Pending the regulatory development that will determine the date of entry into force of this measure, companies and professionals should be aware that they will be obliged to issue, send and receive electronic invoices in their business relations with other entrepreneurs and professionals. Take steps to have everything ready when this rule comes into force.
As we have already informed you, with the approval of Law 18/2022 on the creation and growth of companies, the general rule of the obligation for all entrepreneurs and professionals to issue, send and receive electronic invoices in their business relations with other entrepreneurs and professionals has been established. The obligation applies to all their transactions, regardless of the sector in which they carry out their activity.
Attention. All companies and professionals -regardless of their size or workforce- will have to issue, send and receive electronic invoices in their business relations with other entrepreneurs and professionals.
Until now, this obligation only existed in certain cases in which the recipient was a public administration. In the case of an entrepreneur, it was voluntary and the recipient’s authorisation had to be obtained first.
Private individuals. It has also been approved that companies providing services of special economic importance to the general public (banking services, insurance, supplies, transport, retail trade, etc.) will also be subject to this obligation when the customer is a private individual and the latter accepts the electronic format or expressly requests it. In the case of travel agencies, transport and retail trade, this formality will only exist if the contracting is carried out by electronic means.
Entry into force
It is not yet known when this regulation will become effective. The regulatory development of the new obligation must first be approved and, once this has been done, it will enter into force:
- In the case of companies and professionals with an annual turnover of more than eight million euros, one year must elapse from the approval of the regulation.
- For the rest, this new obligation will be enforceable after a period of two years.
However, the entry into force of this new provision is subject to obtaining the Community derogation from articles 218 and 232 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of VAT.
In other words, for this rule to be applicable, the European Union must also accept its implementation (as requested), as it contravenes the European regulation that allows invoices to be issued on paper, as well as the regulation that makes the sending of electronic invoices subject to prior acceptance by the recipient.
Requirements for electronic invoices
Electronic invoices must be issued through technological solutions and platforms of specialised companies. Among other aspects, these solutions must guarantee interconnection and unalterability, in addition to providing information on the status of invoices and allowing them to be downloaded, copied or printed. It will no longer be sufficient to send them in PDF format by e-mail.
- They must, in any case, comply with the provisions of the specific regulations on invoicing.
- Both the recipient and the issuer of the invoices must provide information on the status of the invoices.
- Recipients may request a copy of the electronic invoices for a period of 4 years from the issuance thereof without incurring additional costs.
- The invoice recipient may not oblige the issuer to use a predetermined e-invoicing solution, platform or service provider.
Requirements for e-invoicing solutions and platforms
- The technological solutions and platforms offered by companies providing e-invoicing services to entrepreneurs and professionals must guarantee their interconnection and interoperability free of charge.
- The issuing and receiving companies’ own e-invoicing solutions and platforms must comply with the same interconnection and interoperability criteria, free of charge, with the rest of the e-invoicing solutions.
- The computer or electronic systems and programs that manage invoicing processes and store electronic invoices must comply with the requirements referred to in Article 29.2.j) of the GLT and its regulatory development, i.e. they must guarantee the integrity, conservation, accessibility, legibility, traceability and unalterability of the records, without interpolations, omissions or alterations that are not duly noted in the systems themselves.
Deadline for consulting electronic invoices
In the event of termination of the contract with the company or revocation of the consent to receive electronic invoices, the period of the last 3 years during which the customer may view their invoices electronically remains unchanged. Nor does their right to access previously issued invoices lapse for this reason.
Penalty regime
They shall be liable to a warning or a fine of up to 10,000 euros:
- Companies that, being obliged to do so, do not offer users the possibility of receiving electronic invoices or do not allow access to their invoices by persons who are no longer customers. The determination and graduation of the sanction will follow the criteria established in Article 2.2 of the Law regulating certain aspects of electronic trust services.
- Companies providing services to the general public of special economic importance that do not comply with the other obligations set out in article 2.1. The Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence is competent to impose this sanction.
Procedure for accreditation of interconnection and interoperability of platforms
It is established that it will be determined by regulation. According to the law, the regulation must be published within a maximum period of 6 months from the publication of this law (BOE 29 September 2022).
Recommendation
It is advisable to adapt your company’s invoicing to comply with these requirements. Pending regulatory development, if your company does not have a programme for generating electronic invoices, you can access http://www.facturae.gob.es and download Facturae, a free application that will enable you to do so. Many companies already use this programme to issue their electronic invoices when the recipient is a public administration, so it is to be understood that it will also be valid for companies and individuals.
You can contact our office for any questions or clarification you may have in this regard.
