What VERI*FACTU is
VERI*FACTU is the short name for the verifiable invoice issuing systems of Royal Decree 1007/2023 of 5 December, which approves the regulation on invoicing software. That regulation implements Law 11/2021, known as the anti-fraud law, which added to the General Tax Law the duty for invoicing programs to guarantee that what is recorded is neither lost nor altered.
A program is VERI*FACTU when it sends the Tax Agency, automatically and on the spot, every record of the invoices it issues (article 16 of the regulation). That is why the rules presume it meets by design several requirements that other programs must meet separately.
Who it applies to
Article 3 of the regulation covers anyone who invoices with a program, even if they only use it for part of their business:
- Corporate Income Tax payers, except fully exempt entities.
- Self-employed people and professionals who pay personal income tax (IRPF) on business activities.
- Non-residents who operate in Spain through a permanent establishment.
- Joint ownerships and other pass-through entities with a business activity.
Who is left out
Taxpayers who keep VAT books through the Immediate Supply of Information system (SII) are outside the regulation. There are also entity and transaction exclusions: a partially exempt Corporate Income Tax entity is covered only for transactions generating taxable, non-exempt income. Business size or sector alone does not determine the answer.
Territorial scope depends on tax domicile and tax regime. The regulation covers taxpayers domiciled in Spain’s common tax territory, without prejudice to the Basque Country and Navarre’s regional regimes. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla have tax-specific rules. Invoicing without an IT system falls outside this software regulation on that basis; invoice issue and retention duties still apply.
When it becomes mandatory
The dates in force are those of the fourth final provision of Royal Decree 1007/2023, as worded by Royal Decree-law 15/2025 of 2 December, published in the official gazette (BOE) on 3 December 2025. Checked in the BOE on 25 October 2026:
- Corporate Income Tax payers: system adapted before 1 January 2027.
- Everyone else, the self-employed included: before 1 July 2027.
The planned postponement to 2028
On 5 October 2026 the Spanish Ministry of Finance published an information note announcing a planned postponement of the regulation’s pending obligations until October 2028, so they coincide with mandatory e-invoicing for businesses and professionals with a yearly turnover of up to €8 million.
It is an announcement, not a regulation: until it is published in the BOE, the dates that count are the 2027 ones. The note itself says the integrity, traceability and unalterability requirements will stay in substantially equivalent terms.
In the meantime, the Tax Agency treats the time left before each date as a test period: you can start sending records with a VERI*FACTU program and stop again, or invoice with another program, until the deadline.
What changes on each invoice
With an adapted program, issuing an invoice is no longer just making a PDF:
- Record: each invoice creates its issue record with its data, and a cancelled invoice its cancellation record.
- Chained hash: each record carries a digital fingerprint, or hash, calculated together with the previous record’s, so touching one breaks the chain.
- QR code and wording: the QR opens invoice data on the AEAT website. In VERI*FACTU mode, it lets the recipient check whether the record has been submitted. A printed QR alone does not prove that submission has completed or that the invoice has been paid.
- Corrections with a trail: correcting a transaction and cancelling a record issued in error are different actions. A corrective invoice documents the appropriate correction; cancelling a record does not replace every invoice correction or erase its history.
- Sending: in the VERI*FACTU mode, the record goes to the Tax Agency at the same moment.
VERI*FACTU or the other mode
The regulation lets you choose. In the VERI*FACTU mode, the program sends each record straight away and the rules presume it meets the integrity requirements by design. In the other, the program sends nothing when you issue, but it must sign each record electronically, keep it so it cannot be altered and be able to send it to the Tax Agency.
Both comply with the law. The first does not require signing each record electronically, because it sends them; the second signs them and keeps them in your system. Article 7 also provides for an invoicing application from the tax authority itself.
VERI*FACTU and B2B e-invoicing are different obligations
The invoicing systems regulation governs how software generates and keeps records and, in VERI*FACTU mode, submits them to AEAT. Business-to-business e-invoicing concerns the invoice document and its exchange between issuer and recipient. The Ministry’s note proposes aligning the calendars; it does not make them the same obligation.
A customer PDF, a tax record and a payment are separate objects. Submitting the record does not deliver the invoice, file a tax declaration or collect payment. AEAT explains the modes and receipt of invoices.
The statement of compliance
There is no official seal for invoicing programs. Article 13 of the regulation asks the maker for a statement of compliance (declaración responsable) that its system meets the General Tax Law, the regulation and its implementing order. It must be in writing and visible in the program itself, in every version, and the customer can ask for it. If a provider boasts of an official sign-off, ask for its statement of compliance: that is what the rules require.
Penalties
Article 201 bis of the General Tax Law distinguishes making or selling a non-compliant system from possessing one. Paragraph 2 and the penalty in paragraph 4 cover possession in the specific attestation or alteration circumstances set out in the law: the fixed penalty for that case is €50,000 per financial year. It is not automatic for a draft invoice or a pending submission.
For manufacturing and marketing cases, the law provides for €150,000 per year with sales and type of system, with a specific €1,000-per-system penalty where required regulatory attestation is missing from a marketed system. Ask your accountant to check the precise case, scope and applicable deadline; this guide does not determine an infringement by your business.
What to do now
Five steps that hold whatever the final date turns out to be:
- Check which tax you pay: companies, the January 2027 date; the self-employed and everyone else, the July 2027 one.
- Ask your invoicing provider for its statement of compliance and which mode it uses.
- Review your series and tax details: corrective invoices go in a series of their own.
- Use the test period to issue with the new program before the date.
- Talk to your accountant: what changes is how each invoice is issued, not how taxes are declared.