Spain publishes draft Ordinance regulating the framework of certified billing systems

After publishing Royal Decree 1007/2023 that establishes the mandatory use of certified billing systems (SIF - sistema informático de facturación) for invoice issuance and the VERI*FACTU technical specifications, the Spanish MoF has now published a draft Ordinance regulating the technical and functional aspects of the certified billing systems.

Timeline

The draft Ordinance is open to comments and observations from the general public from January 4, 2024, until January 24, 2024.

Once the draft Ordinance is officially approved, software developers must have their certified systems available on the market within nine months from its publication date. However, taxpayers under scope will only be obliged to use a certified billing system from July 1, 2025.

Impact

The main points of the proposed framework are highlighted as follows:

• The certified billing system must issue invoices, following the existing Spanish invoicing regulations, and simultaneously or just before that, generate an invoicing record in a structured XML format containing certain transactional data. The certified software must be able to carry out specific functions to transmit the invoicing records to the tax authority either in real-time (VERI*FACTU) or on demand.
• The billing system that continuously transmits the generated records to the tax authority in real-time will be considered a VERI*FACTU system and will benefit from not having to comply with certain requirements, such as the application of an e-signature on the invoicing records.
• The “hash” that ensures the traceability of the invoicing records generated by the system must be composed of a specific set of data and characters. Among the technical requirements of the chaining function, the system must ensure that for every new invoicing record, the last five records generated were correctly chained.
• The system must be capable of detecting and recording certain “events”, such as the initial installation of the system, the start of its operation as a VERI*FACTU system, and the export of invoicing records generated in a certain period, among others.
• All invoices must contain a QR code, following the specifications in the draft Ordinance, and explicit wording indicating its issuance by a VERI*FACTU system, if that is the case. The QR code is not required on electronic invoices, in which case the “url” of QR code must be included as a separate field.
• The use of a single system by several taxpayers is permitted as long as, for each taxpayer, the software individually manages invoicing records and events, generates separate hashing chains, and allows its independent operation as a VERI*FACTU system.
• The certification of the billing system will be secured by a “Declaration of Responsibility for the Computerized Invoicing System”, with the minimum requirements established by the draft Ordinance and must be available within the system itself. Per the draft Ordinance, evaluation of the system by the tax authority is not a requirement.

The Spanish tax authority will publish the necessary technical documentation to complete the specifications of the draft Ordinance, once it is officially published.

Spain is quickly moving forward and rolling out the details of its certified billing systems. The newly-published draft Ordinance offers taxpayers a clearer picture of the upcoming mandate.

Learn more about the scope of the upcoming certified billing system mandate in Spain.