XML.p7m invoices for accountants

The firm downloads from the client, or from the client’s tax inbox, a mix of .xml and .xml.p7m. The second kind is an invoice inside a signed envelope. Opening it in an editor shows tags, not an invoice. The reader is there to read that file in a few steps, when the accounting software is closed or when the client forwarded the envelope by mail. It does not replace the software, the tax inbox or preservation.

A signature on an Italian electronic invoice is, in general, mandatory toward public administration and not mandatory for every transaction between private parties. Many programs sign anyway. That is why the same supplier can send both names. The reader does not decide whether that invoice “had to” be signed. It opens the envelope if the bytes are an envelope, and it reads the XML if the trace is FatturaPA.

Open a signed invoice

1. Save IT01234567890_00ABC.xml.p7m without removing the extension. If it arrives by PEC, do not save daticert.xml. See P7M attachments in PEC.
2. Open Lettore P7M and select the file. You can open another immediately afterwards, one at a time.
3. Read the view: supplier, customer, number, date, document type, lines, VAT summary, payments. Amounts are copied from the XML, not recalculated.
4. Check the signature separately. An orderly preview does not mean revocation has been confirmed.

The preview is free and does not require an account. The document stays on the computer. Saving the original XML or a copy through printing needs a license, described on Pricing. Printing produces a reading PDF, not a signed XML and not a submission to SdI.

If the XML cannot be presented as FatturaPA, the message says so. You can still consult or download the original content. The reader is not meant for foreign traces other than FatturaPA.

The guide Reading an .xml.p7m e-invoice goes into the fields. Here the emphasis is the firm’s work.

What to compare with the master data

On every invoice, before you book it or authorise a payment, check:

• VAT number and tax code of supplier and customer, against the master data;
• the document type, for example TD01 invoice or TD04 credit note, without assuming the file name is enough;
• nature and rate in the VAT summary, as written;
• withholding tax and pension fund, if the view or the other XML data report them;
• stamp duty, if the stamp data are present;
• IBAN, beneficiary and due dates, before payment;
• the attachments listed in the XML, often a courtesy PDF or an hours breakdown.

Attachments download one by one with a license. If the XML marks them as compressed, the download does not decompress them. If an attachment cannot be decoded, the content stays in the original XML. It is not a second file to invent.

Working copy and original

The PDF copy suits a client who does not open .p7m files, a meeting or an internal printout. Do not put it in the preservation folder in place of the XML. Do not upload it to a portal that asks for the signed invoice. How it is produced, and what it loses, is in Extract a PDF from a P7M.

For the firm this order is practical:

• a folder per client and per year, with issued and received;
• a file name that keeps the identifier useful for finding the invoice in the tax inbox, without inventing a new one;
• PDF copies in a reading folder, never mixed with the originals;
• a periodic check that the preservation chosen by the client, the Revenue Agency or another provider, is actually active.

The reader does not enter the tax inbox, does not bulk-download the client’s invoices and does not book them. If you need the official file already in the inbox, take it from there and then, if it is an .xml.p7m, open it locally.

If the signature looks wrong

An expired certificate or a revocation does not, on its own, prove that the invoice is fiscally unusable. The operational reference remains transmission through SdI and preservation. They do have a documentary meaning. Note the result. If the reader indicates revocation earlier than the signature, it does so because verified time evidence is later than the revocation, not because it read the claimed date as a fact. Without that proof the result is different, often “unavailable” or a warning about the claimed date. The guide Expired or revoked signature avoids the shortcuts.

The reader does not validate the tax, does not recalculate totals and does not say whether the nature code is the “right” one for the transaction. Those judgements stay with the firm.

Answering the client who cannot open the file

Many clients call because fattura.xml.p7m will not open on double-click. You can point them to the reader in the browser and remind them of two sentences: the preview does not upload the invoice to a server, and the readable copy does not replace the XML in the tax inbox. If the client uses a phone, point them to the file picker, not the iPhone Share menu. The steps are in Open a P7M on Android and iPhone.

For people who must often save XML and copies, the Single plan covers one document and its formats. Pro and Lifetime are the other two entries on the pricing page, VAT included, on up to three devices. There is no separate plan “for firms” beyond these licenses.

A check on one invoice

IT01234567890_00ABC.xml.p7m arrives. In the preview the supplier is the expected vendor, the customer is the firm’s client, the type is TD01, the number is 14 and the date matches the month you are booking. The VAT summary shows the taxable amount and the tax already written in the XML. Do not recalculate them by hand to “correct” the view. If a total does not match your settlement, look in the XML or in the booking, not in a rounding by the reader.

At the foot you find an attachment dettaglio-ore.pdf. Download it with the license and open it separately. If the button is missing and the XML only cites it as content that cannot be decoded, use the original XML, still with a license, and do not treat the invoice as having no attachment.

Save the envelope in clienti/rossi/2026/ricevute with the original name. The PDF printout, if the client wants it by mail, is named 2026-014_lettura.pdf and in the mail you write that the original is the .xml.p7m already in the tax inbox. Do not attach only the printout to someone who must preserve the invoice. Do not import the printout into the software in place of the trace the software already receives from SdI.

Frequently asked questions

Does the reader check the invoice on Italy’s exchange system?

No. It does not open the tax inbox, it does not check SdI status and it does not import the invoice into accounting software. It reads the file you select on the device.

Does the PDF copy replace the XML in preservation?

No. The printout is an unsigned copy. The original XML, and the envelope if the invoice is signed, remain the files to preserve under the procedure the client has already chosen.

Do attachments inside the XML download with the preview?

They are listed in the preview. Downloading each attachment needs a license, as does the original XML. Compressed files stay compressed.

Does every electronic invoice arrive as .xml.p7m?

No. A signature is required toward public administration and, between private parties, it depends on the issuer. Archives contain both .xml files and .xml.p7m files.

Keep the file the tax authority already has

Use the reader to read quickly and to check the envelope. Leave the XML, signed or not, in preservation and in the inbox you downloaded it from. If you need to explain to a colleague the difference between the printout and the envelope, start from How to open a P7M file and then return to the invoice fields.