Mandatory e-invoicing

B2G transactions

Although the Spanish invoicing Ordinance contemplates the possibility that an invoice can be issued in an electronic format, it does not require any specific technical standards for its creation or transmission, limiting to define as “electronic” any invoice that is issued and received by electronic means.

However, since January 2015, the Law 25/2013, of December 27, promoting electronic invoicing and creating the accounting record of invoices in the Public Sector, introduces mandatory e-invoicing for B2G transactions, that is, those taking place between companies and the Spanish administration or its public bodies.

This situation is changed by Law 18/2022 of 28 September, that regulates the creation and growth of enterprises (the, so called, “Ley Crea y Crece”), and which modifies mentioned article 2bis of Law 18/2022 so to extend the obligation to issue electronic invoices to B2B transactions in the Spanish territory.

The coming into force of the mandatory e-invoicing on B2B transactions is however postponed for a lapsing period of 12 months (24 months for companies with a turnover under 8 million Euros) to commence since publication at the Official Gazette of the required developing Ordinance that is to regulate the technical standards, which at this moment is in a draft version (hereinafter, the ”e-invoicing Ordinance”).

Due to a delay in the completion of the regulatory process, final implementation of mandatory B2B e-invoicing is to be expected by 2026 for companies with a turnover exceeding 8 million Euros (by 2027 in any other case).

The main aspects of the Spanish mandatory B2B e-invoicing are:

Definition of mandatory e-invoice

Under the new regulation, the definition of electronic invoice in the Spanish invoicing Ordinance is updated for the case that it refers to B2B transactions where mandatory e-invoicing is required.

If so, besides the requisite that the invoice is issued and received in an electronic format, it will have to comply with the technical standards contained in the future e-invoicing Ordinance.

Subjective scope

Any company that according the Spanish invoicing Ordinance (Royal Decree 1619/2012, of 30 November) must issue an invoice for the transactions incurred within its business activity, will have to do it in an electronic format when addressed to a VAT taxable person.

As a result, there is mandatory e-invoicing for any company, resident or not, as regards all its B2B transactions incurred in its operative for which:

• It is the taxable person for the corresponding Spanish VAT/IGIC.
• There is the obligation to issue an invoice, and the Spanish invoicing Ordinance applies.
• The transaction is not excluded in the e-invoicing Ordinance.

B2B transactions excluded from mandatory e-invoicing

As an exception, an e-invoice is not required regardless of it being a B2B transaction in any of the following situations:

• When the recipient is a non-resident company, unless the invoice is addressed to a permanent establishment in Spain for VAT/IGIC purposes.
• When, according to article 4 of the Spanish invoicing Ordinance, there is not the obligation to issue a full invoice, and instead a simplified invoice is enough (no if a qualified simplified invoice with the contains of article 7.2 of said Ordinance is requested by the addressee).
• For those cases where the parties voluntarily agree the issue of an invoice without being an obligation according to article 3 of the Spanish invoicing Ordinance.

Technical standards of a mandatory e-invoicing

A mandatory e-invoice must consist in a structured electronic message meeting that meet the standards:

The semantic data model EN16931 of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN).

Any of the following syntaxes:

The Spanish e-invoicing system (the “five corners model”)

Spain adopts the. so called, “five corner e-invoicing model”, where there is not only the private sector represented by the issuer and recipient and their respective e-invoice service provider, but also the administration.

The main features are:

• Spanish e-invoicing system: The e-invoicing Ordinance defines the, so called, Spanish e-invoicing system, as the one formed by:
• Private platforms for the exchange of e-invoices which meet with the requisites detailed in article 11 of said Ordinance.
• The public e-invoicing solution.

Submission of the mandatory e-invoices:

The submission of mandatory B2B e-invoices must be made through any of the channels that integrate the Spanish e-invoicing system, and the invoices:

Transitory attachment of a PDF:

During the 12 months following the mandatory obligation to use e-invoices in their B2B transaction for companies with a turnover exceeding 8 million Euros, a legible PDF of the invoice must also be submitted, by any means, unless the recipient voluntarily and expressly accepts to receive only the original format. A copy of the PDF will not have to be sent to the public e-invoicing solution.

Interoperability

It is up to the parties taking part in the transaction to freely decide which of the mentioned channels will be used by them for the submission/reception of the e-invoice.

In any case, to guarantee the interoperability of the system, private platforms must be able to transform the message of the e-invoice from any of the accepted syntax to another.

For the case the issuer does not use the public e-invoicing solution for the submission of the e-invoice, the private platform is obliged to simultaneously send a trustworthy copy in the syntax Facturae to the public solution, which operates as a global repository of e-invoices.

Payment status

The e-invoicing Ordinance introduces the obligation for the recipient of a mandatory e-invoice to inform the issuer of the effective payment (within 4 days when it happens) or rejection of the same. When the public e-invoicing solution is not used, it will also have to be notified.

For companies with a turnover under 8 million Euros this obligation will be postponed until 36 months have lapsed since the publication of the e-invoicing Ordinance at the Official Gazette.