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VAT invoicing

Invoicing obligation, exceptions, types of invoices and contents

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Rectification invoices

When is it mandatory to issue them?

  • In the event that the invoice does not meet one or more of the requirements laid down as mandatory in Articles 6 and 7 of the Regulation governing invoicing duties.

  • When the circumstances leading to the modification of the VAT taxable base established in Article 80 of Act 37/1992 (return of containers or packaging, discounts, resolution of operations, alteration in prices or provisional prices, non-payment) have occurred. See "Related content." 

  • When the Value Added Tax amounts applied have been determined incorrectly.

However, rectification of the tax amounts applied will not be appropriate:

  • When the rectification is not motivated by the causes laid down in article 80 of the Law 37/1992, and implies an increase of the amounts applied and the recipients of the operations do not act as employers or professionals of the Tax, except in cases of legal rise of the tax rates, when the rectification can be carried out within the month in which the new tax rates come into force and in the next.

  • When the Tax Administration is the one that shows, through the corresponding settlements, tax payments accrued and not charged higher that the companies declared by the employer and the employer have participated in a fraud or knew or should have known that they carried out a transaction that was part of a fraud.

When must they be issued?

The rectification will be made as soon as the person obliged to issue the invoice has a record of the circumstances that force it to be issued, provided that they have not four years have passed from the moment the tax was accrued or, if applicable, from the date on which it was produced the circumstances regulated in article 80 of Act 37/1992, which give rise to the modification of the VAT taxable base.

What requirements should rectification invoices comply with?

All rectification invoices shall state their status as a rectification and the description of the reason for the rectification, the details identification of the invoice or rectified invoices (it is sufficient to indicate the period to which they refer in the case of discounts for the volume of transactions and when it is authorised by the Tax Management Department of the Tax Agency) and the rectification made and must meet the requirements established as mandatory in general.

The Tax Agency's Tax Management Department may authorise other invoice rectification procedures, upon request from interested parties, when justified by the commercial or administrative practices of the sector.