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Spain: New regulation on the requirements for invoicing software

published on 14. December 2023 | Lesedauer ca. 5 Minuten

On 6 December 2023, Royal Decree 1007/2023, of 5 December 2023, was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE). It approves the regulation that establishes the requirements to be adopted by the computer or electronic systems and programmes that support the invoicing processes of entrepreneurs and professionals, and the standardisation of invoicing record formats.

The most important concepts of the Regulation are the following:

Subject matter and territorial scope »
Subjective and objective scope »
IT resources required to fulfil the obligations of the Regulation »
Requirements for computerised invoicing systems »
Generation and content of the discharge invoice record »
Generation and content of the cancellation invoice record »
Fingerprint or Hashing and e-signing of billing records »
Declaration of responsibility for IT systems »
Possibility for the invoice recipient to send information to the invoice recipient »
Entry into force »

Subject matter and territorial scope

The term invoice includes both the full invoice and the simplified invoice, in accordance with Royal Decree 1619/2012, of 30 November. A computerised invoicing system is the set of hardware and software used to issue invoices through the acceptance, storage and processing of invoicing information.

The Regulation is applicable throughout Spanish territory, without prejudice to the foral tax systems of the Basque Country and Navarre, and taking into account the special characteristics of the specific regulations of the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla.

Subjective and objective scope

It shall apply to the following taxable persons who use computerised invoicing systems, even if they use them for only part of the activity:

Corporate taxpayers,
Taxpayers of Personal Income Tax who carry out economic activities,
Non-resident income taxpayers who obtain income through a permanent establishment,
Entities under the income attribution system that carry out economic activities.

It shall also apply to producers and marketers of computer systems which are subject to this tax. It will not apply to taxpayers obliged to supply information by computerised information system (SII).

The Regulation shall apply to computerised invoicing systems for all transactions relating to the activity of the above-mentioned taxable persons, except for the following:

Certain transactions for those taxed under the special VAT regime for agriculture, livestock and fisheries.
Transactions for which an invoice does not have to be issued because they are:
– Carried out by entrepreneurs or professionals who apply the special equivalence surcharge regime.
– Carried out by entrepreneurs or professionals under the simplified VAT system (unless the determination of – VAT due is made on the basis of the volume of income).
– Those authorised by the Tax Management Department of the State Tax Administration Agency.
Certain electricity delivery operations.
Operations documented on invoices by transactions transactions a through permanent establishments abroad.

IT resources required to fulfil the obligations of the Regulation

Taxable persons using computerised invoicing systems may use one of these two options:

a computer system that complies with the provisions of Law 58/2003 of 17 December 2003 on General Taxation and these Regulations
the computer application that the Tax Administration may develop for this purpose

Requirements for computerised invoicing systems

They shall ensure:

The integrity and unalterability of the records so that, once generated and recorded, they cannot be altered without the system itself detecting and warning.
If data need to be corrected or cancelled, this should be done by means of a subsequent additional record, without altering the original data.
Traceability of records. They must be chained and traceable from creation, so the system must provide the functionalities to allow this traceability clearly and reliably. All data must include the date of registration.
The conservation, for the period of time stipulated in the General Tax Law, accessibility and legibility of all the records generated. In addition, the system must have a procedure for downloading, dumping and secure archiving of these records.

Systems shall have an event log that automatically records certain interactions with the system, operations performed on the system or events occurring during its use, and stores all such data. Access to tax-relevant information must be properly unbundled, so that the tax administration can directly access the query.

Generation and content of the discharge invoice record

The computerised invoicing systems shall automatically generate a registration invoice record at the same time as or immediately prior to the date on which the invoice is issued, which record shall include:

VAT registration number, full name and surname, name or business name of the person required to issue the invoice
when it is obligatory, the VAT number and full name, surname, forename or company name of the person or entity to whom the transactions are addressed
indication of whether the invoice has been issued by the recipient or third parties, or by the person or entity carrying out the transaction
invoice number and, where appropriate, invoice series
date of issue and date on which the transactions documented were carried out or, where appropriate, the advance payment was received if different from the date of issue
type of invoice (full or simplified) and additional details to identify the type
if it is a corrective invoice, indicate its type, characteristics and, where appropriate, identification of the corrected invoice
if it is a replacement of a previous simplified invoice, identify the replaced invoice
general description of the transactions
total amount of the invoice
indication of the VAT scheme(s) applied
indication of whether there is a reverse charge mechanism
taxable amount and tax rate(s), quota, equivalence surcharge and quota
if it is a transaction not subject to VAT, the amount and cause
where it is not the first invoice record generated by the system, the number and date of the invoice in the invoice record
identification code of the computer system used
date, hour, minute and second when the registration record is generated
additional characteristics.

All monetary amounts shall be expressed in euros, with conversion to this currency when the invoice has been issued in another currency.

Generation and content of the cancellation invoice record

A cancellation record shall be generated when an invoice has been erroneously issued and this registration record has to be cancelled. This cancellation record shall contain:

VAT number, name and surname, full name or company name of the person obliged to generate the record.
indication of whether the cancellation invoice record has been generated by the person or entity carrying out the transactions, by the recipients or by third parties. Where applicable, the tax identification number, full name or company name of the recipient or third party, who uses any of the computer systems mentioned in this Regulation.
the number and, where appropriate, the series of the invoice corresponding to the invoice record to be cancelled.
the date of issue of the registration invoice to be cancelled.
where it is not the first invoice record, the number and, where appropriate, the series, as well as the date of issue of the invoice appearing in the immediately preceding registration, registration or cancellation invoice record, together with part of the hash of that previous record
the identification code of the computer system used, as well as other data relating to that system which generates the cancellation invoice record, which serve to identify the said computer system and make it possible to know its characteristics and installation, together with the identification data of the producer of the said system.
date, hour, minute and second on which the record is generated.
additional characteristics that make it possible to know the circumstances under which the cancellation invoice record is generated.

Fingerprint or Hashing and e-signing of billing records

Computer systems shall add a fingerprint or hash to the above-mentioned registration and cancellation billing records and shall be signed electronically.

Declaration of responsibility for IT systems

The person or entity producing the computer system must, by means of a responsible declaration, certify that it complies with the provisions of Article 29.2.j) of the LGT and with the provisions of these regulations. This declaration must be in writing and visible in the system itself.

Possibility for the invoice recipient to send information to the invoice recipient

The recipient of the invoice may voluntarily provide certain information to the AEAT by providing the details of the “QR” code on the invoice. In addition, when the invoice is “VERI*FACTU” or “verifiable at the AEAT's electronic office”, the recipient will be able to verify whether or not the invoice has been sent by the issuer to the AEAT.

The submission of information shall not be considered as a public denunciation.

Entry into force

The regulation entered into force on 7 December 2023. However, taxpayers must have the IT systems adapted to the regulation in place by 1 July 2025.

Producers and marketers of IT systems must offer their products adapted to the regulation no later than 9 months after 7 December 2023. In the case of IT systems with multiannual maintenance contracted before these 9 months, they must be brought into compliance with the content of the regulation by 1 July 2025.

Likewise, no later than 9 months after the publication of the Regulation, the service for receiving the invoicing records sent by the Verifiable Invoice Issuing Systems will be available at the AEAT headquarters.