Guide
The rules are already in force. Your deadline may not be.
This guide covers VeriFactu end to end: what it is, since when, who it applies to and who it does not, what happens if you ignore it and which part of the job is actually yours. You can read all of it without signing up for anything, and every figure carries the rule it comes from.
- Every figure with its source
- No sign-up, no email
- Reviewed in August 2026
Compatible integrations and formats
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Invoice F-2026-020
North Workshop Ltd
€1,248.50
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- ✓
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Registered with the tax agency
Response and CSV stored with the invoice
RD 1007/2023
In force
Contents
What people ask, and the short answer
Six questions written the way they get typed, each with its answer before you click through. If you only have half a minute, this block is the whole guide.
That is the essential part. What is left is the reasoning behind each answer, with the rule beside it so that you can go and check.
What it is
What happens when you issue an invoice
The invoice is created as usual. The difference is the technical record generated by the software at the same time.
That record is linked to the previous one through a fingerprint. If someone alters an issued invoice, the chain stops matching and the change becomes visible. This is why the original is never deleted: any error is fixed with a corrective invoice.
The record can be sent to the tax agency immediately or retained signed in the system. In VERI*FACTU mode, the invoice also carries the required wording and a verifiable QR code.
And the three things it gets confused with
All three are real obligations, all three have to do with invoicing, and none of them is this.
Not
Mandatory business-to-business e-invoicing
That one comes from Act 18/2022, Crea y Crece: it requires invoices between companies and self-employed workers to travel in a structured format, and it has its own regulation and its own timetable. VeriFactu says nothing about the format you send your customer; it says what trace your software leaves when it issues the invoice. They are compatible and they coexist.5
Read the electronic invoicing guide
SIINot
The SII
The Immediate Supply of Information is the near real-time reporting of VAT ledger detail, and it binds a different group of companies. They do not stack: anyone inside the SII falls outside VeriFactu.
Not
TicketBAI or Batuz
The foral territories hold their own powers over invoicing control. In Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa the equivalent obligation is TicketBAI, with its own formats and its own deadlines, and Navarre has its own foral rules. If you invoice under a foral tax authority, this guide is not yours.
Since when
Three questions that are not the same question
«It is in force» and «it applies to me» sound alike and are not. The first is about the rules; the second, about your calendar. There is more than a year between them.
The fact that it does not bind you yet does not mean you cannot start. The voluntary window has been open since July 2025, and reaching your deadline with the routine already running costs less than starting on the day itself with the certificate half processed.
Who it applies to
Find your case and the deadline that applies
The four common profiles stay in view. Exceptions and foral territories sit underneath for whoever needs them. These are the common-territory dates.1
Companies subject to Corporate Income Tax
1 Jan 2027
Self-employed under Personal Income Tax
1 Jul 2027
Communities of property and civil partnerships
1 Jul 2027
Income-attribution entities
1 Jul 2027
Registered with the tax agency
Response and CSV stored with the invoice
How it happens in Factuarea
You issue once. The rest happens behind the scenes.
Factuarea creates the record, chains it, signs it and sends it to the tax agency without taking the work out of the invoicing screen.
- 1Invoice issued
- 2Fingerprint chained
- 3Signature applied
- 4Sent to the tax agency
- 5Registered
Automatic transmission
The record leaves when you issue, with no exports and no second screen.
Response beside the invoice
The status and verification code stay attached to the document.
QR and fingerprint included
The invoice leaves ready, with no hand-built codes or manually signed files.
What happens if you ignore it
Three amounts, and only two are about you
The three are always published together, which makes them read as a single €150,000 threat. They are not: each has its own subject, and the largest one is for whoever makes the software.
For whoever makes the software
Producing, distributing or selling non-compliant systems
Liability falls on the manufacturer or distributor of the software, for every tax year in which it is on sale. If you do not sell invoicing software this one is not about you, but it is very much about whoever sells you yours.4
€150,000
per tax year
Art. 201 bis LGT
For whoever has it installed
Holding a non-compliant or dual-use system
Holding software that allows double bookkeeping or the erasure of issued records without trace is penalised. Holding it is enough: you do not have to have used it to hide anything.4
€50,000
per tax year
Art. 201 bis LGT
For whoever issues invoices
Breaching the formal invoicing obligations
Issuing without compliant software, or without the verification QR code, once your own deadline has passed. This is the one that reaches anyone still invoicing from a spreadsheet.4
€10,000
per tax year
Art. 201 LGT
The first only touches you if you sell software. The second and the third are yours, and both are avoided by the same decision: use software that complies and be able to show that you asked.
What you have to do
Three things are yours. The software does the rest.
The «steps to comply» list published everywhere is really the list of what the software does: chain, sign, stamp the QR code, transmit. Yours is a good deal shorter.
What you have to do
03Choose software that complies, and be able to show it.
Compliance is declared by whoever makes the software, not by you. What is yours is having chosen well and having kept proof that you asked.
Hold a valid electronic certificate in your name.
Records are signed and transmitted with it, and letting it expire is the silliest and most common failure. It is the slowest formality of all and the worst one to leave until the end.
Stop issuing with something that cannot comply.
A spreadsheet or a word processor template generates no record and chains nothing, and once your deadline passes carrying on that way is a formal breach. No tweak saves them.
Where this comes from
Five rules. Each one answers a different question
Each number in the guide takes you to the rule supporting that specific fact.
- 01
The core rule
Royal Decree 1007/2023, of 5 December
Defines the billing record, its chaining, the QR code, the software declaration and the two operating modes.
BOE-A-2023-24840
- 02
How it is built
Order HAC/1177/2024
Sets the record format, fingerprint calculation, QR contents and the data sent to the tax agency.
Implements RD 1007/2023
- 03
When it affects you
Royal Decree-Law 15/2025
Sets the current timetable: 1 January 2027 for companies and 1 July 2027 for everyone else covered.
Amends the timetable of RD 1007/2023
- 04
Penalties and retention
Act 58/2003, the General Tax Act
Provides the legal basis, sets the penalties and requires records to be retained for at least four years.
Arts. 29.2.j, 29.4, 66, 201 and 201 bis
- 05
Do not confuse
Act 18/2022, Crea y Crece
Regulates e-invoicing between businesses and self-employed workers. It is compatible with VeriFactu, but it is not the same obligation.
Business creation and growth act
This is information, not tax advice.
This guide does not know your tax regime, the invoices you issue or the tax authority you fall under. When an answer depends on your case, confirm it with your accountant or the tax agency.
Reviewed in August 2026 · Checked against the BOE and the tax agency
Frequently asked
What people ask when they have just found out
Transmitting records to the tax agency means signing them, and signing requires an electronic certificate belonging to the taxpayer or to whoever represents them. It is the slowest formality of everything on this page, so it is the first one worth settling. How to obtain it, and in whose name in your particular case, is a question for your accountant.
You know what it is. The next question is whether your software does it.
The VeriFactu page shows how Factuarea handles it: the chain of fingerprints, the certificate, and the limits it has.