Background to e-invoicing

The implementation of the Immediate Supply of Information through the approval of Royal Decree 596/2016, of 2 December, for the modernisation, improvement and promotion of the use of electronic means in the management of Value Added Tax, which came into effect on July 1, 2017, seems a long way off. According to the Explanatory Memorandum of the Royal Decree, it seemed reasonable to think that the substantial progress made in the use of new technologies for keeping record books would make it possible to transform the system for keeping them into a more modern system that would bring the time of recording or accounting of invoices closer to the time when the economic transaction underlying them is actually carried out. Thus, we were told that the new system for keeping the registry books electronically would not only facilitate the fight against tax fraud, but would also lead to an improvement in data quality and the correct application of accounting practices, as well as cost savings and greater efficiency that would benefit all economic agents.

The implementation of the Immediate Supply of Information (SII) has entailed great efforts both for the Tax Administration and for all those taxpayers who are obliged (large companies, groups of entities for VAT purposes, companies included in the monthly return register), or who voluntarily send their invoicing records to the Tax Agency. However, we can say that the SII has also brought considerable advantages for these taxpayers, who can now enjoy the greater functionalities that the Tax Agency makes available to them for the fulfilment of their tax obligations, thanks to all the information available as a result of the SII.

In this context, two legislative initiatives, with different purposes, are currently imposing a new technological challenge for all companies and professionals in their invoicing and reporting processes.

Firstly, and as we have already reported in previous circulars, Law 18/2022, of 28 September, on the creation and growth of companies, at the request of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, Ministry of Digital Transformation, has introduced mandatory e-invoicing in all commercial relations between companies and freelancers, as a measure for digitalisation and the fight against delinquency in commercial operations. Pending approval of its regulatory development, and with the aim of improving compliance with the Law on the Fight against Delinquency in Commercial Operations, e-invoicing is imposed in all relations between companies and professionals, as an instrument to reduce transaction costs in commercial transactions and also to facilitate access to information on payment deadlines between companies.

Secondly, and practically at the same time, Law 11/2021 of 9 July on measures to prevent and combat tax fraud amended, among other measures, the General Tax Law to establish the obligation for computer or electronic systems supporting accounting or business management processes to comply with certain requirements that guarantee the integrity, conservation, accessibility, legibility, traceability and inalterability of records, requirements whose technical specification may be subject to regulatory development, including the possibility of submitting them to certification. Likewise, in accordance with this regulation, a specific sanctioning regime is established, derived from the mere production of these systems or programmes, or their possession without the appropriate certification. The regulatory implementation of the amendment introduced in this regard in the General Tax Law has taken place through Royal Decree 1007/2023, of 5 December, which approves the Regulation establishing the requirements to be adopted by the computer or electronic systems and programmes that support the invoicing processes of companies and professionals, and the standardisation of formats for invoicing records (BOE, December 6, 2023).