Spain introduces mandatory use of certified billing software

The Spanish Ministry of Finance and Public Service has officially published the long-awaited Royal Decree 1007/2023 that establishes the mandatory use of a certified billing software that guarantees the integrity, conservation, and unalterability of invoices.

Timeline

Taxpayers under scope will be obliged to use a certified billing system from July 1, 2025.

Software developers must have their certified systems available on the market within nine months from the approval of the Ministerial Order that specifies all the technical details, which is still to be approved.

Impact

The use of a certified billing system will be mandatory for all companies and professionals subject to Spanish Corporate Tax, taxpayers subject to Non-resident Income Tax who operate via a permanent establishment in Spain, and private persons who develop economic activities. Taxpayers subject to the Suministro Inmediato de Información (SII), however, are not under scope.

No mandatory electronic invoicing requirements have been introduced by the Royal Decree.

The requirements for the certified billing systems include:

• Ability to generate a record in a standard, structured format at the same time or just before the issuance of each invoice and to securely store such records.
• Creation of a unique fingerprint to link all invoices, also known as “hash” chaining, to ensure non-alteration of the records.
• Ability to connect and continuously send the generated records to the tax authority. Taxpayers may opt for voluntary transmission of records in real-time (also known as Veri*factu).
• Apposition of an electronic signature on the records, which is not required in case the taxpayer opts for voluntary transmission of all records to the tax authority.
• Placement of a QR Code on all invoices and reference “Factura verificable en la sede electrónica de la AEAT” on those issued in compliance with Veri*Factu.

For certification, software vendors must prepare a declaration stating that their system meets the technical specifications and legal requirements and make it available in the system itself. Software vendors will be subject to the tax authority’s audit at any time.