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
Glossary of terms
B2B. Abbreviated form of referring, by its English acronym, to “Business to Business” operations whose recipient is a businessperson or professional.
B2C. Abbreviated way of referring, by its English acronym, to “Business to Consumer” transactions whose recipient is a consumer
B2G. Abbreviated form of referring, by its English acronym, to “Business to Government” operations whose recipient is a public administration
CII: cross-sector invoice that provides a standard format created by the United Nations CEFACT for the exchange of electronic invoices between systems. For the purposes of this Royal Decree, it shall refer to the syntax of the CEFACT/UN XML messages identified in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/1870 of 16 October 2017 on the publication of the reference to the European standard on electronic invoicing and the list of its syntax pursuant to Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council
TRUE COPY OF THE ELECTRONIC INVOICE: A faithful copy of the invoice content will be understood as one that contains the information of the original electronic invoices that have equivalent semantic correspondence and are contemplated in the syntax of the public electronic invoicing solution, complying in all cases with the minimum mandatory requirements defined in article 6, or where applicable 7.2, of the ROF.
BUSINESS OWNERS OR PROFESSIONALS: For the purposes of this royal decree, those considered as such in Article 5 of Law 37/1992, of December 28, on Value Added Tax, shall be deemed to be entrepreneurs or professionals.
ERP: Business management system
Mandatory electronic invoicing between businesses and professionals (FE): That invoice issued, transmitted and received in electronic format between businesses and professionals in which commercial transactions agreed between them are documented, which meets the technical characteristics contained in this royal decree, in particular in article 7.1, and in its possible regulatory developments, as well as in the ROF, and which are produced by computer or electronic systems and programs, which are adapted to article 29.2.j) of Law 58/2003, of December 17, General Tax Law, and, where appropriate, to its regulatory development
PRIVATE ELECTRONIC INVOICE EXCHANGE PLATFORM (PPI): Technological infrastructure that allows, at least, the direct routing and transmission of electronic invoices between the issuer of the invoice and its recipient, which meets the technical requirements contained in this standard and in its possible regulatory developments.
RFE: Abbreviation of 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.
ROF: Abbreviation of the Regulation governing invoicing obligations, approved by Royal Decree 1619/2012, of November 30.
RRSIF: Abbreviation for the Regulation governing the requirements for computer billing systems, approved by RD 1007/2023, of December 5.
SPANISH ELECTRONIC INVOICING SYSTEM: It is composed of the set of private electronic invoice exchange platforms that comply with the requirements established in this royal decree and the public electronic invoicing solution.
PUBLIC ELECTRONIC INVOICING SOLUTION (SPFE): It is the set of solutions developed and managed by the Public Administration to serve as an electronic invoicing infrastructure and for issuing and receiving invoices, for those businesses or professionals who choose to do so, and to serve as a universal and mandatory repository for all electronic invoices, also providing general collection tracking services in accordance with this royal decree and agile download options for issuers and recipients of invoices and their authorized representatives.
UBL: Universal Business Language that provides an international standard of interoperability between systems that is used as a format for exchanging electronic documents of different types throughout the supply chain. For the purposes of this Royal Decree, it shall refer to the syntax of the UBL invoice and credit note messages identified in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/1870 of 16 October 2017 on the publication of the reference to the European standard on electronic invoicing and the list of its syntax pursuant to Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council.
LIFE: VAT in the Digital Age, Council Directive (EU) 2025/516 of 11 March 2025 amending Directive 2006/112/EC as regards VAT rules in the digital age.