Government´s Verifactu Invoicing Introduction Postponed 12 Months

The government has postponed the introduction of the new Hacienda-designed invoicing system, Verifactu, to give small businesses in Spain time to adopt it for their invoicing system. Under the revised timetable, companies now have until 1 January 2027 to comply, while freelancers will have until July of 2027.

Verifactu is one of the pillars of the country’s anti-fraud legislation, intended to curb the shadow economy and ensure greater transparency in billing. Yet in recent months it has faced a wave of criticism from autónomos, many of whom said the uncertainty surrounding its introduction was causing significant concern.

The extension — confirmed by Treasury officials after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez outlined a series of measures negotiated with Catalan party Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) during a televised interview — means that Verifactu will not become compulsory for either businesses or professionals for at least another year.

Under the Verifactu framework, digital invoicing tools must create an immutable and non-erasable record accessible to the tax agency, either through direct transmission of the data or by keeping it securely stored. In addition, each new invoice must contain a QR code allowing customers to verify the invoice’s registration with the tax authorities and to confirm that IVA or personal income tax has been properly withheld.

The initiative originally gave businesses two options: adopt private software certified by the tax agency or link directly to the agency’s own system so invoices would be uploaded automatically to its database.

The government’s decision to push the deadline back offers welcome ‘relief’ to the self-employed, according to associations representing autónomos such as ATA, which had been urging ‘common sense.’

‘The self-employed can breathe more easily today, not starting the year with more burdens and obstacles,’ Ata president Lorenzo Amor said, thanking Junts and other political parties for the ‘pressure’ they exerted on the government.

Ángela de Miguel, president of the Spanish Small Business Confederation, Cepyme, also welcomed the delay, saying it ‘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 representing professionals and self-employed workers, Upta, was far less positive, calling the government’s pattern of announcing plans and subsequently reversing them ‘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. He argued that Verifactu will do little to curb fraud among highly qualified professionals who provide services in their own offices:

‘They simply won’t issue an invoice and when they don’t issue an invoice, Verifactu makes no sense at all,’ he stated.