Re-issue a discarded invoice
When you send an invoice to the SDI through the API, the SDI may discard it
(status DISCARDED). In that case the invoice was not accepted: you must fix it
and re-issue it, typically keeping the same progressive number (the law
allows re-issuing with the same number, within the applicable deadlines, after a
rejection).
An invoice in DISCARDED status keeps its progressive number reserved: as
long as the discarded invoice exists, a new request via API with the same
numero is blocked.
On the API, the number is not released on its own: re-issuing a discarded invoice requires deleting it first. Deletion is the necessary step that frees the number and lets you re-issue the corrected invoice.
From the web app, instead, the resend flow for a discarded invoice handles the number for you (see below).
Re-issue flow
- Issue the invoice with
POST /companies/{company_id}/documents/invoice. - The SDI discards the invoice → the document status becomes
DISCARDED(you can catch it via webhook or by reading the document). - Delete the discarded invoice with
DELETE /companies/{company_id}/documents/{id}to release the progressive number. This is the prerequisite for re-issuing. - Re-issue the corrected invoice with a new
POST .../documents/invoice, reusing the samenumeroif needed.
Alternatively: re-issue from the web app
A discarded invoice issued via API can also be corrected and re-issued from
Sibill's web interface, through the normal resend process for a discarded
invoice: open the DISCARDED document, fix the data and resend it to the SDI. In
this case no API call is needed and you don't have to delete anything.
For the step-by-step procedure in the web app, refer to the help-center article Stati delle fatture emesse su Sibill (in Italian).
Which invoices can be deleted
An electronic invoice can be deleted via API only when its status is one of:
DRAFT(draft not yet sent), orDISCARDED(rejected by the SDI), orREFUSED(refused), if it has no linked bookkeeping entries yet.
In any other status — including a SENT invoice (sent and awaiting the SDI's
response) — the invoice is not deletable.
You cannot delete an invoice that has already been sent and is awaiting
the SDI's response (e.g. SENT), or that has already been
delivered/accepted by the SDI (e.g. DELIVERED): both are in a state
that cannot be modified via DELETE. To reverse a delivered invoice you issue a
credit note / adjustment note, not deletion. A DELETE on a non-deletable
invoice is rejected.
In short
- Discarded invoice ⇒ the number stays reserved; via API releasing it requires an explicit deletion.
- Re-issuing via API with the same number requires a
DELETEof the discarded invoice first, then a newPOST. - Alternatively you can re-issue it from the web app via the resend process, which handles the number automatically.
- Delete only invoices in
DRAFT/DISCARDED(orREFUSEDwith no bookkeeping entries), never delivered ones.