DANFE (Brazil)

The DANFE is not the invoice itself: it is the paper reflection of an already-authorised electronic NF-e.

Definition

The DANFE (Documento Auxiliar da Nota Fiscal Eletrônica) is the printed auxiliary document that represents a Brazilian NF-e already authorised by the SEFAZ.

It is a simplified, human-readable version; the authoritative tax document remains the authorised XML file, not the DANFE.

Role

The DANFE serves several practical purposes:

• accompanying goods during transport, to be presented at a roadside check;
• enabling lookup of the NF-e via the printed 44-digit access key and a barcode;
• acting as a readable record for a recipient that does not process the XML directly.

Good to know

The DANFE has no standalone tax validity: it proves nothing without the authorised electronic NF-e it points to. Editing the DANFE does not change the invoice.

For consumer sales, the equivalent is the DANFE of the NFC-e, often a simplified receipt with a QR code letting the customer verify the tax note.