The delivery note has no AT code and the delivery cannot be validated nor the note printed

Symptom

The delivery note was issued, but in the Transport guide tab the COMMUNICATION TO THE TAX AUTHORITY block says To communicate and the AT code is empty. Above it, the warning “This guide was not communicated to the Tax Authority. The transport can only start after it is communicated: press “Communicate to the AT” (or register the AT code if you already have it).” The delivery cannot be validated and the note cannot be printed: this is what the AT code required to validate option does, and it comes switched on (see the 1st cause).

The normal steps to issue and communicate a delivery note are in How to issue a delivery note and get the AT code. This article covers the delivery note left without a code.

Message

When you click Validate, the Invalid Operation window:

“Transfer(s) DEM/OUT/00004 cannot be validated: the goods cannot leave before the Tax Authority gives the guide its code. Communicate the guide to the Tax Authority, or register the code obtained by telephone or in the Portal (a guide to a final consumer does not need it).”

When you print the delivery note (gear menu › Print › Transport guide), also Invalid Operation:

“Guide "GT D26/4" cannot be printed: it has no AT code. Communicate it to the Tax Authority, or register the code obtained by telephone or in the Portal (a guide to a final consumer, or an exception, is printed without it).”

Both were triggered in the demo database, on delivery DEM/OUT/00004 (delivery note GT D26/4, to Escola de Condução Rota, Lda), with an Administrative user with Inventory access. The parts in italics change with the delivery and the note.

Verified causes

• The AT code required to validate option is switched on. It causes both refusals in “Message”, and it is on by default. It is in Settings › Inventory, section Transport documents (PT), just above Communication of the guides: “The transfer cannot be validated before the guide has its Tax Authority code (a final consumer or an exception never needs it).” Only the administrator opens Settings: with the Fiscal officer profile, the page opens the “No access” window. When it can be switched off, and what changes, is in “Switching off the AT code required to validate option”, below.

• Automatic communication was not possible. By default, fiscaldoo communicates the delivery note as soon as it issues it. If some data is missing, the note stays issued and not communicated, and the messages below the delivery say what is missing. On GT D26/4 the Plate and the Carrier were missing. The message and the fix are in “Common problems” of How to issue a delivery note.

• The company uses manual communication. With Manual in Communication of the guides, every delivery note stays not communicated until someone clicks Communicate to the AT (step 8 of the same article).

• The AT credentials are missing, or have expired. Without them, nothing is sent and the delivery note stays not communicated. The credentials are saved as described in How to connect fiscaldoo to the Tax and Customs Authority. Pending validation on screen: in the demo the company has no AT credentials and delivery notes still get a code, because this version's AT simulator does not ask for them.

• The AT did not answer. The communication was left Unknown: see Communication to the AT failed or is pending.

• Test database: the code comes from the simulator. On a test database, fiscaldoo does not talk to the AT: a simulator returns codes starting with MOCK- (in the demo, MOCK-12FB1C03 on GT D26/5). Only on a production database does the code come from the AT.

What to check

1. In the Transport guide tab, COMMUNICATION TO THE TAX AUTHORITY block: Communicated? says To communicate and the AT code is empty.
2. The messages below the delivery: they say why the delivery note was not communicated.
3. The list Inventory › Operations › Guides not communicated: in the demo it only showed DEM/OUT/00004, Ready.
4. Whether the delivery note is for a final consumer (Final consumer box in the TRANSPORT block): that note does not need a code.
5. With the administrator, whether AT code required to validate is switched on in the Inventory Settings of the delivery note's company.

How to fix it

Communicate the delivery note

Fix the cause the delivery's messages give and click Communicate to the AT, as in How to issue a delivery note. The note is not issued again. If the AT does not answer, follow Communication to the AT failed or is pending.

Who does it: whoever issues the delivery note.

Register the code obtained on the Portal das Finanças or by telephone

When the delivery note was communicated outside fiscaldoo and the AT gave a code, that code is registered on the note with the Register the AT code by hand button. In the demo, the button only appeared to the administrator (Fiscal administration, with Inventory access). It did not appear to the Administrative user (with Inventory, no fiscal profile) nor to the Fiscal officer, who has no Inventory and sees the note in Billing › Invoice › Transport guides, where the button does not exist. Pending validation on screen: a user with Fiscal officer and Inventory access, which the demo does not have.

