobody asked for the RUC. By then, the car is already gone.
OSE or direct submission
There are two paths for validation. One goes through an OSE, a company authorized by SUNAT to perform that check. The other is sending directly to SUNAT's systems. Which one suits you depends on your volume and on what your accountant already uses; what doesn't change is the need for someone to validate it and for you to keep the CDR.
When choosing software, the right question isn't "do you issue documents in Peru?" It's: which path do you send through, and do you hand me the XML files and CDRs in a way I can download them myself?
The part that travels: the remission guide
This is the point most often overlooked. The sales receipt documents the transaction; the physical movement of goods is a separate document, the electronic remission guide. A shop with a single location rarely needs it. A shop that starts moving parts between two locations, or that ships parts to a customer, enters that territory without realizing it. Talk to your accountant before it becomes a habit.
What the management program has to get right, whether it issues receipts or not
Even if issuing lives in another system — which is the situation for many shops, and Promec's situation in Peru today — there are things the program you run your shop with needs to handle so that invoicing doesn't become a second job:
- Ask for the customer's document type when opening the work order, not at checkout.
- Separate labor and parts into distinct line items from the quote onward.
- Store the customer's tax details on their record, so you never have to ask twice.
- Export all of that so the invoicing tool or accountant doesn't have to re-enter anything.
A shop organized this way can switch invoicing tools without drama. One that still runs work orders on paper is going to struggle with any of them.
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