Download VAT registers and the LIPE communication in SamBooks
7 min read
How to download the stamped VAT registers (sales, purchases, receipts) and generate the quarterly LIPE communication XML to hand over to your accountant.
What it's for
Once a VAT settlement has been computed, SamBooks gives you two kinds of documents to take away: the VAT registers in PDF (sales, purchases, receipts), numbered and stamped month by month, and the LIPE communication XML (Comunicazione Liquidazioni Periodiche IVA), the quarterly file to hand over to your accountant or authorized intermediary for submission to the Italian tax authority. Both are downloaded from the same page — Contabilità → IVA — there's no separate "Registers" section in the menu.
Before you start
To reach the download menu you need a VAT settlement that's already been computed: both the "Download registers" button and the "Generate LIPE XML" button live on the VAT Settlements page (list or detail), nowhere else. If you haven't computed any period yet, the guide Compute the periodic VAT settlement in SamBooks walks through how to do that. If your company is on the flat-rate scheme, none of this applies to you: with no VAT settlement, there are no registers and no LIPE to generate.
Step by step
1. Open "Download registers"
You can start from two places: from the settlements list (Contabilità → IVA), where the row you want has a download icon — hover it and you'll read "Download VAT registers"; or, from a settlement's detail page, where the button at the top right reads "Download registers". Either way opens the same dropdown menu with three items: "Sales VAT register", "Purchases VAT register", "Receipts register".
2. Pick a register and download
Click the item you need. What you get depends on the settlement type:
- for a monthly settlement, you get a single PDF, for that settlement's month;
- for a quarterly settlement, SamBooks downloads three PDFs in sequence, one for each of the quarter's three months — one click, three files. Some browsers show a warning or ask for confirmation for multiple downloads from the same site: that's expected, allow it to receive all three files.
Each PDF lists that month's transactions (issued invoices for the sales register, received invoices for the purchases register, daily receipts for the receipts register), with taxable amount and VAT totals.
3. Generate the LIPE communication in XML
On a settlement's detail page (not from the list) you'll also find the "Generate LIPE XML" button. The LIPE communication is always quarterly, even if your company settles monthly: the file you download covers the whole quarter that the settlement you're looking at belongs to, not just that row's single month or quarter. For a company that settles monthly, a quarter's LIPE contains three "modules" (one per settled month); for a quarterly company it contains just one.
Clicking the button generates the XML and downloads it right away — there's no separate preview, the click produces the file directly.
If part of the quarter is missing
To generate the LIPE, every period in the quarter must already be settled: if you're a monthly company and have only computed two months out of three, or if you're quarterly and haven't computed that quarter yet, the button fails with a message telling you exactly which months (or the quarter) are missing. In that case, go back to Contabilità → IVA, compute the missing periods with "Compute period" (see the dedicated guide), then try generating the LIPE again.
What the XML contains — and what it doesn't do
The XML file follows the official layout for the Comunicazione Liquidazioni Periodiche IVA: your company's identification data, and — for each month in the quarter — output VAT (debit) and input VAT (credit), the period's balance, any credit carried over from the previous period, the 1% interest owed by companies that settle quarterly by option (it only applies to the first three quarters of the year, not the fourth) and the final amount to pay or the credit. Some special transactions (for example those under the margin scheme) are flagged for manual review, because their LIPE taxable amount doesn't simply match the document's amount.
A real limitation, worth keeping in mind: SamBooks generates the XML file ready to hand over to your accountant or authorized intermediary, but it does not send it directly to the Italian tax authority — the telematic submission (via Entratel or equivalent channels) remains a step your accountant handles, just like the other tax filings SamBooks prepares but doesn't transmit on its own.
The registers are stamped: what that means for you
Every VAT register you download carries a sequential number that uniquely identifies it (the stamping/vidimazione): the first time you download a given month's register, SamBooks generates it and assigns it the next number after those already issued for that register type. If you re-download the same month later without the underlying data having changed, you get exactly the same PDF with the same number — no duplicate is ever created, you can download it as many times as you like. If, instead, you've corrected something touching that month in the meantime (for example you edited or recorded an invoice falling in that period), the next download generates a new sequential number: the history of earlier stampings is never lost or overwritten, the new version is simply added on top.
Who can download registers and LIPE
Downloading VAT registers doesn't require a write role: anyone with access to the VAT Settlements page — including the Visualizzatore (viewer) role — can generate and download them, because technically it's a read operation (even though the first time it assigns a stamping number). Generating the LIPE XML, on the other hand, requires a role with write access to accounting: Gestore or Amministrativo.
Ask Sam
You can ask Sam, in chat: "download the purchases VAT register for March" or "generate the LIPE for the first quarter of 2026". Sam uses the same generation engine as the page's buttons — same PDF, same XML — and its reply includes a button to download the file, exactly as if you'd clicked it on the page yourself. One exception worth knowing: the full history of every emission (with the sequential number and date of each register issued) can currently only be obtained by asking Sam — the VAT Settlements page doesn't have a screen listing every past stamping, so for a complete overview chat is the only way today.
If something goes wrong
- "Generate LIPE XML" fails with a list of missing months: you haven't computed every settlement in the quarter yet. Compute the missing ones from Contabilità → IVA and try again.
- Register downloads stop after the first file (quarterly settlement): check whether the browser blocked multiple downloads — usually a notice appears near the address bar, allow it to receive the other two PDFs as well.
- The register I downloaded today differs from yesterday's for the same month: it means something changed in that month's accounting in the meantime (a corrected invoice, an added entry); the new PDF has a higher stamping number, and the old one still stands as a valid historical version.
- I'm on the flat-rate scheme and can't find these buttons: that's correct, they're not there: the flat-rate scheme doesn't liquidate VAT, so there are no periodic registers and no LIPE to generate.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to download the registers every month even if I never print them? No, SamBooks doesn't require you to download them: they remain available to generate at any time, even months later, with the same content (unless you've corrected something in the meantime).
If I download the same register twice, does it count as a double stamping? No: if the content hasn't changed, you get back the same file with the same number, not a new sequential one.
Does the LIPE I generate from SamBooks get sent automatically to the tax authority? No: SamBooks prepares the ready-made XML file, but the telematic submission is done by your accountant or authorized intermediary through their own channels.
Why is the "Generate LIPE XML" button only on the settlement detail page and not in the list? Because the LIPE covers the entire quarter that settlement belongs to, not just that single row: opening the detail page lets SamBooks know which settlement to start from to work out which quarter to use.
Why does "Generate LIPE XML" tell me a month is missing instead of generating the file? Because generating a quarter's LIPE requires every settlement in that quarter to already be computed: if you're a monthly company and even one of the three months is missing, SamBooks stops and lists exactly which months are missing instead of generating an incomplete file. Go to VAT Settlements, compute the missing months with "Compute period", then try again.
Can I download the register for a month I haven't settled yet? The "Download registers" menu opens from the row or the detail page of an already-computed settlement: to reach it, the period you're looking at must already be settled.
Where can I find the list of every register I've downloaded in the past? For now, only by asking Sam in chat: there isn't yet a page listing the history of past stampings.