1. Open Inventory › Operations › Guides not communicated and open the delivery (in the example, DEM/OUT/00004).
2. Click Register the AT code by hand. The window explains: “The code is stored with how you obtained it and the date, and can never be changed again. Communicating by telephone is only allowed while the Tax Authority's communication system is down, and you must say so below. In that case, the delivery note's data must be entered on the Portal by the 5th working day after the transport starts.”
3. In Obtained by, choose Portal das Finanças (preselected) or Telephone. With Telephone, Proof of the outage appears, which is required (without it the window does not save), and Elements to say on the telephone (on GT D26/4: “Last four digits of the number: 0004”, “Start date (day and month): 3110”, “Start time (hour and minute): 1430” and “VAT number of the recipient: PT501000046”). Proof of the outage is free text: write what shows the communication system was down, for example the unavailability message you saw, the date and time of the attempt, and where you kept that evidence. Pending validation by a certified accountant: what counts as proof of the outage, which the law wants “duly evidenced” (DL 147/2003, art. 5, no. 6, b)).
4. Type the AT code exactly as the AT gave it and confirm the Date you obtained it (today's date comes filled in). Click Save the AT code.
5. In the Transport guide tab, check the block: in the demo, with a fictitious code typed as if it came from the Portal, it became Communicated, AT code PORTAL-TESTE-0004, Communicated by Portal das Finanças and AT code date 30/10/2026.
6. Someone with Inventory clicks Validate when the goods leave. In the demo, the Administrative user validated DEM/OUT/00004 with no refusal and the delivery became Done.

Pending validation by a certified accountant: when the code can be obtained on the Portal das Finanças or by telephone instead of communicating through the program, and the deadline for entering on the Portal the data of a delivery note communicated by telephone, by the 5th following working day (DL 147/2003, art. 5, no. 6, b), and Portaria 161/2013).

Registering the code and validating the delivery did not create journal entries in the demo (the delivery note's product, Vinho tinto da casa, is not stocked).

Who does it: Fiscal administration, with Inventory access (steps 1 to 5, the only path proven); someone with Inventory (step 6).

The code is refused

With a short code (AB1), Save the AT code opens Invalid Operation:

“The AT code must have at least 4 characters and no spaces: copy it exactly as the Tax Authority gave it.”

With the code of another delivery note of the company (DEMO-AT-0003, from GT D26/3):

“This AT code already belongs to another transport guide of the company.”

Click Close and check the code on the Portal das Finanças or in your telephone note. A code already registered cannot be changed: check it before Save the AT code.

Switching off the AT code required to validate option

The option is not a way to avoid the communication: when switched off, the delivery note still has to be communicated. It is only switched off when the company is not required to have the code before the goods leave, and it is a decision for the Fiscal officer with the certified accountant. The cases provided for:

• The company is exempt from communicating delivery notes. The law exempts anyone whose turnover in the previous tax period was up to 100 000 € (DL 147/2003, art. 5, no. 10). It also exempts the communication when the invoice serves as the transport document (no. 11), but then the document is the invoice and not a delivery note.
• The AT's systems are down. fiscaldoo provides for switching it off for the duration of the outage and communicating the delivery notes by the 5th working day after the transport starts (Portaria 161/2013, art. 5): this is what the option's help text says, which today does not appear in Settings. Without switching it off, during an outage, the code is obtained by telephone and registered as in the section “Register the code obtained on the Portal das Finanças or by telephone”.

Pending validation by a certified accountant: when “AT code required to validate” can be switched off: only with the exemption in DL 147/2003, art. 5, no. 10 (turnover up to 100 000 € in the previous tax period), or also during an outage of the AT's systems, as the option's help text says, instead of obtaining the code by telephone.

1. With the administrator, open Settings › Inventory and scroll down to Transport documents (PT). The option applies to the company chosen at the top of the screen.
2. Switch off AT code required to validate and click Save.
3. When the reason ends (for example, the AT works again), switch it back on and save.

What changes, seen in the demo with the option switched off in Empresa Demonstração, Lda and delivery DEM/OUT/00014 (delivery note GT D26/14, issued without plate or carrier, not communicated):

• the Administrative user clicked Validate with no refusal and the delivery became Done;
• the delivery note printed without a code (“Guia GT D26_14.pdf”, with only the ATCUD);
• the COMMUNICATION TO THE TAX AUTHORITY block now said To communicate (not mandatory on this guide) (the on-screen sentence is misleading: the law still requires the communication, except for the exemptions above; the option only allows validating without the code), the warning “This guide was not communicated to the Tax Authority…” remained, and the delivery stayed in the Guides not communicated list.

After the option is switched back on, the delivery note still has no code: communicate it or register the code as in the sections above. In the demo, the administrator registered on GT D26/14 a fictitious code typed as if it came from the Portal, and the note became Communicated.

Who does it: the Fiscal officer decides, with the certified accountant; the administrator changes the option.

Expected result

• The delivery note becomes Communicated, with the AT code, and leaves the Guides not communicated list.
• Validate moves the delivery to Done, and the note prints with the code. In the demo, the Guides not communicated list was empty and GT D26/4 came out in the file “Guia GT D26_4.pdf”, with “Código AT: PORTAL-TESTE-0004”.

When to contact support

• The delivery note is still To communicate after the cause was fixed and Communicate to the AT was clicked, with no message.
• You have the AT code and nobody in the company sees Register the AT code by hand.
• You registered a wrong code.

Information to send

• The delivery note number (for example GT D26/4) and the delivery number (DEM/OUT/00004).
• The full text of the error window and the messages below the delivery, copied from the screen.
• The profile you logged in with and whether you have Inventory access.
• Whether the AT code required to validate option is switched on in the company.