BIC (SWIFT code)
In Latvian: BIC (SWIFT kods)
A BIC is a business identifier code that unambiguously identifies a payment service provider such as a bank, with its elements specified by ISO. In everyday use it is often called the SWIFT code.
Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 bars banks from requiring customers to give the BIC of the payer's or payee's bank: for national payments since 1 February 2014 and for cross-border ones since 1 February 2016. A SEPA euro transfer needs only the IBAN.
Showing the BIC on an invoice is not forbidden and can help a payer outside the SEPA rules. On a Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 e-invoice the BIC may be given with the payment account, but only the account identifier itself is mandatory.
Example
SIA "Ozols" shows both its IBAN and BIC on a EUR 847 invoice. A Latvian client pays by entering the IBAN alone, and the bank does not ask for the BIC.
How Fakts handles it
Fakts prints the SWIFT/BIC on the invoice when your company profile has one, and adds it next to the bank account in the e-invoice XML.
Legal basis
- Regulation (EU) No 260/2012, Articles 2 and 5 eur-lex.europa.eu
- Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 specification docs.peppol.eu
This explanation is for information and does not replace tax or legal advice. The law in its current consolidated text prevails.