Definition
An e-invoice is the electronic form of an invoice. It covers an ordinary VAT invoice and a special VAT invoice. In B2B2C, a consumer requests one from a bill or an order, and the platform can issue it through the tax system without a clerk typing it.
Who requests one
- A consumer: On user self-service, after reading a bill or an order, they request an e-invoice for reimbursement or for the books. One order can be invoiced alone, or orders in a period can be merged.
- An enterprise customer: A B2B customer rolls up data billing and plan fees by month or by project and requests a special VAT invoice for deduction.
- An agent or a distributor: After the settlement period, they request an e-invoice from the settlement statement for their own accounts.
How the file is produced
The platform usually connects to a tax UKey, Nuonuo, or Baiwang Cloud. Those services assign the code, issue the invoice, and push it. The user enters the title and the tax number. The interface returns a PDF or OFD, and the platform sends it by email or by an in-app message. An e-invoice has the same legal effect as a paper invoice.
Checks before it is issued
A request from a bill or an order checks the amount and checks that this order has not already been invoiced. One order can be invoiced alone, or a periodic bill can be merged. The title, tax number, address and telephone, and bank account have to be complete. A special VAT invoice also needs the bank account details. After issue, the status is written back onto the order or the bill. A reissue and a replacement are separate from a first issue. The record has to meet the tax rules and has to be kept.
Where the amount comes from
In B2B2C, a consumer orders a plan and pays in user self-service, then requests an e-invoice from the bill for reimbursement. An agent or a distributor requests one from the settlement statement after the settlement period. The amount has to match data billing or settlement revenue share. It is not a second, independent total. On the IoT Cloud Platform, this is the compliance path for consumers and for channels.
The tax service, and what is stored
The usual connections are a tax UKey, Nuonuo, and Baiwang Cloud. Title, tax number, address and telephone, and bank account have to be complete before the call. The status is written back to the order or the bill, and a reissue or a replacement is a later action, not a second click on the same request. The platform keeps the issue record. An e-invoice has the same legal force as paper, and it is part of running the IoT Cloud Platform in line with the tax rules.
A merged invoice that crosses two months, and how to split it
In the SIM business, an e-invoice turns plan fees or periodic bills that have already been paid into a tax document. It is not a second calculation of the traffic detail. The amount on one invoice has to equal the paid amount of the selected orders or bills. Unpaid rows and refunded rows cannot be selected. A user invoicing a single order, and an enterprise customer merging a settlement period, are two different requests. If a merged bill runs from March into April, whether it may be split into two invoices by order date, or combined into one with the period written in the remark, has to follow the invoicing rule. The request page cannot change the amount at will. If an order number already has a successful invoice, a new request should be refused. Replacement and a credit note (red letter) are separate flows, and only after the credit note may the original order be invoiced again. SimtoLink payment and e-billing should write the invoice status back onto the order: not issued, issuing, issued, credited. If “issuing” times out, the user must not be able to click again and create two invoices.
Which field blocks a special VAT invoice from being submitted
An ordinary invoice and an individual title can have only a name. A special VAT invoice also needs the taxpayer identification number, address and telephone, and the bank name and account. If one item is missing, stop it before submit. Do not send the incomplete request to the invoicing service and wait for a failure. The title may be saved, but each invoice still carries the title snapshot from that issuance. A user who later edits their profile cannot change a face that has already been issued. The buyer on a channel settlement invoice is the channel enterprise. It is not the end user, and it is not the platform operator, unless the money really is a service fee the platform charges the channel. If traffic fees, overage fees, and SIM-card fees have different tax rates, they cannot be merged into one tax item for convenience. The invoice code, number, check information, and layout-file address returned by the invoicing API are stored. A failed email can be sent again. That is not a reason to issue a second invoice.
After a refund, can the original invoice still be used for reimbursement
On a partial refund, the original invoice amount is larger than the remaining amount actually paid. Either credit the original and reissue for the remaining amount, or issue a red-letter document for the refunded part under the tax rule. Which path is used is a configuration. The invoice amount must not stay larger than the amount paid. A full refund with no credit note leaves the user holding a document they can claim, while the enterprise books no longer have that revenue. On an order that was split to a channel, the invoice issued to the user is the full retail price. The share the channel received is not the user’s invoice amount. If the channel also needs an invoice, it can only be issued against the settlement between the channel and the platform. Forwarding the user’s invoice email to the channel does not make it the channel’s input tax document. If the invoicing service is unavailable, the order stays “to be issued.” Payment and resume are not affected. Do not roll back a plan that has already taken effect because the invoice failed. Invoice failure changes only the document status. Data on the SIM and the resume result stay as they are, and the queue of invoices to issue can be retried later.