Demystifying Veri*Factu: What Spanish Small Businesses Need to Know

Royal Decree 1007/2023 regulates billing software systems (SIF) to prevent records being hidden or altered. VERI*FACTU is one compliance mode, which sends records to the AEAT; a non-VERI*FACTU mode also exists, with additional retention and control measures. It does not itself require a structured electronic invoice to be sent to the customer.

Scope and exclusions matter: the rules do not apply identically to every business. For example, taxpayers keeping VAT books through the Immediate Supply of Information (SII) are excluded from the regulation; the regional tax regimes must also be considered. Royal Decree-Law 15/2025 requires adaptation before 1 January 2027 for in-scope Corporate Income Tax taxpayers and before 1 July 2027 for the other taxpayers covered by Article 3.1, including many self-employed workers.

What immutability really means

Integrity requires that records cannot be altered or deleted without a trace. When an invoice is issued, the SIF generates a creation record; later corrections must preserve traceability. Software compliance is certified through its producer's responsible declaration for each version, not through prior AEAT approval.

Creation and cancellation records are chained chronologically to the system's previous record using a digital fingerprint. The technical specifications under Order HAC/1177/2024 and the AEAT define how that fingerprint is calculated. The aim is to detect changes to the history, not to prevent documented error correction.

What if you make a genuine mistake?

The law accounts for mistakes, but requires the history to be preserved. The solution depends on the error: cancelling a record and issuing a corrective invoice are not interchangeable. The AEAT explains the differences in its FAQs:

• Cancellation record: identifies a creation record generated in error without deleting it from the history.
• Corrective invoice (Factura Rectificativa): issued when an invoice must be corrected under the invoicing regulation; it generates its own creation record.

Both actions create their own chained records, so the full history is always documented.

Real-time transparency with the AEAT

In VERI*FACTU mode, the system sends billing records to the AEAT continuously, securely and automatically, immediately after generating them, under its transmission and response specifications. This reporting must not be confused with periodic tax returns or understood to replace them. An electronic signature on each record is not mandatory in this mode.

Invoices issued using an in-scope SIF include the required QR code or, for electronic invoices, the content it represents. In VERI*FACTU mode, customers can check that the record and its data appear on the AEAT portal. This does not certify the legality of the transaction or that all taxes are correct. In non-VERI*FACTU mode, the QR code lets customers submit information to the AEAT, but not check a previously submitted record.