How to prepare the company to issue certified documents

What is it for?

Before the first certified document (invoice, credit note, receipt, delivery note), the company must have two things ready, which are not the same:

• To issue: the company's tax data, the program certificate and an active series, with an AT validation code, for each document type and year. Without a series, fiscaldoo refuses to confirm the document.
• To communicate to the Tax and Customs Authority (AT): the access data of the AT sub-user, with the profiles for each service. Without them, documents are still issued, but nothing goes to the AT. In the demo, without access data, invoices in series FT D26 and receipts were confirmed normally.

This article is the list of those pieces, in the order in which they are prepared, with where to check each one. Each piece has its own article, which the list takes you to.

When to use it?

• Before issuing a company's first certified document.
• When you add a new company to the database. A new company is first prepared with the wizard: How to set up a new company with the wizard.
• When an invoice will not confirm (a piece needed to issue is missing) or does not go to the AT (a piece needed to communicate is missing) and you want to see what is missing.

Where to find it?

Settings › fiscaldoo · Certification, at the bottom of the page, in the groups Configure the certification: series and keys, Configure the certification: communication with the AT and Configure the certification: SAF-T. Each line has an Open button that takes you to the right screen.

Before you start

• You need access to Settings, which only the technical administrator can see. Without it, the Certified accountant profile looks up the program certificate in Accounting › Configure › Certified invoicing › Fiscal series, via the Software certificates button, and whoever has the extra Fiscal administration access opens the Tax Authority credentials in the same group. See “Common problems”.
• The Certified invoicing, VAT and SAF-T package is switched on: How to activate invoicing and the fiscaldoo apps.
• You are working in the right company: its name appears in the top right corner. If you have several companies, choose it there before opening the lists.

How to use it

1. Check the company's tax data (to issue): name, tax number (NIF), address, country Portugal and VAT regime. They appear on every document and in the SAF-T. See How to fill in the company's tax data.
2. Open Settings › fiscaldoo · Certification and scroll down to Configure the certification: series and keys.
3. In Software certificates, click Open and check that the list has the program certificate, with Certificate number and Valid from filled in. That is the number printed on every document (“Processado por programa certificado n.º …/AT”, processed by certified program no. …/AT). A new Portuguese company inherits the certificate already registered in the installation: do not register it again. Pending on-screen validation: the demo database only has a fictitious certificate (no. 9876); a real installation has not been seen.
4. You do not need to upload any signing key. The key belongs to the program's producer, is installed on the server and is never stored in the database or given to the customer. In a new company in the demo, Confirm and the wizard's final check said “There is no signing key for the company “Empresa Nova Exemplo, Lda”.” and “There is no AT software certificate in force for “Empresa Nova Exemplo, Lda” on 29/10/2026.”, because the demo's test key and certificate were created only for Empresa Demonstração. If you see these messages in a production database, contact support. Pending on-screen validation: in a production database, with the producer's key and certificate for all companies, a new company has not been seen.
5. To communicate, go back to Settings › fiscaldoo · Certification and, in Configure the certification: communication with the AT, open Readiness of the communications with the AT. The list shows, by Environment (Test and Production) and by Service (Series, Invoices, Transport guides), the State, What is missing and the Connection to the Tax Authority. Open the groups to see the lines.
6. Fix whatever the What is missing column says. Without access data, each line says “There are no access data for the production environment of the Tax Authority. Without them nothing can be sent.” and the Connection to the Tax Authority shows “Switched off: nothing is sent to the Tax Authority”. Access data is registered in Tax Authority credentials, in the same group.
7. To issue, create a series and communicate it to the AT for each document type you will issue (invoice, simplified invoice, invoice-receipt, credit note, receipt, delivery note): How to create a series and communicate it to the AT.
8. Give each person the profile they will work with (for example Administrative for whoever issues documents, Certified accountant for whoever communicates series). The profile is chosen on each user's form, in Settings › Users & Companies › Users.

Expected result

To issue:

• Software certificates has the program certificate.
• In Fiscal series, each document type the company issues has a series for the year with the Series status column showing Active and the Validation code column filled in. Inside the series, the same code is in the Validation code field and the form's status bar shows Active.
• The first invoice confirms with a number, ATCUD (unique document code) and QR code: How to issue a certified invoice.

To communicate:

• In Readiness of the communications with the AT, the lines for the environment you will use no longer have anything in What is missing. In the demo, with the Test credentials saved, the three Test lines are Ready and the three Production lines remain at Something is missing.

Important notes

The test key is not valid for real documents

In a test database, TEST signing key and software certificate appears, with the Generate button. The screen itself warns: “Only in a test database: creates a fictitious signing key and software certificate so that the first invoice can be confirmed and printed. Never valid for a real document.” Never use a test database to invoice customers.

• On the Portal das Finanças, the AT sub-user must have the profile for each service it will use: WSE for series, WFA for invoices and WDT for delivery notes. fiscaldoo cannot check this, and the What is missing column reminds you on each line.
• The Test and Production Environment are prepared separately. Real documents are communicated in the production environment.
• Communicating invoices to the AT has its own deadline, which is not the issue date. Pending validation by a certified accountant: legal deadline for communicating invoices to the AT.
• Each company in the database is prepared separately: the data, series and access data belong to each one. In a newly created company, Confirm says “Journal “Vendas” is not valid for issuing sales documents.”: there is no certified journal yet. Step 4. Certified invoicing of the wizard creates the journals and the series in draft; until the series is active, Confirm says the series “is not active yet”. In a company that has been prepared but has no series for the invoice's year, the message includes the Create the missing series button. All three messages are in How to issue a certified invoice.

Common problems

The Readiness of the communications with the AT says “Something is missing”

• Cause: one of the items described in the What is missing column is missing; the most common case is that there is no access data for that environment.
• What to do: click Fix on the line, or register the access data in Tax Authority credentials: How to connect fiscaldoo to the Tax Authority. Then open the list again.

I cannot find Software certificates or Tax Authority credentials

• Cause: these shortcuts are in Settings, which only the technical administrator can see. With another profile, Settings shows “You do not have access to “Configuration settings”. This area is reserved for the technical administrator of the system. It is not part of your profile's work: there is nothing to request.”.
• What to do: the Certified accountant profile looks up the certificate in Accounting › Configure › Certified invoicing › Fiscal series, via the Software certificates button. Whoever has the extra Fiscal administration access opens Tax Authority credentials, in the same group; the readiness opens from each credential's Check the readiness button. For now, someone with only that access has no way to reach Software certificates or Fiscal series: to register a certificate, ask the technical administrator, who does it in Settings › fiscaldoo · Certification. With another profile, ask the technical administrator to check points 3 to 6. The series (point 7) are done by the Certified accountant in Accounting › Configure › Certified invoicing › Fiscal series.