Spain delays implementation of new invoicing system for SMEs and self-employed by one year
Verifactu will not be compulsory until 1 January 2027 for companies and 1 July for the self-employed
Spain's central government has agreed to give small businesses and the self-employed some time to adapt to the new invoicing system - Verifactu - devised by the treasury. Companies will have until 1 January 2027, while the self-employed have been given a longer deadline - until July that year.
Verifactu forms part of the anti-fraud law, which seeks to combat the underground economy and guarantee transparency in invoicing. In recent months, however, it has been rejected by thousands of self-employed workers due to the uncertainty that this measure was generating.
This last-minute postponement, confirmed by treasury sources after PM Pedro Sánchez announced a package of measures agreed with Catalan party Junts in a media interview, means that Verifactu will not be mandatory for professionals and companies for at least another year.
Verifactu establishes that computerised invoicing systems must generate a record that cannot be modified or deleted and must be accessible to the tax agency, either by sending the information directly or by keeping it securely stored. In addition, new invoices must include a QR code through which customers can check that the registration obligations with the tax agency have been complied with and, therefore, that the IVA or personal income tax included in the invoices has been correctly withheld.
The project offered companies two possibilities: to incorporate a private software approved by the tax agency or connect directly to the one provided by it so that their invoices would be directly incorporated into its database.
'Common Sense'
The extension approved on Tuesday provides "relief" to the self-employed who, through the self-employed workers' associations (Ata), had been asking for "common sense" since 31 October. They requested that the measure be postponed.
"The self-employed can breathe more easily today, not starting the year with more burdens and obstacles," Ata president Lorenzo Amor said, grateful for the "pressure" on the government exercised by Junts and other parties.
President of the Spanish confederation of small and medium-sized companies (Cepyme) Ángela de Miguel agreed that this decision "moves in the right direction and recognises the reality of thousands of SMEs and micro-enterprises whose time, resources and technical capabilities are not comparable to those of large companies".
The union of professionals and self-employed workers (Upta) described the government's decision to raise issues and then backtrack as "real nonsense". "This only generates mistrust, it does not generate security and the collective is fed up with this situation," Upta president Eduardo Abad said. In his opinion, Verifactu will not be able to stop the fraud that occurs with highly qualified professionals who attend to their patients or clients in their offices. "They simply won't issue an invoice and when they don't issue an invoice, Verifactu makes no sense at all," he stated.
First step for Airbnb and Uber to collect IVA
The treasury has initiated the process for tourist rental and transport platforms to collect IVA (Spanish VAT tax) on behalf of the individuals who offer these services. The department headed by María Jesús Montero published on Monday the draft bill with which Spain will begin to adapt its regulations to EU changes and which directly affects companies such as Airbnb, Uber and Cabify. The aim is for these platforms to act as suppliers for IVA purposes: they will have to collect the tax and pay it to the treasury, helping to avoid the tax limbo in which many individuals are left and correcting the unequal competition with hotels and taxis. The measure is scheduled to come into force in January 2028, giving countries and companies room to adjust their systems.
