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General issues

We briefly describe the general aspects of the Public Electronic Invoicing Solution and the mandatory electronic invoicing system between businesses and professionals, which includes

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Objectives of the regulations

Article 2 bis of Law 56/2007, of December 28, on Measures to Promote the Information Society, amended by Article 12 of Law 18/2022, of September 28, on the creation and growth of companies (Create and Grow Law) and developed by Royal Decree 238/2016, of March 25, which develops the mandatory electronic invoicing system between businesses and professionals and which modifies the Regulation governing invoicing obligations, approved by Royal Decree 1619/2012, of November 30; They pursue the following goals:

  1. The fight against late payments to improve the financing of SMEs, established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business, which is why it has been in charge of processing the law and the approved regulations. Article 12 of Law 18/2022 extends the obligation to issue, send and receive electronic invoices to all commercial relations between companies and self-employed individuals in Spanish territory (B2B operations between established businesses), as well as to report certain invoice statuses, especially those related to payment. This measure, in addition to reducing transaction costs, will provide reliable, systematic and agile information on effective payment terms, an essential requirement to reduce commercial late payments.

  2. Reducing obstacles to business growth and limitations in financing for small and medium-sized enterprises

  3. Promoting the digitization of all companies, particularly the smallest ones, achieving both cost savings and streamlining administrative management by reducing the time spent managing each invoice and facilitating the correction of errors.

  4. Additionally, the development of mandatory electronic invoicing between companies and professionals continues along the same strategic lines of fighting fraud.

  5. It does not substantially alter the material billing obligations, which will continue to be governed by the provisions of the tax regulations, especially Law 37/1992, of December 28, on Value Added Tax, its Regulation approved by Royal Decree 1624/1992, of December 29, and by the Regulation of Billing Obligations (ROF), approved by Royal Decree 1619/2012. Therefore:

    • This obligation will not apply to transactions that, according to the regulations, do not need to be invoiced.

    • Special authorizations issued for billing purposes by the Tax Agency's Management Department remain valid.