To work with Paperless Colombia and meet DIAN requirements, you must understand the key concepts that form the foundation of Colombia's electronic invoicing ecosystem.

Documento Tributario Electrónico (DTE)

An electronic tax document. The main types are listed in the electronic document types topic.

Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales (DIAN)

Colombia's tax and customs authority.

Código Único de Facturación Electrónica (CUFE)

A unique hash code (SHA-384) that identifies each document. Applies to Electronic Invoice (type 1), Export Invoice (type 2), and Contingency Invoice DIAN (type 4).

Código Único de Documento Electrónico (CUDE)

A unique hash code (SHA-384) for documents that are not standard invoices. Applies to Credit Notes, Debit Notes, Contingency Invoice (type 3), all Documento Equivalente types, and their adjustment notes.

Documento Soporte (DS)

A support document for purchases from suppliers who are not required to issue electronic invoices.

Código Único de Documento Soporte (CUDS)

A unique hash code (SHA-384) for Documento Soporte (type 5) and Nota de Ajuste al Documento Soporte (type 95).

Issued document (Documento Expedido)

A document your company generates and sends.

Received document (Documento Radicado)

A document you receive from a supplier or trading partner.

Orden de Trabajo (OT)

A batch processing unit for bulk invoice generation.

Distribution

The process of sending generated documents to recipients.

Número de Identificación Tributaria (NIT)

Colombia's tax identification number.

Series (prefix) and sequential number

The prefix and number that identifies each document uniquely within the DIAN numbering system.

Branch (Sucursal)

A company location. You can assign series and sequential numbers per branch.

eXtensible Markup Language (XML)

The legally valid format for all electronic tax documents. You must keep XML files for six years.

Point of Sale (POS)

Integration channel for high-volume retail documents, for example, receipts.

Backoffice

Integration channel for lower-volume documents from ERP systems (SAP, Oracle, and others) such as invoices, credit notes, and export invoices in a B2B context.

Paperless Colombia supports the following electronic document types.

Electronic Invoice (type 01)

Standard electronic sales invoice. Uses CUFE.

Export Invoice (type 02)

Electronic export invoice for sales to recipients outside Colombia. Uses CUFE.

Contingency Invoice, Sovos (type 03)

Contingency invoice that Sovos manages when normal DIAN transmission is unavailable. Uses CUDE.

Contingency Invoice, DIAN (type 04)

Contingency invoice validated directly by DIAN. Uses CUFE.

Documento Soporte (type 05)

Support document for purchases from suppliers not required to issue electronic invoices. Uses CUDS.

Documento Equivalente POS receipt (type 20)

Electronic equivalent document for point-of-sale receipts. Uses CUDE.

Documento Equivalente Airline passenger ticket (type 50)

Electronic equivalent document for airline passenger tickets. Uses CUDE.

Documento Equivalente Public services (type 60)

Electronic equivalent document for public utility services (SPD). Uses CUDE.

Electronic Credit Note (type 91)

Cancels or corrects an issued invoice. Uses CUDE.

Electronic Debit Note (type 92)

Increases the value of an issued invoice. Uses CUDE.

Nota de Ajuste al Documento Equivalente Debit (type 93)

Debit adjustment note for a Documento Equivalente. Uses CUDE.

Nota de Ajuste al Documento Equivalente Credit (type 94)

Credit adjustment note for a Documento Equivalente. Uses CUDE.

Nota de Ajuste al Documento Soporte (type 95)

Adjustment notes for a Documento Soporte. Uses CUDS.

Paperless Colombia has four default user profiles. Each user has one profile. Multiple profiles per user are not supported.

Normal user

View issued and received documents. Acknowledge, approve, or reject received documents. Print, download, and email documents.

Generator (Invoicer)

Everything a Normal user profile can do, and submit bulk invoicing files, issue manual invoices, manage Work Orders, send documents to the DIAN, and manage series and technical keys.

Administrator

Manage document records. Run management reports. Set up distribution of rules, branches, and document templates.

Security Administrator

Manage users, permissions, and security policies. View event logs. Manage certificates and system alarms.

Paperless Colombia provides granular permissions that control access to every module and action in the platform. The four profiles above are common default configurations. Your company uses one of the following access control modes, depending on how your account was set up:

• User-level permissions: The administrator assigns permissions directly to each user. Go to Panel de Control > Usuarios, select a user, and click the permissions icon to turn on or turn off specific actions.

• Role-based access: The administrator creates roles with predefined permission sets, then assigns one or more roles to each user. Go to Panel de Control > Roles to manage roles.

In both modes, administrators can restrict a user's visibility to a specific branch (Sucursal).

Paperless Colombia is organized into six modules, each focused on a different area of work:

Ambiente de Facturación

Start bulk invoicing, issue manual invoices, submit documents to the DIAN, distribute Work Orders, and run conciliation reports.

Gestión Documental

Search, view, and download issued and received documents.

Oficina de Partes

Review received documents and process them through the acknowledgement and approval workflow.

Consola de Procesos

Manage series, sequential numbers, alarms, processes, and Point of Sale (POS) settings and monitoring (for retail companies).

Reportes de Gestión

View reports on document volumes, amounts, DIAN status, and email distribution (E-Trace).

Panel de Control

Manage users, roles, distribution rules, PDF templates, security settings, and platform settings.