Invoicing by country

What it is

Cord offers twelve countries: Mexico, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. The country you choose when you create your account decides five things at once:

• The taxes your catalog starts with, under their local name (IVA, VAT, GST, Sales tax, TVA, USt., IGV) and with their standard rates, ready to edit in Settings › Taxes.
• The tax ID requested from the business and its clients (RFC, EIN, NIF, CNPJ, RUT…), validated with its check digit before it is saved.
• Which document Cord issues: a tax document registered with the country’s authority when Cord has that rail, or a commercial invoice with a sequential number when it does not.
• The form of the PDF: the country’s time zone and the legal notices it requires, in the language of its law. The rest of the PDF appears in your client’s language or, if they have none, your account’s; in France, French always comes first (see Invoice language).
• How you get paid online: Cord Payments (card; SPEI in Mexico; bank transfer with a reference in Spain, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States; SEPA, Bacs, ACH, or Canadian pre-authorized debit, depending on the country) or Mercado Pago where Cord Payments does not reach.

Each country has its own page with every detail: taxes, the data you capture, document types, how the status before the authority looks, how to void or correct, and what Cord does not cover yet.

The 12 countries at a glance

How to read the status:

• Available: works today for every account in the country, on the plan shown.
• New: built and tested against simulated services, but just released; it may not be enabled on your account yet.
• Being activated: the rail is built and tested against the authority’s specifications, and Cord turns it on country by country. Meanwhile, the Settings section says Coming soon, shows no fields, and your invoices are issued as commercial invoices.
• Coming soon: Cord already built it, but it depends on something external (the authority publishing its service, or Cord completing a filing).

Which document is issued

The document type is decided when you issue and stays saved: an issued document keeps its type even if you later change your plan or configuration.

• Commercial invoice: sequential number per organization, taxes and withholdings per line, the tax details of both parties, and an immutable copy. Its PDF says it is a commercial document not filed with any authority.
• Pro forma: a commercial document that says explicitly that it does not replace a tax invoice. It is for getting paid, not for deducting.
• Tax document: the one the authority authorizes or registers (CFDI, Verifactu record, ARCA CAE, NFS-e, NF-e, SUNAT CDR, DTE accepted by the SII, DIAN CUFE). Its legal number replaces the internal number.

Taxes per line, in the country’s language

In every country, tax travels with each line item, not with the document: you can mix a taxed service with an exempt product, or two different rates, on the same invoice. Each document prints one row per rate.

• When the account is created, Cord seeds the country’s standard rates (and the territory’s when the tax changes: Canadian province, Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, US state). They are an editable starting point: the business decides.
• Brazil starts without a national rate on purpose: there is none to suggest.
• Rounding also belongs to the country: Chile calculates IVA once per document, as the SII requires; the rest round per line.
• Withholdings are subtracted from the total and calculated on their own base: the subtotal, the IVA (Colombia’s ReteIVA), or only the taxed amount (Mexico’s IVA withholding).

Validated tax ID

Cord validates the tax ID of the business and its clients with each country’s rule before saving it: on the organization, on the client profile, in client imports, in the API, in the MCP server, and when a client is created from a quote.

Whatever cannot be proven wrong is accepted: a false rejection would leave you unable to invoice.

Series per issuer

Outside Mexico, numbering belongs to the issuer, not to the Cord account. If two Cord organizations have the same tax ID, they cannot number with the same series: when you save your tax details, Cord asks you to choose another one (for example, by adding a 2 to the prefix). That way two invoices of your business never repeat a number. In Spain the series also carries the fiscal year and numbering starts over every year.

Online payments by country

Method	Countries	Currency
Card with Cord Payments	MX, US, CA, ES, GB, DE, FR	The invoice’s, if the processor supports it
Automatic SPEI	MX	MXN only
Automatic SEPA transfer	ES, DE, FR	EUR only
Automatic bank transfer (Faster Payments, Bacs, or CHAPS)	GB	GBP only
Automatic ACH and wire (domestic wire)	US	USD only
SEPA Direct Debit	ES, DE, FR	EUR only
Bacs Direct Debit	GB	GBP only
ACH bank debit	US	USD only
Pre-authorized debit (Canada)	CA	CAD only
Mercado Pago	MX, BR, CO, AR, CL, PE	Whatever Mercado Pago supports on your account
Manual transfer	All 12	Any, recorded by hand

In Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Peru, Cord Payments does not open accounts: online collection is with Mercado Pago, and Settings › Payments › Account says so before you start onboarding.

• Bank transfer with a reference (SEPA, UK, ACH, or wire): each client has one fixed account to pay you and each payment carries its own reference, which Cord uses to reconcile it. It’s offered on the invoice link and on the quote’s payment page, only if the document has a linked client. Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Peru have no automatic bank transfer. See Bank transfer with a reference.
• Bank debit (SEPA, Bacs, ACH, or pre-authorized debit): it’s offered on the invoice link, in the client portal, and as a saved method for automatic payments, only on invoices in its currency. See Bank debit.
• Both are turned on in Settings › Payments › Payment methods and are only offered once the payment processor activates the method on your account. SPEI in Mexico stays the same.

Plan limits

• Every document the authority authorizes or registers counts as a tax document, in any country: a CFDI (also each payment complement), a Verifactu record, an ARCA document, an NFS-e, an NF-e, a SUNAT invoice, a DTE, or a DIAN invoice.
• Drafts and test documents do not count.
• From Starter, additional tax documents are billed as overage on your subscription. See Your Cord subscription.
• In the United States, sales tax calculated by address has its own monthly quota. See United States.

Common problems

My country says Coming soon in Settings. Your country’s rail is being activated. Your invoices are issued as commercial invoices and you can collect them normally; when the rail is activated for your account, the section will show its fields.

My invoice came out as a pro forma. In Mexico and Spain, an invoice without tax issuance is a pro forma. Check your plan (Starter or higher) and that your certificate is uploaded and valid.

Cord rejects my client’s tax ID. The check digit does not match the country’s rule. Check the number on your client’s certificate; the message says which data to review.

My country doesn’t have the rate I need. Add it in Settings › Taxes with + New tax. The seeded rates are a starting point, not a closed list.

Related

• Mexico · United States · Canada · Brazil
• Spain · United Kingdom · Germany · France
• Colombia · Argentina · Chile · Peru
• Tax invoicing
• European e-invoicing
• Create, issue, and collect invoices
• Payment methods
• Your Cord subscription